Book Review: "Don't Let Go" by Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben's newest stand alone thriller, "Don't Let Go" has just come out on September 26, 2017 and is available as paperback, hardcover or e-book.  Coben is one of my all time favorite authors, I can always count on him to bring the awesome to a new book. "Don't Let Go" is no different, it was really good. I've truly enjoyed the Myron Bolitar character and this new main character will both thrill you and pull your heartstrings a little.  Let me give you a little peak into the book...

Napoleon (Nap) Dumas lost his twin brother when they were eighteen. Leo and his girlfriend Diana died on the traintracks under suspicious circumstances. Was it carelessness, drugs, teenage angst or something more sinister? Nap has been trying to find a satisfactory answer to that question for the last fifteen years. It didn't help that the love of Nap's life, Maura also disappeared the same night as his twin's death.

Now Nap is a police officer, a trained detective. When Maura's finger prints show up at a murder scene the detectives assigned to investigate come to Nap to ask why he's been looking for Maura for years. This incident pulls Nap into an investigation that will eventually lead him to the truth about his twin's death. What he'll have to ask himself is "do you really want to know".

Nap is a fantastic new character and I hope Coben decides to build him into a well rounded series character, he certainly has the skeleton of a great series here. Nap is easy to like and also feel empathy for. He hasn't moved on from the death of his twin and the loss of the girl he loves. He aches for answers. Through the book we learn about his morals, decency and compassion for those who are victims and we fall a little more in love with Nap with each chapter. 

"Don't Let Go" is a slower burn than many of Coben's books but that doesn't mean it's less enjoyable. I found that I could indeed put the book down but I also then desperately wanted to find time to go back to it. I wondered, between readings, what was going to happen. It tweaked my curiosity with a well written plot. It didn't matter that there wasn't a headlong rush to read faster, I still found myself deliberately marching toward a truly satisfying ending, and even better, it was unexpected. I wanted to read more about Nap and that, to me, is the sign of a good, solid five star book.

This would be a fantastic starter for anyone who's never read a Coben. If you never have, what a lucky reader! You have dozens of five star books to read. I'm a little jealous. 

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