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Hold Tight

3.91 of 5 stars 3.91 · rating details · 18,595 ratings · 1,520 reviews

Tia and Mike Baye never imagined they'd become the type of overprotective parents who spy on their kids. But their sixteen-year-old son Adam has been unusually distant lately, and after the suicide of his classmate Spencer Hill - the latest in a string of issues at school - they can't help but worry. They install a sophisticated spy program on Adam's computer, and within d...more

Hardcover, 416 pages

Published April 15th 2008 by Dutton Adult (first published 2008)

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Aug 18, 2008 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: male-author, mystery

In Harlan Coben's latest thriller, Hold Tight, Mike and Tia Baye experience a chilling couple of days because of a decision to put spyware on their son's computer.

When Mike and Tia learn through an e-mail that Adam is going to attend a party with drinking and drugs, they set out to intercept him and prevent him from going without letting on to the fact that they know, and even more importantly HOW they know. But something goes awry when there is no party. But where is Adam? That's when Mike s...more In Harlan Coben's latest thriller, Hold Tight, Mike and Tia Baye experience a chilling couple of days because of a decision to put spyware on their son's computer.

When Mike and Tia learn through an e-mail that Adam is going to attend a party with drinking and drugs, they set out to intercept him and prevent him from going without letting on to the fact that they know, and even more importantly HOW they know. But something goes awry when there is no party. But where is Adam? That's when Mike starts following him via the GPS in Adam's cell phone. This plan leads Mike to a shady neighborhood where HE is attacked, and he still hasn't found Adam.

As if Mike Baye doesn't have enough to worry about, his medical partner, Ilene Goldfarb is treating Lucas Loriman, the son of his next door neighbors Susan and Dante Loriman. Through blood testing to find a kidney donor, they learn that Dante is not Lucas's father. The young boy doesn't have much hope unless they can locate his actual father or a paternal relative.

AND the plot continues to layer with the abductions and murders of two women connected to this same neighborhood. Those murders tie into a whole separate element of the novel - or so it seems to be separate.

Coben juggles a lot of characters and plot lines in this novel. He does bring them together at the end of the book, but you may want to have a small chart to keep track of everyone in the book. I found myself asking, "now which character is this again?" quite often throughout the book.

If you're a parent, this book might just scare the bejeebers out of you. The obvious question threaded throughout the entire book is "should you spy on your children?" And Coben doesn't give you his opinion one way or the other. That's the point of the multi-dimensional plot. He gives you a look at the evils of both options.

Coben has this knack for slowly giving you clues that you don't know you're getting. So you feel like you're in the dark with no idea where you're headed - and with the twists and turns in this novel, that just intensifies the feeling of being completely lost. But then he starts to bring all the pieces together and they make sense. I found myself saying, "of course!" more times than once as the book was drawing to a close. I will admit that there was one element I found too convenient in the end, but you can have that with fiction, I guess.

I think I've said this before about Coben, but every time I pick up one of his books I think it should be locked in a time capsule. He defines the statement "art imitates life." This book deals with present-day technology and the ethics surrounding that technology, but it also imitates the language and values of the present. While I do hope the events of this book aren't happening (or haven't happened) anywhere in the world, it isn't hard to imagine them happening because of the realism in all other elements of the book.

One of the other heavy topics that comes up in this book is teenage suicide. One of the characters commits suicide before the story begins. Coben gives the reader a glimpse of the effects this event has on both parents as well as the character's best friend. I've not had a child commit suicide, but I could definitely connect with Betsy Hill after this insight:

"The house was dead.

  That was how Betsy Hill would describe it. Dead. It wasn't merely quiet or still. The house was hollow, gone, deceased - its heart had stopped beating, the blood had stopped flowing, the innards had begun to decay.

Dead. Dead as a doornail, whatever the hell that meant.

Dead as her son, Spencer."

Don't look for a lot of character development in this novel. The focus is more on the ethical question of spying and on the plot development. Of course at 415 pages, if Coben had put in more character development, I might have been reading for another week. But I think the lack of character development was intentional. This approach made the scenario open to anyone. This isn't something that could happen to only a select, specific group of people, but rather it could happen to the family down the street...or even the family right there in your own home. And that is the scariest part of all.
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May 12, 2008 Marika Gillis rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Shannon

Shelves: fiction, mysteries

Tia and Mike Baye make the controversial decision to install spy software on their teenage son's computer after they notice he has become increasingly withdrawn. They discover more about their son than they ever bargained for.

Next door, Lucas Loriman is in desperate need of a kidney transplant. In an effort to find the best matched donor, a shocking secret concerning Lucas' paternity surfaces.

A well-loved teacher makes a terrible mistake by humiliating one of his students in front of her classma...more

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Mar 15, 2009 Denise C rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

There must be a trend now in new novels to expose the horrors of the technological age, and this one is no exception. I rarely read them if I can help it, but I decided to give this one a try since I have liked Harlan Coben's books in the past.

