| Title | : | Tell No One |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0440236703 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780440236702 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Mass Market Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 370 |
| Publication | : | First published June 19, 2001 |
| Awards | : | Barry Award Best Novel (2002), Macavity Award Best Mystery Novel (2002), Anthony Award Best Novel (2002), Audie Award Mystery (2002), Edgar Award Best Novel (2002), Lincoln Award (2008), Grand Prix des lectrices de Elle roman policier (2003) |
Everyone tells him it's time to move on, to forget the past once and for all. But for David Beck, there can be no closure. A message has appeared on his computer, a phrase only he and his dead wife know. Suddenly Beck is taunted with the impossible- that somewhere, somehow, Elizabeth is alive.
Beck has been warned to tell no one. And he doesn't. Instead, he runs from the people he trusts the most, plunging headlong into a search for the shadowy figure whose messages hold out a desperate hope.
But already Beck is being hunted down. He's headed straight into the heart of a dark and deadly secret- and someone intends to stop him before he gets there.
Tell No One Reviews
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Thank you to all the people who commented on my review of
Fool Me Once and told me I should have been reading this one instead - you were absolutely right!
I thought this was a great thriller. The exciting premise hooked me instantly, and a combination of fast-pacing, twists, and character dynamics kept me interested until the very last page. I now see why Coben is such a well-loved writer;
Tell No One is an addictive wild ride that keeps opening up more and more questions until, suddenly, it all comes together.
I'm actually really fascinated by the mystery/thriller writing process. Especially the ones where an author can successfully pull off surprising twists without any deus ex machina. Here, Coben doesn't pull out any extraneous info at the last minute to make his mystery work. In fact, he hides all his clues in plain sight, so when he eventually reveals all, you realise all the pieces were there all along, and yet he had somehow managed to conceal them by the intricacy of the plot. Fabulous.
Tell No One is the story of Dr. David Beck and his wife, Elizabeth, who was murdered eight years ago. In the present, two things happen to disturb the facade of normality David has built for himself - 1) He receives a strange email leading him to believe Elizabeth might be alive, and 2) The case is reopened by a discovery at the murder scene. Suddenly, David is forced to question again what happened all those years ago and, what's more, he may even be the lead suspect in the murder investigation.
Old secrets come to light and, of course, the truth is so much more than anyone could have imagined!
Having now read this, I can see how Coben has inspired other mystery/thriller writers since. I can see his influence even in Stephen King's writings, and there's especially a number of similarities between this and the new B.A. Paris book -
Bring Me Back - but this one was done FAR better, in my opinion.
Anyway, I really enjoyed it. I'll happily take more Coben recommendations.
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5/5 stars.
Harlan Coben strikes again.
This book teaches us the power of love. Sometimes I tend to believe that there is no such thing as "true love." Maybe not, maybe yes. I don't know. But what are books for? For experiencing things that you do not experience in your reality. I'm experiencing another person's reality. And in this book, the love between Beck and Elizabeth was outstanding. Despite the difficulty, despite the shit the world offers us, this little magic called "love", still remains in the heart.
I admire Beck. He's not perfect, he's not the smartest, he's not the fastest, not the best. And that's what makes him human. That's what makes the plot, despite all the crap that the writers put in to make the book thrilling and exciting- realistic.
It does happen in life, to unlucky people, I guess. But sometimes it's easy to forget that the books, movies and TV shows we watch or read, with all the horrors and the chasing and the tension, do happen in reality.
Highly recommended! -
“Don't tell me I'm young. Don't tell me it'll get better. Don't tell me she's in a better place. Don't tell me it's part of some divine plan. Don't tell me that I was lucky to have known such a love. I kept hearing that "better to have loved and lost" bullshit. Another falsehood. Trust me, it is not better. Don't show me paradise and then burn it down”
Eight years ago David Beck was knocked unconscious and left for dead, his wife Elizabeth was kidnapped and murdered. One evening Dr Beck receives an anonymous email telling him to log on to a website. The screen opens to a live web cam feed - and on the screen he sees Elizabeth.
As Beck tries to find out if Elizabeth is really alive, and what truly happened the night she disappeared, the FBI are on his case, trying to pin Elizabeth's murder on him. And everyone he turns to….ends up dead.
