Gone for Good
Gone for Good by Harlan Coben is a gripping crime mystery thriller that left me enthralled from start to finish.
Set in New Jersey, and written through the eyes of Jewish youth worker Will Klein, it revolves around the disappearance of Will’s brother Ken.
Accused of murder, falsely according to his family, Ken vanished to escape prosecution and retribution. Assumed dead, he reappears shortly before his mother’s death in the form of a photograph delivered to her.
Will finds the photo and starts investigating. At the same time, his girlfriend Sheila also disappears. Her fingerprints are found at a murder scene and she is later found murdered herself.
In turmoil, Will is supported by a well-connected friend Yogi Squares and begins to unravel the mystery.
I won’t give much away here, but there are more twists and turns than a Luna Park rollercoaster.
The book doesn’t moralise, doesn’t convey deep and meaningful themes and doesn’t give much social insight, except into the seedy underworld.
It does entertain through gripping and amusing narrative. As with any thriller there are elements that stretch belief, but who cares?
This was my first encounter with Coben and I’m now reading another of his novels called Deal Breaker.
I'm a 41-year-old father of four working as a newspaper editor at Mount Gambier in South Australia.