I finished it in one reading. It wasn't as bad as some books I've read lately; I didn't skip any pages. However, there were several points where I was taken right out of the story, which is not good for any author who wants to sell future works. In some ca...more There must be a trend now in new novels to expose the horrors of the technological age, and this one is no exception. I rarely read them if I can help it, but I decided to give this one a try since I have liked Harlan Coben's books in the past.

I finished it in one reading. It wasn't as bad as some books I've read lately; I didn't skip any pages. However, there were several points where I was taken right out of the story, which is not good for any author who wants to sell future works. In some cases, it was the dialog. It didn't flow well, and at times, it was unrealistic (what 16 year old boy refers to his father as "father" to his friends? A little formal for a teenager...). Contrived details (a hulking bouncer for a rough club in a black neighborhood conveniently has a green tattoo of the prestigious college he and the MC both attended. Seriously?), convoluted plot that doesn't entirely wrap up all its threads, and the characters... oi.

So many characters, so many plot lines, it was hard to keep track of what was going on and who was doing what to whom. They seemed stilted and flat to me. Very undeveloped and rather cliche in most cases. Though, in the case of the "emo" kids, the characterization was completely wrong. Not that I have a whole lot of experience with the culture, but I have enough to know that they were awfully violent for emo kids. Most of the characters I ended up not really caring about, since there wasn't enough development to them to be believable. Tia (the mother) made me want to smack her upside the head at a few points. Jill was cute, but I kept thinking of her as an 8-year old instead of 11. Mike, the main character, was probably the most developed and believable character to me. The only character I ended up really caring what happened to her was Reba.

The technology in the story is real. How it is used and accessed seems a little out-there. At times, I wasn't sure if his point was to show us the dangers of such technology or extol its virtues. Maybe that was the point, but I don't know.

I wonder if he had taken out some of the subplots and characters, if the main story would have flowed better and the plot would have been tighter than it was. It would have been nice to see this go through another edit that replaced all the infodumps with action and showed what happened instead of telling it to the reader.

There was a lot to like about the story, and I did get a few aha moments when he revealed something I didn't expect. It was engaging enough for me to read it in one sitting without skipping pages, and I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen in the next chapter. The story just lacked the development and style that I normally see in a Harlan Cohen novel.

Overall, it was an average read and I would give this to a friend if they had some time to kill.(less)

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Jun 17, 2008 A.J. rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

When Alfred Hitchcock said that whodunnits can basically be summed up in an epilogue, he wasn't exaggerating.

I've tried, my friends––I've tried so hard to accept the mystery/thriller genre. I've taken classes, read the best authors, examined everything from Edgar Allen Poe to Elmore Leonard. I figured that since I've got a reading list pretty stacked with horror, fantasy and scifi, I might want to shake things up a bit, add a little variety, and take a look at Harlan Coben. That, and he happens...more When Alfred Hitchcock said that whodunnits can basically be summed up in an epilogue, he wasn't exaggerating.

I've tried, my friends––I've tried so hard to accept the mystery/thriller genre. I've taken classes, read the best authors, examined everything from Edgar Allen Poe to Elmore Leonard. I figured that since I've got a reading list pretty stacked with horror, fantasy and scifi, I might want to shake things up a bit, add a little variety, and take a look at Harlan Coben. That, and he happens to be my father's favorite author. Nothing against my old man, but this book is lacking.

First of all, Coben has two speeds: dialogue and exposition. When he's not cramming same-speaking characters into scene after scene of noirish banter, he's got his writerly cap on, trying desperately to make me care about his cast of stock characters. Oh sure, I suppose they each have a trait or two that helps me distinguish them, but they're all universally uninspiring.

His style is blunt. No-nonsense. You want frills and pink doilies? Piss off. That is, of course, until he realizes that his own characters lack backstory and world view. At varying times throughout the 416 page novel the plot gets put on hold while he delves for a page or two into the life and times of Character X, Y, or Z. Half of it pertains to the obligatory ending; the other half is just...well...there.

Perhaps my scathing criticism is a product of my tastes, but with nearly every mystery I've ever read, the author seems to simply be going through the motions. Mr. Coben is particularly guilty of a class 1 felony, Failure to Develop Characters. The only––and I mean only––reason I can muster as to why people read a book like this is simple.

Airports.

You've got four hours to Florida, and four hours back, plus or minus ten in waiting, delays, etc. You're not looking for depth, you're not looking for substance. What you need is a question presented to you on page one which should, if all goes well, be answered on page 400. Don't waste time with characters, don't waste time with a theme. Give me the cotton candy book and help me take my mind off the stench of the guy sitting next to me. I suppose that's okay, but for me, without a more attractive premise, you'd better bring something besides twenty pages of explanation at the end of the journey to make up for the desert that was the first 9/10 of the novel.

Take a pass on this. There's too many good books out their to sink your time into another formulaic mystery/thriller. (less)

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Oct 08, 2010 Sheri rated it 5 of 5 stars

Hold Tight (Harlen Coben)
Psychological/Thriller
Adam Baye has become remote and withdrawn since the suicide of his friend. His parents, Mike & Tia decide to spy on him by installing software on his computer, to monitor every keystroke. One day they read a cryptic email and then Adam disappears. Mike decides to track down his son and the suspense begins.

