[R3librarians] Tuesday's Trash & Treasures

[Cindy Franklin]

Librarians,

I've been a fan of Harlan Coben's mysteries for
several years.  Why do I like them?  Because I just can't figure
them out! He always surprises me in the end.  I love it!

However, when I saw one of his books on the Tayshas list this
year, I hesitated.  Although I had not yet read this particular
title, I knew that most of his earlier characters were quite colorful in
their language and lifetstyles (read:  on the seedier side of
life).  I wondered whether I could recommend The
Innocent to high school libraries.

So...I went to
check the book out from the public library.  I had to put it on
hold....his books are popular!  While I was waiting, I read another
of his newer titles:  Promise Me. 

The Innocent shows a tamer clientelle of characters
than Coben's earlier writings, so I think we'd all be safe adding it to
our collections.  It certainly is a thriller, as all of his books
are.  And because the main character is male, you can get some of
your male reluctant readers hooked.  Also, the main character has his
life completely changed because of a decision to take part in a fight at a
party.  Many of our students could relate.

Promise
Me, though, would be good for high school collections,
too, simply because it involves high school students being kidnapped,
dealing with getting into college, and dealing with dates who are too
drunk to drive them home.

Here are the official reviews from
Booklist for both books:

The Innocent by
Harlan Coben
ISBN: 0-525-94874-0
Interest Level: Adult

Booklist
*Starred Review* Thriller writer Coben
(who has won the Edgar, the Shamus, and the Anthony Awards, the trifecta
of mystery writing) specializes in adapting technology to new and
terrifying uses. What Hitchcock did for the shower, Coben does for the
cell phone. In his latest, a newly pregnant wife convinces her husband,
Matt Hunter, who has severe though irrational misgivings, that they should
buy a camera phone so they don't miss a minute of parenthood. She leaves
on a business trip, and quicker than you can think, "Photo
incoming," the husband receives an image of his wife with another man
in a hotel room. Someone starts tailing the husband. A nun is murdered.
The suspect is the devastated husband, Matt Hunter, because he
accidentally killed another college student in a street brawl nine years
before. Coben's prologue, which traces young Matt Hunter from childhood
through the moment on spring break when his life broke, sending him into
prison for four years, succeeds in getting you to care deeply about his
main character--and fast. The shadow of Matt's past lends richness to his
desperation to clear himself and to his agony that his newly reconstructed
life may be ripped away. 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. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights
reserved 




Promise Me by
Harlan Coben
ISBN: 0-525-94949-6
Interest Level: Adult


Booklist starred (April 1, 2006 (Vol. 102, No. 15))

Coben, the reigning master of clockwork suspense, and
winner of the trifecta of mystery-writing honors--the Edgar, the Agatha,
and the Shamus--produces a fascinating hybrid thriller here. Coben began
his career writing detective novels starring Myron Bolitar, an ex-Celtics
basketball player turned entertainment agent. For the past six years, he
has concentrated on stand-alone thrillers. Coben's novels are noted for
their use of technology, both as weapons used against the innocent and as
ways for victims to escape their tormentors, usually with a clock ticking
ominously in the background. In <I>Promise Me</I>, Coben
skillfully grafts this deadline suspense onto the career of his series
hero, Bolitar. As in his stand-alones, the novel starts with a purely
domestic situation--at a party in his home, attended by friends and their
offspring, Bolitar overhears two teen girls talking about driving home
drunk from parties. Stung by his own memory of a high-school friend who
died in a car crash, Bolitar makes the girls promise to contact him if
they ever need a lift or are in trouble. The call does come a few nights
later. Myron drives the caller to a friend's house, but she ends up
disappearing, and guilt-ridden Myron must use all his resources to try to
find what happened. Coben's resurrection of Bolitar works superbly: the
melding of high suspense and high technology with a somewhat battered,
very canny, questing hero is sure to produce another major hit for the
way-hot Coben.

Cindy Franklin 
Library & Technology
Specialist 
Region III ESC 
cfranklin at esc3.net 
361-573-0731 ext 277 
www.esc3.net/mlib 



-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by RegionIII, and is
believed to be clean.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lserv.esc3.net/pipermail/r3librarians/attachments/20061031/01f88d1f/attachment.html