Product Description

Some mistakes can change your life forever….

The horror of one night is forever etched in Matt Hunter’s memory: the night he innocently tried to break up a fight—and ended up a killer. Now, nine years after his release from prison, his innocence long forgotten, he’s an ex-con who takes nothing for granted. With his wife, Olivia, pregnant and the two of them closing on a house in his home town, things are looking up. Until the day Matt gets a shocking, inexplicable video call from Olivia’s phone. And in an instant, the unraveling begins.

A mysterious man who begins tailing Matt turns up dead. A beloved nun is murdered. And local and federal authorities--including homicide investigator, Loren Muse, a childhood schoolmate of Matt’s with a troubled past of her own-- see all signs pointing to a former criminal with one murder already under his belt: Matt Hunter. Unwilling to lose everything for a second time, Matt and Olivia are forced outside the law in a desperate attempt to save their future together.

An electrifying thrill-ride of a novel that peeks behind the white picket fences of suburbia, THE INNOCENT is at once a twisting, turning, emotionally-charged story, and a compelling tale of the choices we make and the repercussions that never leave us.

Includes the exclusive short story
Rise and Fall of SuperD
Featuring Myron Bolitar

Advanced Praise:

“Coben surpasses Jeffrey Deaver as the most generous plotter in the thriller racket”
—Kirkus (starred review)

“Coben seems to delight in making bad things happen to good people, and he does it again in this, his best book to date.”
—Publishers Weekly

For Just One Look

“Harlan Coben is the modern master of the hook-and-twist--luring you in on the first page, only to shock you on the last.”
--Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code

“Stocked with fascinatingly creepy characters, Coben’s keeps-you-guessing mystery is terrifying. The tension doesn’t build slowly; it snaps and crackles right from the get- go…The only plausible reason for setting down this book is to make sure your front door is locked and double-bolted.”
—People

“[Just One Look] is so well-written and compelling. . . .It’s only when the last page turns that the reader has a chance to breathe, say ‘Wow!’ and marvel at the impressively interconnected structure. . . . Just One Look opens up—over many pages—like an elegantly constructed puzzle box.”
—San Jose Mercury News

“Just as Alfred Hitchcock carved out a niche with films about a seemingly innocent person caught in machinations beyond comprehension, Harlan Coben is earning a reputation for creating the literary equivalent. . . . Just One Look delivers more than its share of thrills and keeps us engrossed by the strong characters and fast-clipped plot. . . . Hitchcock would be envious.”
—Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

“What Hitchcock did for the shower, Coben does for the cell phone... As usual with Coben, an intriguing start, hinging on one out-of-whack technological trick, hurtles into a fast-paced hunter-and-hunted drama. First rate.”
--Booklist (starred review)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #226320 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

Amazon.com Review
Matt Hunter made a mistake when he was 20 years old and paid for it with a four-year stint in prison that left him with a determination never to be locked up again. Finally, his life is back on the promising track he was taking before he accidentally killed a man: He has a good job, a newly pregnant wife he adores, and is about to close on the home of their dreams. Then he gets a couple of bizarre photos on his cell phone that seem to show his wife in a compromising position with a black-haired stranger. But before he can sort out who sent the anonymous pictures and why, he's running from the law--especially from the cop who was his best friend in grade school, and a sharp young detective who's stepped right into the middle of an FBI investigation spurred by the discovery that a dead nun who wasn't who she claimed to be is somehow mixed up in Matt and Olivia Hunter's life. Coben deftly wields a complicated plot involving a missing stripper, a dead gangster, an incriminating videotape, and a couple of agents who aren't quite who they seem to be, while Hunter manages to hold onto his faith in Olivia despite her clouded past and uncertain future. Like all Coben's protagonists, (including the hero of his popular series starring sports agent turned detective Myron Bolitar) Hunter is a nice, middle-class New Jersey boy who's still the innocent of the title, despite the miscarriage of justice that sent him to prison. Or was it? That's the moral question at the heart of this tightly constructed thriller, which will no doubt shoot directly to the top of the bestseller list, and deservedly so. --Jane Adams

Amazon.com Exclusive Content

A Bit of Bolitar: An Exclusive Essay by Harlan Coben

Beloved series character Myron Bolitar appears in a new short story included with Harlan Coben's latest thriller, The Innocent. In this Amazon.com exclusive essay, Coben shares his thoughts on Bolitar's return.

From AudioFile
Harlan Coben is a master at turning ordinary lives upside down. In THE INNOCENT, a man's life is coming apart---for the second time. Matt Hunter, an ex-con trying to live down his past, is jolted from his suburban life when he becomes the prime suspect in a murder. In the prologue, Scott Brick's narration introduces a guileless Matt, the innocent Maine college boy who tries to break up a fight and causes a death. Later, released from prison, Brick is appropriately cautious as Matt reenters society and beleaguered when Matt tries to find out the truth. Murder and menace color even the most improbable situations, and Brick makes it all believable. Coben's serpentine plot twists and Brick's intense performance make this choice listening. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

GOOD TILL THE END
I was really into this book until the end. I get very annoyed when a book is exciting and suspenseful and then in the end beyond belief. My big question at the end was how did Sister Mary Rose know where the daughter was to contact her in the first place. (I had guessed who she was early on.) Maybe I missed something along the way - I did go back to see if I had, but could find nothing.

I definitely enjoy Coben's style and wit. However, this is the second book I have read of his where the ending just didn't stack up to the overall book. However, I might try one more, as he is an entertaining writer.

A serious page turner
A thriller that grabs you from the beginning and doesn't disappoint. Characters and situations that are gripping and engaging. Not a classic by any means, but a good fun read if you are into thrillers.

Simple Plot with Complex Twists
Harlan Coben has yet to disappoint me. The Innocent is really not an overly complex plot, yet at the same time it offered depth that really kept me interested. The characters have complex personalities and the plot twists, as with all of Coben's books that I've read, continue to surprise the reader.