Fast pace page turner, a definite all night read. Sub plots that are filled with suspense blend perfectly up until the dramatic end.

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Oct 01, 2012 Linda Alexander rated it 5 of 5 stars

Have you read so many books by your favorite authors that when you go to the library, you find yourself cruising the shelves trying to find something just a bit different than all those out there about the CIA/FBI/Special Forces and political stories??

Well, I found it in reading my very first book authored by Harlan Coben!! He is a fantastic author. I enjoyed his writing style as much as the story itself. He prompts one to keep turning the page and it was a thing of not wanting to call it a nigh...more

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Mar 01, 2010 Chuck rated it 5 of 5 stars

Yes, this is me, not writing on a fantasy novel.

I've actually, I think, read all of Coben's novels. He is the the author of the everyday, writing characters who lead lives like yours and mine. He also explores how fragile our everyday lives are--how our dedication to lives and family and children can come undone by the smallest thing--an unkind remark from a teacher, a car accident, or the fact that we resemble someone else and are mistaken for them.

In Coben's world, the consequences are dire,...more

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Oct 21, 2009 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I’m fully aware that I often need a good, swift kick in the ass, but seldom do I realize it so fully when I state that I treasure my time living this humdrum life above anything else on this planet, and proceed to squander it by reading something like Harlan Coben’s Hold Tight. Worse yet, I’ve got no one to blame but myself; I often reassure myself that a bad recommendation was someone else’s mistake, or a book endowed with awards and acclaim should have been better, and I was merely duped. This...more I’m fully aware that I often need a good, swift kick in the ass, but seldom do I realize it so fully when I state that I treasure my time living this humdrum life above anything else on this planet, and proceed to squander it by reading something like Harlan Coben’s Hold Tight. Worse yet, I’ve got no one to blame but myself; I often reassure myself that a bad recommendation was someone else’s mistake, or a book endowed with awards and acclaim should have been better, and I was merely duped. This one was entirely my call, and I’ve got no excuses.

Adam Baye is a typical teenager, he’s generally a good kid that loves his family and playing on the school hockey team, but isn’t totally without his faults; he might occasionally skip a trig class to finger-pop that pimply girl with a low self-esteem who’ll do anything for a smidgen of acceptance, he might steal a few of mom’s Xanax to assist in his quest to get whack while chugging 40’s with his peeps, he’s cut in line at the cinema, and rumor has it that he once kicked a puppy. After the suicide of his best friend Spencer, Adam’s folks notice that he’s become increasingly withdrawn and behaving off kilter, and unable to effectively communicate with the kid in his time of duress, they decide to put spyware on his computer in the hopes this will give them a glimpse into what’s happening to their son. Mike Baye, Adam’s father and an accomplished surgeon, is against the idea, but his wife Tia eventually talks him into it, citing that it’s his responsibility as a father to protect his family and this is sadly part of the deal at this junction. Initially, their shady program uncovers distressing habits they would expect but are still a little uncomfortable having confirmed; the kid’s jacking off to bukkake videos, he’s pirated some Matchbox 20 songs (why, Lord, why?), and he’s friends with me on goodreads. These minor errs in judgment are completely cast aside when some of his IM conversations begin getting cryptic and seem to suggest their son might be getting involved in something a tad too dangerous and potentially illegal along with the son of the neighborhood cop, always a bad sign as those kids end up either total punks or policeman themselves, an undesirable fate either way. Concurrently, Spencer’s grief-stricken mother is playing Sherlock Holmes from home between snifters of cooking sherry and has come across some pretty solid evidence establishing that her son wasn’t alone on the night he allegedly committed suicide. When she presents this to the Baye’s, there’s no longer a doubt that something rotten is afoot.

As if this isn’t enough white-knuckle action, there are a few other storylines running through this clunker. A maniac named Nash is on a killing spree, and also menacing the local dive-bar denizens with his theory that if the bible is factual, than Adam and Eve’s children were either incestuous or monkey-fuckers to kick-start the human population. This absurdity provides an invitation for the inclusion of a wily female investigator, Loren Muse, following these irrational crimes and her valiant struggles to obtain and maintain respect in her nepotist precinct which refuses to take her seriously based solely on her gender. One of the Baye’s neighbor’s, a well-meaning-but-oft-shat-upon dude and his hairy, outcast daughter (befriended only by the Baye’s daughter, Jill, showing how prudently the focal family has imparted the concept of ‘seeing beneath the surface’ as their parental teachings) are used mainly as filler until their deeper involvement is uncovered. Lastly, Tia Baye is about as minor a major character as you can have, and while not acting as a privacy-invading tyrant at home, she’s a paralegal or something (I have no idea what a paralegal actually does) for an established ball-busting bitch who is finally giving Tia an opportunity to advance her career as her family begins falling apart. While the last does somewhat flesh out Tia’s character, the storyline itself is a failure from the start, as I wasn’t expecting the wife of a transplant surgeon to be hard up enough for employment to completely disregard her family in dire straits.

All of these elements eventually converge to form the sort of hokey climax which can be expected of the typical NY Times Bestseller in this day and age.

