Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
After three years, Coben (Hold Tight) returns to basketball star-turned-sports agent-turned-sleuth Myron Bolitar, while retaining a good deal of the twists and turns found in his stand-alone thrillers. An unexpected phone call from an old flame, Terese, brings Myron to Paris to help her unravel a mystery involving her ex-husband. Turns out that the CIA, Terese's long-dead daughter, an antiabortion group, a stem cell clinic, and-oh, yeah-al-Qaeda are also involved. In a lesser writer's hands, this could have been ridiculous, but Coben is the master of taking impossible, even outlandish situations and somehow making them realistic. This is sure to please both Bolitar fans and those who have only read Coben's roller coaster-ride thrillers. Bolitar and his quirky series cohorts are fully introduced, allowing newcomers a seamless entry. Highly recommended for all popular fiction collections.-Rebecca Vnuk, Glen Ellyn P.L., IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publishers Weekly Review
Crime-stopper extraordinaire Myron Bolitar returns in this rousing thriller by bestseller Coben. This time around, Bolitar heads to Paris to heed the distress call from his former lover, Terese Collins, whom he hasn't seen in more than 10 years. She has since lived out her dream of marrying and starting a family, but her perfect life has been shattered, and Bolitar must pick up the pieces. Steven Weber gives an inspired, well-crafted reading that elevates Bolitar from flat, one-dimensionality to a flawed and fully believable character. Weber's other characterizations are equally original; he is interested and invested in the story from the get-go. A Dutton hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 2). (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Mutli-award-winning author Coben returns to the series that kick-started his red-hot career in his latest novel starring Harvard-educated sports agent/private eye Myron Bolitar (after Promise Me, 2006). Myron hasn't had contact with Teresa Collins in seven years, so he is taken aback by her early-morning phone call from Paris. Her ex-husband, who begged her to meet him there, is missing, and she needs Myron's help. Before they can launch a search, however, they are taken into custody by the French police; it seems Teresa's husband has been murdered, and she is the prime suspect. One other unexpected complication: DNA found at the scene of the crime appears to belong to the couple's daughter, except their daughter has been dead for years. Just when Myron starts making progress on putting the pieces together, he is kidnapped by a covert organization and subjected to intense torture. Myron wakes up in a hospital back in the U.S. in bad mental and physical shape but is immediately sheltered by his loyal staff, including Win, his blueblooded business partner, and Esperanza, a former wrestling star turned lawyer. Their easygoing, humorous camaraderie as well as Coben's chilling incorporation of modern medical technology and modern interrogation techniques make this novel hard to put down. Coben puts a wicked topical spin on Children of the Corn in an action-packed thriller with a horrific yet credible premise.--Wilkinson, Joanne Copyright 2009 Booklist
Kirkus Book Review
Agent Myron Bolitar returns in a case as twisty and ambitious as Coben's highly successful stand-alones (Hold Tight, 2008, etc.). It's been almost ten years since Myron last saw one-time news anchor Terese Collins in The Final Detail (1999). But that doesn't prevent her from emerging from seclusion in Angola to invite him for a weekend in Paris. Romance isn't all she has in mind, she confesses when Myron joins her. Her ex-husband Rick, a CNN investigative reporter, summoned her to the City of Lights because he had something desperately important to tell her. Before he can share his news, he's killed, and the blood found on the scene includes some that matches the DNA of his daughter Miriamwhich would be a shocking development even if Miriam hadn't been killed in a car accident ten years ago. At least now Myron has a hint as to what Rick wanted to tell his ex. And that's nice, because the mystery of the dead girl's blood rapidly balloons to involve Interpol, the FBI and a notorious international terrorist. As usual, Coben piles on the complications with a generous handhere's the fertility clinic that helped Terese get pregnant, there's the adoption agency Rick was investigating, and let's not forget the jurisdictional squabbles between different law-enforcement agencies. Fans are strongly advised to leave plenty of time to plow through the case at one sitting, as any delay would be fatal to the suspension of disbelief it demands. On the other hand, those few hours will leave the easy chair smoking. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.