Simon Greene is a financial planner with a pediatrician wife (Ingrid) and 3 children. His daughter, Paige, is a drug addict and when he tries to approach her in Central Park, she runs off. What's a father to do? Well, try to track her down of course. That's when the drama starts and evolves into quite the complicated novel of domestic suspense.
As in every Coben novel, the protagonist is painted as the ultimate family man who is dedicated to his wife and children. One who will take great risks and do some pretty unbelievable things to achieve his goal -- in this case -- finding his daughter and getting her off the drugs to re-unify the family unit. Although that's the main story line, there happens to be a lot of other crazy stuff going on in this book. The characters are many and quite stereotypical and predictable. There's mayhem and murder. The point of view alternates between some of the main players so the reader knows more of the big picture throughout. Some of what happens may require a great deal of suspension of disbelief as well as a quick check to answer the moral question -- do the ends justify the means? I personally couldn't relate to any of the main players nor did I like them.
As always, Coben finds a way to interject his personal politics and makes social commentary through the voices of his narrators. Although I find it annoying, I know it's going to be there so I just skip over. The novel is fast-paced so it was easy to keep turning the pages though I found much of what happens hard to buy into but it certainly provided a couple of hours of entertainment. I must comment on the "shocking twist" that may or may not surprise an astute reader -- really???? Sort of felt set up for that big reveal. Anyway, that seems to be almost expected in this genre.
Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for the e-book ARC to read and review.
This is a standalone and not part of any series.
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