Now, nobody has actually approached me demanding an explanation for why I bothered to read this, but I really wish they would, as I’ve already got my alibi worked out, so I figure it would be a shame not to share it. I’d seen this book on the best-seller rack at the grocery store a few times, and actually managed to avoid giving in to the temptation of paying $9.99 for it. This was mainly because I couldn’t possibly justify spending ten bucks on a paperback. And even though I’ve recently been given some very sound advice from a fellow goodreader “if you wouldn’t buy it a cover price don’t buy it on sale” I hadn’t been clued in to this wisdom when I read Hold Tight and was ecstatic to save $9.49 by picking it up used. What had me intrigued was the whole spyware angle, I was totally sold on a story which vilifies this practice and exposes this software as the devil’s work. This is because my crazy girlfriend has spyware on this very computer, some shit called Specter Pro and a ‘keylogger’, which might be one and the same program, I’m unfortunately about a tenth as computer savvy as she is and I’m not really sure. This has proved to be somewhat inconvenient for a former scoundrel such as myself, and also seems a bit unfair seeing as this is a pretty one-sided deal, as I have no such methods of gathering intelligence on her activity. Now, I should probably confess that I’ve done things in the past which certainly tarnish my standing as a mate, and that a little heightened surveillance is probably warranted, but where this logic fails is assuming that it’s happening on the computer, as none of my actual wrongdoings involved email or instant messaging. What the hell am I going to do, talk all raw and nasty to someone and hump the floppy drive? Even if I did, is that so wrong, hell, that’s a shameful egg on my face, sister. In spite of years of walking the straight and narrow, the stigma lingers, and the Specter Pro remains, utilizing copious amounts of the computer’s memory/RAM stuff and causing it to run slower than a Biggest Loser contestant with diarrhea.

Everyone I’ve related this story to has asked why I put up with it. And that’s a pretty good question, isn’t trust supposed to be an integral part of a healthy relationship? At the same time, I also seem to see the sense in her assertion that if I have nothing to hide, what’s the big deal? These two points of view have proved irreconcilable over the years, and needless to say, my desire for continued intercourse with her has trumped my moral standings on the issue. Also, I do have to say that if there was anything of a computer-related nature which could have resulted in my behaving badly, constant fear of Big Brother keeps me in line (even though I’m still routinely bitched out at for things, which never ceases to amaze me, such as accepting a Facebook friend invitation from people I’ve never gotten my freak on with).

So, having firsthand experience as a tragic victim of the spyware epidemic begat by insecure significant others and paranoid parents the world over, I thought that I’d have some sort of commonality with this book making it more interesting, but unfortunately, none of my shenanigans were as remarkable as to involve teenage prescription drug abuse and a former black ops agent gone homicidal, only making me feel as if I’m not living my life to its fullest potential.
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May 04, 2009 Ian Mapp rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Breathless is the word that I would use to describe this. Coben has carved a niche on the holiday/plane thriller and delivers another book that ticks all the boxes, provided you dont think about things too much.

As with much of his work, it starts with a computer. Mike and Tia load spying software on their son, adams, computer. His friend has killed himself and they are worried about him. Quite right, as he soon goes missing,

Fine start and Coben layers on the intrigue. In split narrative, we have...more Breathless is the word that I would use to describe this. Coben has carved a niche on the holiday/plane thriller and delivers another book that ticks all the boxes, provided you dont think about things too much.

As with much of his work, it starts with a computer. Mike and Tia load spying software on their son, adams, computer. His friend has killed himself and they are worried about him. Quite right, as he soon goes missing,

Fine start and Coben layers on the intrigue. In split narrative, we have a couple of psychos targetting middle aged women and killing them for some imagined slight, Then we have a couple whos son needs a kidney transplant and they cant use the father as he is not the biological father (more intrigue) and a teacher who has verbally insulted a hairy schoolgirl.

How can all these threads come together?

Throw in a gang of emos with handguns and some supporting characters who are there purely to pull a rabbit out the hat when they are required (the friend who can solve maths puzzles, the huge bouncer who happened to go to the same school as Mike) and who have a modern day thriller. Just dont think about it!

So, its all to do with prescriptions. Mike is a Doctors, Adams suicide friend was stealing the books and selling the drugs through the emos on the black market. Breathless - wait a minute.

One of the murdered women is the mother of the hairy girl, who slept with the teacher who provided the insult to record the event for blackmail purposes.

Ok - so who did the teacher get to kill her, and her friend. Only a psycho special forces brother in law, who was married to his sister. And his psychologically damaged serbian girlfriend. Quite why they put in so much effort for a sex tape remains to be discussed.

All this nit picking would make you think I didnt enjoy it, but for at least 3/4 of the book it was a real page turner. For me, once all the players and motives had been revealed it was so OTT that you just wanted it over, but to that point, it was excellent.

And the couple and their ill son - she was raped and never told her husband.... She killed the rapist, who was a brother of the teacher. Was this final twist really necessary?(less)

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Mar 20, 2009 Gina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, mystery, suspense

Hold tight to what? (enter sarcasm here)

Tia and Mike Baye are worried. Since the death of their son’s best friend, Spencer, Adam has become withdrawn. Something’s wrong, and Tia convinces Mike to have software installed on Adam’s computer so that they can try to figure out what’s wrong. Mike is uneasy with this decision, for they are invading their son’s privacy. Would the lack of trust tear their family apart?

