The Innocent

April 4, 2005
Once listeners get past an awkward prologue told in second person, present tense ("Your name is Matt Hunter. You are 20 years old..."), this twisty thriller reverts to the more familiar objective point of view, and the combination of Coben's yarn spinning and Brick's crisp, thoughtful narration mesmerizes. Listeners are drawn into the nightmare world of Matt Hunter who, in that off-putting prologue, is attacked by a gang of drunken frat boys, accidentally kills one of them, is found guilty of murder, serves four years of hard time, picks up the pieces of his life, marries a loving woman and is on the cusp of fatherhood when he receives an ominous phone call. And that's just for openers. A master manipulator, Coben keeps the story in constant motion, shifting from Hunter's travails to those of homicide detective Loren Muse, a lapsed Catholic who's investigating the murder of a nun with breast implants. The pace is fast and furious as Hunter and Muse race along their collision course, but Brick's cool, calculated delivery helps listeners hang on through the hairpin turns. From an African-American hooker and an aging mother superior to a hard-boiled ex-con and a sexy private eye, Brick conjures a proper vocal match for every character. Indeed, the combined efforts of author and narrator make for such an electrifying listen that an epilogue reverting to that second-person point of view barely dilutes this overall satisfying experience. Simultaneous release with the Dutton hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 7).

March 7, 2005
Coben seems to delight in making bad things happen to good people (Tell No One
; Gone for Good
; etc.), and he does it again in this, his best book to date. A paralegal, devoted husband and soon-to-be father, Matt Hunter has a not-so-secret past: when he was 20, in an attempt to break up a fistfight, he killed a man and served four years in prison for it. He's been out five years, living in his New Jersey hometown, and life is pretty good. But when his beloved wife, Olivia, goes away on a business trip, he receives 15 seconds of digital video on his camera phone showing her in a hotel room with another man. Meanwhile, Loren Muse, Essex County homicide investigator, is working on an unusual case: an autopsy of a nun reveals breast implants, which hint at a previous, not so holy life. After the FBI is called in, evidence links Matt to the nun killing. Like all of Coben's stand-alone thrillers, this is a long, extremely complex tale with plenty of gunfire, betrayals, late-night chases and good people forced to go on the lam. All the characters have extensive, interesting histories, which makes their actions believable under the extreme circumstances that engulf them. Some readers have felt that Coben has been treading water with his last two outings, but this one should re-establish his credentials. Major ad/promo.