This was a great page turner of a read. The storyline is well constructed, full of twists and turns, carrying you along in the sweep of its path - not letting up for one moment. The characters are realistic, the plot well thought out and I liked the fact that the story is more about the characters than the police procedural aspect. However, if you don't like time line switches, and first to third person narratives, you might find this one a tad annoying.
This was my second Harlan Coben. A quick easy read. I highly recommend. -
OH MY LORD! Coben delivers again!! I'm always left in awe after reading one of his mysteries and this time I was thrown all over the place!
This is truly a spine tingling, fast paced, game changing novel. It was such a page turner that I stayed up late to finish it, I just had to know what happened!
This book is awesome. It begins with Beck and his wife at the lake for their anniversary. The night begins nicely for the couple until Elizabeth's scream pierces the air and Beck is attacked. When he wakes he is told his wife is..... Dead.
Eight years later Beck is at work and gets a strange email..... And from there the chase is on. Is Elizabeth dead or not? Beck goes from being a doctor to knocking down cops in the matter of one day.
Coben has a way of pulling every single character in the book back to one event... He knows how to pull them back in like a magnet.
I swear Coben is one of the best authors I've read. The books are thrilling, page turners and I can't get enough of them. Sometimes I have to go back and reread parts to make sure I got them right.
I highly recommend this book. You will love it! -
When a man receives a mysterious email from his deceased wife, he sets out on a quest for answers. One of the all-time great thrillers.
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“Sex is for anyone; the aftermath is for lovers.”
― Harlan Coben, Tell No One
My second Coben, and apparently his first non Myron Bolitar book, has an interesting premise about a supposed kidnapping and murder of the protagonist wife by a serial killer being maybe not all it seems! As soon as I opened the first page I was already missing Myron Bolitar ...but this book once again is of a easy read nature and a much more satisfying read than the likes of
James PattersonJames Patterson's say. 6 out of 12.
2008 read -
I had never read anything by Harlan Coben and had heard he was a good mystery/suspense writer. I disagree. This book was horrible. I almost gave it NO stars, BUT, to my own discredit, I WAS sucked in to the plot and kind of wanted to keep reading it. However, all along, I noticed the bad writing, the improbable plot twists which never seemed to end, and the completely contrived situations to help set up those plot twists. For example, having Dr. Beck take care of and befriend a black thug drug dealer's son only so that this same black thug could be his back up man later on? Wow, that was SO predictable and so lame. Then the whole idea of his wife's disappearance being turned on it's head just did NOT seem realistic. If they were so in love and so in tune, I just don't think it would have happened the way it did... that she'd hide all this from him. And more kept getting revealed to switch EVERYTHING around up til the very last page! It was as if Coben was paranoid that not enough excitement existed in the book so he had to keep throwing stuff at the book, everything but the kitchen sink. I will stick with the one star for suspense, but NO STARS for everything else: corny dialogue, silly plot, predictable plot.... and on and on.
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The definition of an "airport book".
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Dr. David Beck and his wife Elizabeth are the kind of couple that is so perfect that most of us would hate them. They met when they were little kids and they’ve been in love ever since. They’ve got cute little code phrases like ‘kiss time’ that marks their first smooch, which they know to the minute, of course.
So when a super happy couple like this has an anniversary to celebrate, they wouldn’t think of doing anything as pedestrian as maybe going out for a nice dinner with a couple of cocktails and then returning home to sit on the couch in their sweat pants and watch The Big Bang Theory. Instead, they drive out to the lakeside cabin to the spot of their first kiss which they commemorate by reenacting the event and then marking another notch into the tree they carved their initials into the first time they swapped saliva.
If this isn’t enough, then they go down to the lake for a little moonlight skinny dipping and bow-chick-a-bow-wow. At this point, even the marketing people who come up with those romantic commercials that try to convince people to buy blood diamonds to celebrate their love are gagging and saying, “Oh, come on! That’s too much!”
Apparently a serial killer observed these proceedings and was so sickened by their public displays of affection that he kidnapped and killed Elizabeth after bonking David on the head. 8 years later and David is still in mourning for the lost love of his life. As the police make a grisly discovery near the scene of Elizabeth’s abduction that calls the official version of events into question, David gets a mysterious email that prompts him to an on-line video feed in which he sees something shocking. David finds himself wrapped up in a dangerous conspiracy as he tries to learn what really happened to his wife.