Tia prints out the report from Adam’s computer and goes through it. The cryptic messag...more Hold tight to what? (enter sarcasm here)

Tia and Mike Baye are worried. Since the death of their son’s best friend, Spencer, Adam has become withdrawn. Something’s wrong, and Tia convinces Mike to have software installed on Adam’s computer so that they can try to figure out what’s wrong. Mike is uneasy with this decision, for they are invading their son’s privacy. Would the lack of trust tear their family apart?

Tia prints out the report from Adam’s computer and goes through it. The cryptic message - “just stay quiet an all safe” - is alarming to both, Tia and Mike. Stay quiet? Why? What’s going on? They decide they have to do something. One e-mail on Adam’s computer is talking about a party, a party that Mike and Tia do not want Adam attending. With the idea of stopping him, Mike tells Adam that they’re going to a hockey game with, but Adam doesn’t show up. He’s taken off, and his parents are desperate to find him.

Tia and Mike’s daughter, Jill, is friends with Yasmin Novak. Yasmin has become an angry and hurt little girl; her teacher, Joe Lewiston, made the mistake of singling her out in class, and now she is incessantly being made fun of.

Joe Lewiston is sorry for what he’s done, no one understands how sorry. And now he’s become jumpy, going so far as to change the password on his wife’s e-mail account so that she doesn’t see what’s being sent to her.

Yasmin’s father, Guy, has taken to driving by the Lewiston’s home, slowing down as he goes by.

They Bayes neighbors are having a rough time. Their ten-year-old son is sick and needs a kidney transplant. Now, usually the father is the perfect match, but after tests are run, not only is he not a match, he isn’t the biological father. What secret is Susan Loriman hiding?

Meanwhile, there’s a killer out there who murdered two women; he’s looking looking for answers.

**Where do I begin? The story started out strong. You learn who the characters are, what they do, their worries, their frustrations. You get that something’s wrong. There’s a mystery and suspense, and you’re right with the parents as they search for their son.

All these story lines are connected, but it’s the coincidences that I had a very hard time with. How everything’s connected, by the smallest things, had me shaking my head. Unbelievable is what they were. Just when you think there’s a grander scale, everything is put to small individual things being linked together and it was ridiculous! (and here I am repeating myself!) And the reader is made to believe it! That just made it all that much more absurd!

I have to admit, though, the main point was brought up as parents point of view and beliefs. How far would you go to protect your child? Would you spy on them? Would you do what they Bayes did? And what of the consequences should your child find out you invaded their privacy? At what point do you let them go? And should your child find out, how would you go about repairing the damage? I liked that part - it had me thinking of what I would do once my kids hit that age.

The mystery, as far as the Baye family was concerned, was excellent. The rest, to me, was filler. I wished that Mr. Coben had concentrated on that alone, the rest was distracting. Not a bad book, but not high on my list of recommendations.(less)

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Jan 22, 2009 Celia Powell rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: thrillers-crime

Very mediocre thriller. Ridiculous plot (the "crazed" killer was laughable), and very cardboard characters - the parents trying to decide in a very stagey way whether or not to install spy software on their son's computer and then discovering a strange exchange of instant messages, the bitch lawyer who has never had kids, blah blah blah.

The writing was the last straw really - the paragraph below is the dramatic ending. A confession has been made - Hester is the bitch lawyer, LeCrue and Duncan a...more

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Sep 01, 2008 Yulia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: criminal-intent, read-to-me-by-frank

Coben should again be commended for his accurate portrayal of men, women, teens, and tweens. But I have to wonder what Coben's personal obsession is with having all the characters in his books marry their first love (aw shucks, how sweet), having these marriages end almost never in divorce but in the untimely death of a partner, having those who cheat duly (and violently) punished for straying, and constantly reminding readers that his couples keep no secrets from each other and, when they do, a...more

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May 06, 2008 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: suspense-thriller

With anything that Harlan Coben writes, you expect certain things:
- A frenetic pace
- Strong characterization
- Plot twists and surprises
- An engaging story that makes it hard to put the book down.

This novel had all the above and more. The book is one of his best, making you identify with the frantic parents of the missing child and see snippets of what is happening with the teenager throughout the story.

Perhaps, what makes this novel stand out is the underlying theme within this book. With Hold...more

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Jan 08, 2009 Andrea rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Andrea by: library new book shelf

Shelves: police-detective-thriller

This book really only deserves 2.5 stars, but it carried me along on such a wave that I leaned toward the higher number rather than the lower.
There's a lot going on in this book - maybe too much for its own good. Yes, the threads all tie together in the end, sort of, but I think one or two subplots could have been eliminated without too much problem. And I think some of the "connections" ended up being a bit too convoluted to really be convincing. I also felt like there was too much "gee whiz, w...more

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Nov 01, 2010 Maggie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Holy Cow! This is every parent's worst nightmare, a kid gone missing. I'm impressed by the way Coben takes the everyday and pushes it to the edge in book after book.

