Book Review: Gone For Good

Reviewed By: Webspinner - RAM

Gone For Good     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Harlan Coben
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Thriller
Delacorte; 2002; 340pp

Eleven years have passed since the summer that tore two families' lives apart, and Will Klein is home again to say goodbye to his mother. On her deathbed, she tells Will, "he's alive." For years, Will and his father have mostly believed that Ken, big brother and son, is dead. Ken vanished the summer their neighbor and Will's high school sweetheart was raped and murdered in the basement of the house down the street. But, if he's alive, where has he been, and where is he now? Exhaustive police and FBI manhunts have never found him. Then, while he is still trying to puzzle out his mother's certainty, Will's girlfriend disappears and he is swiftly drawn into two dark mysteries at the same time.

Convince that his brother is trying to contact him after all these years, Will begins to uncover the secrets of that terrible summer and search for Sheila, whose disappearance makes no sense. One by one, the layers of the brother he thought he knew and the lover that has been living with are peeled away.

Harlan Coben has penned another winner. The skill with which he unravels the characters of Will, Julie, Ken, Sheila, Squares and "the Ghost" is that of a master. Coben manages to weave a heart-grabbing romance into the lines of a roller-coaster-thrill ride that never stops twisting and turning and manages to come to a complete stop with a perfect ending. Well done!

Webspinner - RAM

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