One of the reasons I love reading is that some books just catch you up in their own little world, so much so that you simply don’t want to put them down. Few books reach this level and so when an author is able to do it pretty much every time out I greedily grab new releases. If the author also happens to be a school days pal and uses the town and people we grew up with in, well…
Harlan Coben succeeds once again with Just One Look, the story of a wife whose husband ups and leaves the house late one night after she shows him an odd, old photograph. He doesn’t answer his cell phone, doesn’t return the rest of the night, doesn’t show up for work the next day. She doesn’t panic but does try and find him and along the way has her life and their children’s threatened.
Grace Lawson, the wife, is Coben’s first female lead and I think she shows his skill at character development by not being a stereotype or cardboard but having realistic depth and not just thinking like a man in drag. If anything, her husband is the 2D cutout, barely more than a hovering presence though I supposed nothing more is warranted. Some creepy Mafioso who are mostly on the side of good. One complaint: the underlying reason for these events is logical enough but I thought there weren’t enough clues dropped in, or even alternatives proposed.
I could go on but you’d better off spending the time reading this terrific novel
highly recommended
BillSaysThis 