The families Coben writes about are broken in little ways that on the surface might not seem bad. Underneath, though, those tiny fissures hide cracks in family dynamics that grab you by the throat and don't let go. You'll defintely be cheering for Mike to find his son in Hold Tight.

I read this book straight through. Hold Tight - you...more

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Aug 21, 2009 Boof rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009, thrillers-mystery-crime, usa

I listened to this on audiobook which was great fun while bombing up and down the M1 and the M4 in the last few days (traffic jams are so much less blood-boiling with a thriller to listen to).

I really enjoyed this. I must admit that some of the voices that the male reader acted were amusing - especially the 10 year old girls the female lawyer (I wouldn't like to meet her in a dark alley, sounding like that!). He also appeared to have a cold and hence Adam became Adamb etc. However, nasal congest...more

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Dec 17, 2009 Debby rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a rather tangled story of several families in one community who have several things in common, though the exact "what" that seems to bind them all together is not revealed until the end of the book. It's a story of troubled parents dealing with troubled kids and therefore, at times, the narrative can drone on waxing eloquent with a psychological or even philosophical tome. Yawn!!
Up until recently I would have given this at least 3 stars, probably 4. I mean, it's Harlan Coben!! But, I'm r...more

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Aug 13, 2008 Lain rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wow, wow, WOW! I challenge anyone to begin this book and then manage to put it down before the very end. Reading it is like eating Lay's potato chips... you can't read just one (page, that is!).

Gripping, exciting, interesting, unique... what appears to be two or three separate stories weave in, out and around each other until the final pages, when all is wrapped up... but not in an unbelievable, deus ex machina way, but in a "Oh my gosh, so THAT'S what was happening" way. I loved the juxtaposit...more

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Jan 01, 2009 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am a fan of Harlan Coben's, but this wasn't my favorite of his books. Yes, the plot had many unexpected twists and turns and kept me guessing up until the end. But I thought he wove too many stories together, making it hard to follow. Also, I thought the story line with the daughter was wrapped up a little too neatly at the end. If you're a parent, this book explores some current moral dilemmas in parenting--namely, how much is it permissible to invade your child's privacy? Coben blends his ch...more

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Jun 18, 2009 Melanie Peake rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was underwhelmed by this. I must admit that Harlan Coben isn’t an author I’d usually pick up, but I read a synopsis in the Good Book Guide, and thought it looked suitably thrilling! It wasn’t. The plot took far too long to set up for a start. When all the disparate threads in what I’m sure was meant to be a labyrinthine plot finally came together, the pay-off really didn’t justify all the spuddling around for the first 200-odd pages. I probably wouldn’t try another Coben.....unless anyone thin...more

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Aug 31, 2008 Moira rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Beckie Weinheimer for the study in teenage angst it offers

I really couldn't put this one down. I love Coben's Myron Bolitar books, but I think his other fiction raises more interesting questions and is even more intriguing. Certainly this one was fascinating and gut-wrenching. Anyone who has ever raised a teenager will recognize the dilemmas faced by parents who want to protect their children on the brink of adulthood while giving them the freedom to grow and to fail. And Coben touches on some interesting notions of the roots of evil in the character o...more

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May 02, 2013 LeeWhedon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mike and Tia Baye decide to spy on their son Adam, who has become moody and withdrawn since his friend’s suicide. They decide to install software on his computer that will enable them to see every website visited, every e-mail sent and received, etc. But how much do they really want to know?
One of the reasons I decided to read this book is because it is a story that addresses an ongoing concern in today's society -our childrens exposure to the internet and social media- and how much privacy we s...more

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Mar 08, 2013 Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, mystery-courtroom-drama

I didn't want to put it down - which is surprising for me, considering this is a book with so little character development. I understand why it was necessary (the plot moved so quickly and in so many different directions), and in the end I did care enough for the characters to be invested in what happened to them.

I just read Gone Girl and was really impressed with how many red herrings she had, and how she kept us guessing until the end. In contrast, this book seemed to have so many unrelated st...more

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Mar 05, 2013 Kylee added it

The book that I read was called "Hold Tight" by Harlan Coben. It was about two parents, Tia and Mike Baye, and their struggle to find out what is going on with their son Adam. After the resent death of Adam's friend, Spencer Hill, they have noticed a change in him so they put a spyware on his computer to see exactly what is going on with him. While looking through his computer activity they find something strange, "Just stay quiet and all safe". That is a message sent to Adam from a mysterious c...more The book that I read was called "Hold Tight" by Harlan Coben. It was about two parents, Tia and Mike Baye, and their struggle to find out what is going on with their son Adam. After the resent death of Adam's friend, Spencer Hill, they have noticed a change in him so they put a spyware on his computer to see exactly what is going on with him. While looking through his computer activity they find something strange, "Just stay quiet and all safe". That is a message sent to Adam from a mysterious correspondent. By spying on their son it takes Mike and Tia on long journey to find out what is really going on and how Adam is connected with Spencer's suicide. The purpose of this book was to entertain the reader but also inform parents. Maybe Tia and Mike did the right thing for spying but not everyone is supposed to know everything going on in their kids lives. Get involved with them but not to go as far as spying on them, and in the end they both learned their lesson.

