The Woods
by Harlan Coben
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Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
people who like a mystery
I liked this book because it was a "couldn't put down" kind of book. I wanted to keep reading it to find out what's going on now.
Paul Copeland is a County Prosecutor who along with his parents and sister Camille,were from Russia and moved to the US when Paul was 4 yrs old. In the present day-Paul is a widower and has a 6 yr old Daughter. Go back 20 yrs,when Paul was a teenager who helped out at a camp that the rich kids as well as the not to well off kids would spend their days in t...more
Paul Copeland is a County Prosecutor who along with his parents and sister Camille,were from Russia and moved to the US when Paul was 4 yrs old. In the present day-Paul is a widower and has a 6 yr old Daughter. Go back 20 yrs,when Paul was a teenager who helped out at a camp that the rich kids as well as the not to well off kids would spend their days in t...more
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Read in April, 2007
THE WOODS (Suspense-New Jersey-Cont) – Okay
Coben, Harlan – Standalone
Dutton, 2007, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9780525950127
First Sentence: I see my father with that shovel.
*** New Jersey attorney Paul Copeland “Cope” is in midst of an important trial prosecuting two boys--one the son of a wealthy, powerful man—for raping a black prostitute. When a homicide victim brings to police to Cope’s door. Cope identifies the man as someone everyone believed had been murdered in the wood...more
Coben, Harlan – Standalone
Dutton, 2007, US Hardcover – ISBN: 9780525950127
First Sentence: I see my father with that shovel.
*** New Jersey attorney Paul Copeland “Cope” is in midst of an important trial prosecuting two boys--one the son of a wealthy, powerful man—for raping a black prostitute. When a homicide victim brings to police to Cope’s door. Cope identifies the man as someone everyone believed had been murdered in the wood...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
thrill readers
I disliked the last Harlan Coben book I read (Dealbreaker) so much, that I thought I had sworn him off as an author, but after flying from Seattle to Taipei and finishing both of my books that I had brought already, I found myself in a bookstore at the Taipei airport hoping to find anything that I could buy, in English, that I had heard of.
I hadn't heard of this book, but I had the author and took a risk and bought it.
I loved it! This is my absolute favorite kind of thriller.
A teenag...more
I hadn't heard of this book, but I had the author and took a risk and bought it.
I loved it! This is my absolute favorite kind of thriller.
A teenag...more
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Read in July, 2007
I started this one on my lunch break yesterday. So good. There's a lot of dialogue, which makes the 400 pages fly by, and a mystery that's extremely, well, mysterious. It's written in first person, which usually I don't like, and was still just the tiniest bit annoying here, but it didn't get too much in my way. The main character is a county prosecuter who is prosecuting two rich white boys for raping a black girl. The boys' fathers sic private detectives on him to dig up dirt on him, whic...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
Mystery Lovers
From Publishers Weekly
At the start of this disappointing stand-alone from bestseller Coben (Promise Me), Paul "Cope" Copeland, acting county prosecutor for Essex County, N.J., and Lucy Gold, his long-lost summer camp love, are still haunted by a fateful night, decades earlier, when their nighttime tryst allowed some younger campers, including Cope's sister, to venture into the nearby forest, where they apparently fell victim to the Summer Slasher, a serial killer. Cope's intense focu...more
At the start of this disappointing stand-alone from bestseller Coben (Promise Me), Paul "Cope" Copeland, acting county prosecutor for Essex County, N.J., and Lucy Gold, his long-lost summer camp love, are still haunted by a fateful night, decades earlier, when their nighttime tryst allowed some younger campers, including Cope's sister, to venture into the nearby forest, where they apparently fell victim to the Summer Slasher, a serial killer. Cope's intense focu...more
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Read in December, 2007
This is just taking me forever to finish for some reason. I think it could have been just a tad shorter, as it was dragging for some time there. I kinda had forgotten by the end a bunch of stuff that happened at the beginning (one of those "was that this same book?" deals). But the overall plot has been interesting enough to keep me listening. There have been a couple weird beefs I have though, I'm not sure if it's author specific since this my first encounter with him. But like d...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
suspense thriller fans
Harlan Coben does it again...gets you so wrapped up in the suspense & the story that you just can't put the book down. The main character Paul is a prosecutor who has a past that he'd prefer to forget...being at summer camp 20 years ago when 4 campers disappeared (one being his sister) and 2 were found dead, the other 2 never found. In the present day framework of a trial that seems to be taken straight from the headlines of the Duke lacrosse players case, the past slaps the prosecutor in ...more
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Read in April, 2008
recommended to Naomi by:
Omar Aziz
A friend gave me this book as a parting gift. It was intended as a 'in-flight' book but didn't quite make it as having started it, I couldn't rest until I had finished it. What attracted me most to this book was the characters - wholly believable and human with flesh as well as bones. Paul Copeland's dilemma of ethics (tell a lie to save a friend/leave the past buried or dig it up etc) was thought provoking and caused true thrill, mostly because these are questions we all face (though perhaps in...more
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Read in July, 2007
I feel insulted having read this book. The dialogue is overly simplistic, unrealistic – are these humans or robots? The characters are flat and dull. The writing in general is terribly bad. The story had premise, but the author did not know what to make of the idea and simply produced a terrible mystery novel. In fact, the entire story is implausible and the rushed explanations in the end were simply, well, stupid. Predictable and lame are the only words I have for this no...more
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Read in May, 2007
WOW - this is a great book by a fab writer! Harlen Coben is a great choice for anyone interested in mystery/thrillers. His books are similiar to Patterson (a few years ago when he was at the top of his game) but his main characters are funnier and more real, meaning flawed.