I think that the theme of this book is to look inside of other families and what they go through. Someone may think that a family or individual looks so happy on the outside but walk in their shoes and learn that there is so much more to someone then what is on the outside. This book demonstrates this theme very well. The Baye family looks so well put together and happy but then when you learn what they go through you realize that is something you never would have expected, not until you have gone through there long journey. Another example is their neighbors. The Loriman's keep it will together but in the inside they are falling apart. Lucas Loriman is the son and in need of a kidney transplant. By reading this book you learn that it is more than what meets the eye.

The style of this book was a narration. The author told the story through a series of events. There was many different things going on throughout the book, such as different people experiencing different situations like Mike and Tia Baye, the Lorimans, and also what Betsy Hill is going through as she copes with her sons suicide. I thought that the style helped a lot in making me understand what is going on better. The style was effective and if the style was anything different it would have been very hard to keep up with the book.

I liked this book a lot. I would recommend this book because it made me want to keep reading. The book was suspenseful and kept me at the edge of my seat. I also like how the author told the stories of all the different people and brought them all together at the end of the book.

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Jan 01, 2013 Tom Tischler rated it 4 of 5 stars

Tia and Mike Baye never imagined in a million years that they
would become spying parents. But when their 16 year old son
Adam becomes unusually distant after the suicide of his friend
Spencer Hill they have spy hardware installed on his computer
and within days they are jolted by a message. Stay quiet and
all will be well. Meanwhile Betsy Hill, Spencers mother is
browsing through an on line memorial for her son when she is
struck by a photo that appears to have been taken on the
night of Spencers...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, for-thinkers, murder, mystery, own-the-book, thriller, will-check-out-more-from-author

I had read Just One Look maybe about a year or so ago. After that, even though I liked his writing and the style of book, I didn't think to read him again until I bought a Caught on clearance. After that, I wanted to read more. I didn't think or know any of his books were in order or if there was a certain connection to anything. Since it had been a while between reading 'Just One Look' and 'Caught', I didn't notice any connection. But reading Hold Tight so quickly after reading 'Caught', I was...more

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Sep 12, 2012 Col rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, c

BLURB........ Tia and Mike Baye never imagined they’d spy on their kids. But their sixteen-year-old son Adam has been unusually distant lately, and after the suicide of his best friend Spencer Hill, they can’t help but worry. Within days of installing a sophisticated spy program on Adam’s computer they are jolted by a cryptic message from an unknown correspondent that shakes them to their core: “Just stay quiet and all safe.”

As if Mike Baye isn’t dealing with enough, he also learns that Lucas Lo...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Michelle Randall rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: murder, mystery, suicide

If you have read any of my reviews, you might already know that once I discovered writer, Harlan Coben, I have falling in love with his ability and stories. I love the way he writes, how done to earth and real life his books seem to be and how engaging they are. So when I found this book at the local Goodwill store, I was in seventh heaven!

On the surface, this seems like a book that any parent would read and be involved in. Tia and Mike Baye are spying on their own son, well at least his online...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Alex rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller, domestic-thriller

HOLD TIGHT (pub. 2009) is a great read and Harlan Coben well-earned the title of #1 NY Times Bestseller with this book. Billed as a domestic thriller, HOLD TIGHT is all thriller without the spies and world-threat seen in most bestsellers, which is one of the aspects that make it so enjoyable. This is not a cookie cutter story by any means. Coben's writing style is at its best, without the kitschy clutter seen in some of his other works. I absolutely could not put it down.

A successful suburban fa...more HOLD TIGHT (pub. 2009) is a great read and Harlan Coben well-earned the title of #1 NY Times Bestseller with this book. Billed as a domestic thriller, HOLD TIGHT is all thriller without the spies and world-threat seen in most bestsellers, which is one of the aspects that make it so enjoyable. This is not a cookie cutter story by any means. Coben's writing style is at its best, without the kitschy clutter seen in some of his other works. I absolutely could not put it down.

A successful suburban family's lives are rocked to the core when their teenaged son becomes enmeshed with an illicit pill mill skating under the guise of a teen community center. That premise alone doesn't sound all that exciting but what makes this book sing is a combination of intricately woven plot points and great characterization along with never-ending tension and conflict. It also carries a few subtle reminders to us all on where we can go wrong in our lives.

Mike and Tia Baye have a strong marriage, he's a surgeon, she's a housewife who's recently sequed to junior attorney. They become concerned when their son's behavior turns for the worse and they install a tracking software on his computer which quickly leads them all down a nightmare path. The antagonist is a relentless sociopathic killer with mixed up goals and a surprising hidden agenda. Although the cops get involved due to the grisly murders, the story is not focused on solving the murders, but rather around what is going on with the Baye's son. However, in the end it all weaves together, which greatly adds to the tension and what's-gonna-happen-next for the reader.

The Baye family must interact with neighbors in the process of performing their careers and the search for their son. As the stakes grow higher, they soon realize that things are not what they seem with any of the neighbors and as the truths come to light the threat to their family increases.