This book is a thriller involving a murder of four teens that took place 20 years ago at a camp when they went into the woods (two bodies were never found). The main guy, Paul, starts to look back at that time when on...more
This book is a thriller involving a murder of four teens that took place 20 years ago at a camp when they went into the woods (two bodies were never found). The main guy, Paul, starts to look back at that time when on...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
mystery/thriller fans
This was my first time reading something by Coben. I have to say that I am a fan. This was a great read that didn't take me too long to finish. I can see why we have a hard time keeping any of his books on the shelves at the library. I thought the original story was interesting, so I checked it out. Wow, there were so many different turns and revelations. It was very true to life though. Do we ever really know those closest to us? I also loved the sarcastic character of Cope. He was a great &quo...more
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Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
thriller lovers
mr. coben has a good working formula down pat.
a. someone died a long time ago but are they really dead?
b. someone went missing a long time ago and have already been proclaimed dead but gosh, could that person still be alive?
c. someone's past (i.e. someone either missing or dead) is going to come back and haunt the present.
in this novel, it's all 3! but luckily for mr. coben, it actually kinda works! it's a gripping thriller that i couldn't put down hence that's why i finished t...more
a. someone died a long time ago but are they really dead?
b. someone went missing a long time ago and have already been proclaimed dead but gosh, could that person still be alive?
c. someone's past (i.e. someone either missing or dead) is going to come back and haunt the present.
in this novel, it's all 3! but luckily for mr. coben, it actually kinda works! it's a gripping thriller that i couldn't put down hence that's why i finished t...more
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recommends it for:
Mystery Lovers
Pretty much all of Coben's book are page turners (well, except for "Promise Me") and this one is no different. It wasn't his best (I'm still stuck on "Tell No One") but it was ONE of his best. Though it's been in my "currently reading" section, I actually just started it yesterday and before I made my way to bed last night, I was done--it was that good. Lots of twists and turns, you certainly have to pay attention, but that's what makes it so captivating. I wasn't a...more
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Read in May, 2008
This was a very interesting, well written story. Like most of Coben's books, it focussed on secrets from the past coming back to haunt - in this case, what happened to the sister who went into the woods next to the summer with her boyfriend and another couple when the narrator, now a county DA, was on duty. Two bodies were found, but not the sister. Of course, learning the truth, uncovers other secrets from the past as well. The ending was a little unsettling, though - seemed to suggest the ...more
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This mystery/thriller type story involves a county prosecutor, Paul, who's had more than his share of tragedy--his sister disappeared twenty years ago, presumably murdered along with several other campers at the summer camp where Paul was a counselor; his mother left him; his wife died of cancer. When a dead man is discovered who may be tied to the summer camp murder case, things go haywire. The writing in this novel is often ham-fisted and overly dramatic, but the story moves quickly and was pr...more
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Read in January, 2008
Out and out compelling thriller/mystery! 4 teenagers were murdered in the woods at a summer camp 20 years ago, including Paul's sister. Paul was a counselor who was supposed to be on watch that night, but instead snuck away to be with his girlfriend. Now he is the County Prosector involved in a high profile case, and one of the victims from 20 years ago turns up - dead. What really happened 20 years ago? A great mix of serial killing, Russian KBG, young love, 60's hippies, rich college boys on t...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
someone who doesn't mind a predictable read
I have read all of Harlan Coben's books. They are pretty much all the same book with different names, some don't even HAVE different names! It's like all of his characters know each other from school/camp/sports/work, work with each other in a school/law office/doctor's office/nightclub, have slept with each other's sister/spouse/ex-girlfriend/mother, and all of these people are sticking their noses where they don't belong and some goon/psycho/ex-lover is going to come after them.
And yet, I ...more
And yet, I ...more
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Read in March, 2007
I hadn't read an adult novel in a long time. A friend recommended this book, and before I knew it, I wasn't able to put the book down! This suspense novel kept me wondering until the very end. The story of a 20-year-old unsolved murder appeared normal like any "cop" movie; however, the author takes tons of unexpected twists and turns that leaves you breathless at the turn of each page. Yes, I loved the book which is a far cry from all the young adult literature I've grown accustome...more
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to Joyce by:
browsing at libraryrecommends it for: adults or late teens
Twenty years ago four teenagers at Summer Camp disappeared into the woods. The bodies of two were later found. A serial killer serving life for other camp murders is suspected of having committed the murders. Now the disappearances are being looked into by a Prosecutor who also happens to be the brother of one of the missing people and who also worked at the camp at the time of the disappearance.
Well crafted, suspenseful with excellent character development. Coben never misses does he?
Well crafted, suspenseful with excellent character development. Coben never misses does he?
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Read in April, 2008
Pick this up in the airport because I was looking for a quick page turner to read on a business trip. Fairly good book for it's kind. Plot twist no realistic, but fit with the logic of the book. I was a little disappointed in the characterization of the lead femaale investigator. The author made her sound like old spinster with nothing better to do but work (and she's hardly old being that she's in her late 30s!). All in all diverting reading. More of a beach book than anything else.
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