There are several interesting and unexpected twists. The climax is well thought-out and the ending is satisfying right up to the last page. I wouldn't change a thing and will likely read this book again down the road. (less)

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Jun 02, 2012 Joan Reeves rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: joan-s-keeper-shelf, mystery-thriller

Hold Tight & Hang On To Your Hat

I stayed up all night to finish this book because once I was on that accelerating train, I couldn't put it down even though the subject matter, parental fear about the many things that can destroy a teen's life, isn't one of my favorite things to read. There's just too much crap in real life that can entrap a teen and destroy lives so it's not my idea of a fun entertainment.

The book pushed my buttons beginning with the back cover quote from the New York Times:...more

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About Harlan Coben

With over 50 million books in print worldwide, Harlan Coben’s last six consecutive novels, SIX YEARS, STAY CLOSE, LIVE WIRE, CAUGHT, LONG LOST and HOLD TIGHT all debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and lists around the world. His first Young Adult novel SHELTER was just released in paperback, and the second in the Mickey Bolitar series, SECONDS AWAY, was released on September 18th....more With over 50 million books in print worldwide, Harlan Coben’s last six consecutive novels, SIX YEARS, STAY CLOSE, LIVE WIRE, CAUGHT, LONG LOST and HOLD TIGHT all debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and lists around the world. His first Young Adult novel SHELTER was just released in paperback, and the second in the Mickey Bolitar series, SECONDS AWAY, was released on September 18th. His books are published in 41 languages around the globe and have been number one bestsellers in over a dozen countries.

Winner of the Edgar Award, Shamus Award and Anthony Award – the first author to win all three – international bestselling author Harlan Coben’s critically-acclaimed novels have been called “ingenious” (New York Times), “poignant and insightful” (Los Angeles Times), “consistently entertaining” (Houston Chronicle), “superb” (Chicago Tribune) and “must reading” (Philadelphia Inquirer).

Harlan’s novel TELL NO ONE has been turned into the commercial and critical smash hit French film of the same name, starring Francois Cluzet and Kristin Scott Thomas. The movie was the top box office foreign-language film of the year in USA, won the Lumiere (French Golden Globe) for best picture and was nominated for nine Cesars (French Oscar) and won four, including best actor, best director and best music. To see the trailer, click here and for stills and to see Harlan appearing in the film, visit our gallery page. The movie is now available in DVD and Blu-Ray. An American/Hollywood remake is in the works.

In his first books, Coben immersed himself in the exploits of sports agent Myron Bolitar. Critics loved the series, saying, “You race to turn pages…both suspenseful and often surprisingly funny” (People). After seven books Coben wanted to try something different. “I came up with a great idea that simply would not work for Myron,” says Coben. The result was the critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller TELL NO ONE, which became the most decorated thriller of 2001 – nominated for an Edgar, an Anthony, a Macavity, a Nero, and a Barry; winner of the Audie Award for Best Audio Mystery/Suspense Book (read by Steven Weber); and a #1 hardcover book on the Book Sense 76 list. Coben followed the success of TELL NO ONE with the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers GONE FOR GOOD (2002), NO SECOND CHANCE (2003), and JUST ONE LOOK (2004) and THE INNOCENT (2005). Bookspan, recognizing Coben’s broad international appeal, named NO SECOND CHANCE its first ever International Book of the Month in 2003 – the Main Selection in 15 different countries.

Coben was the first writer in more than a decade to be invited to write fiction for the NEW YORK TIMES op-ed page. His Father’s Day short story, THE KEY TO MY FATHER, appeared June 15, 2003. His essays and columns have appeared in many top publications including the New York Times, Parade Magazine and Bloomberg Views.

Since his critically-acclaimed Myron Bolitar series debuted in 1995, Harlan Coben has won the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Allan Poe Award and was nominated for the Edgar two other times. Harlan also won the Anthony Award at the World Mystery Conference, was nominated for another Anthony Award, won the Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America, was nominated for another Shamus, and was twice nominated for the Dilys Award by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

In the United Kingdom, his novel ONE FALSE MOVE earned him the prestigious “Fresh Talent Award”, given annually by Great Britain’s largest bookstore chain, W. H. Smith, and GONE FOR GOOD won the W. H. SMITH “Thumping Good Read” Award. In France, TELL NO ONE (NE LE DIS A PERSONE) won Le Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle for fiction. His novels have been PEOPLE magazine Page-Turners of the Week and a Publishers Weekly Best of the Year pick.

Harlan was born in Newark, New Jersey. After graduating from Amherst College a political science major, Harlan worked in the travel industry. He no(less)

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Quotes from Hold Tight

“I used to wonder why Lucy liked those songs so much. You know what I mean? She sits in the dark and listens and cries. Music does that to her...I didn't understand for a long time. But I do now. The sad songs are a safe hurt. It's a diversion. It's controlled. And maybe it helps you imagine that real pain will be like that. But it's not. Lucy knows that, of course. You can't prepare for real pain. You just have to let it rip you apart.” — 6 people liked it

“Man plans, God laughs” — 5 people liked it

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