This is OK as far as thrillers go. It’s got a nice hook to it, but like a lot of these types of story, the plot twists eventually take a turn into pure outlandishness. Plus, I read Coben’s newer book Six Years recently, and that one also involves a man trying to unravel a mystery regarding his lost love so even though this one came first, it seemed more than a little repetitive to me.
This book works very, very hard to convince you that the two lovebirds were truly soul mates. I guess Coben has to really sell that idea so that you’d believe that anyone would risk their lives to find the truth so I get why he writes it like that. It still makes them unbelievable characters because they’re just too perfect as a couple, and that prevented me from fully buying in to the story.
So far I prefer his Myron Bolitor series a lot more than the stand-alone thrillers of his I’ve read. -
Beck and his wife Elizabeth make their annual stop at Lake Charmaine where they carve a notch into a tree where they first kissed years ago. Later they swim in the lake and make love. Beck stays in the lake while Elizabeth swims ashore. Beck then hears a car door slam, he hears Elizabeth scream, and he sees her disappear into the semi-darkness of the night. When he quickly swims back to shore and climbs onto the dock he is hit a few times with a baseball bat and falls back into the water. He is told later that he supposedly came out of the water and called an ambulance for help. Elizabeth is missing and later is found dead on the side of a road days later.
Eight years later…
Beck is a pediatrician at a Washington Heights Clinic. One day he gets a message on his computer, a phrase only he and his wife know. A web link is attached to the email…in it he sees what appears to be Elizabeth in a webcam on a street, looking at him and saying she is sorry. She sends him another email, ending with “They’re watching. Tell no one.” Could it be possible that Elizabeth is still alive? After eight years? Beck never ID’d her body, her father did. Looking for answers Beck gets some help from his friends. But suddenly he is also being framed for the murder of Elizabeth! It seems two dead bodies of men have been discovered that were buried at Lake Charmaine, along with a baseball bat. The FBI is convinced that Beck did it. Now Beck is on the run, from the FBI and the police.
This was a very captivating read even though I didn't like how the book ended...I found it a bit confusing. I liked Beck's friends that helped him out along the way, like Tyrese, a drug dealer from the streets. This was a fast-paced read with some really evil bad guys (Asian Wu with his killer hands) and lots of action and suspense. -
This kept me on the edge of my seat while I was reading it. A clear 4 star but once I finished and thought about it few things really irked me like why it all come out eight years later or why someone with latest technology at their disposal was outsmarted by someone working in third world. I know it is a matter of interest but David behaved foolishly initially. So a 3 star rating instead of 4.
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With Coben, it's very hard to review a book without mentioning spoilers. If I wrote what I want to write, my review would look like a heavily redacted top secret file. So, I will just hit on some key points:
- Coben does it again! Very mysterious and entertaining. If you like other Coben, you will lime this.
- Sometimes confusing. Not to bad, just part of all the twists and turns Coben always throws in.
- Great characters. Not too complex, in fact they are basically caricatures, but really fun to see how they all take part in the story.
- Stand-alone - you can read this without reading any other Coben first.
Summary: fun, intriguing, suspenseful, mysterious, and recommended for anyone who likes their mysteries with shocking twists and turns. -
Oh no! I've just rated a
Harlan Coben book only three stars! I found it hard to give time to this book as it's a busy time of year and a busy household. Of course this has nothing to do with the book. I liked this one, didn't love it, and only really wanted to see what happened. I didn't love the ending, there was so much going on. Maybe I had to think too hard! I still think he's an amazing writer. Can't love them all, huh?!
I really do like his work: "We all do it. If you cross the street to avoid a gang of black teens, you're racial profiling; if you see the gang and think nothing whatsoever, you're from some planet I've never visited."
"Old men stand at the corner and whinge about the day. Women carrying too many bags. Kids who probably should have been in school leaned against whatever was available, some cooler than the next."
I'll be on the prowl for more of his books as a matter of priority though! -
“The sun was now in its death throes, bruising the sky a coiling purple and orange.”
This book is unbelievably awesome. First of all, I'd like to say that I had avoided reading it for too long until I had a chance to try it, then I couldn't putting it down even I had a lot of work this week. Tell No One has a straightforward narration. We believed wholeheatedly about what the author tried to tell, but after that, he revealed a distrustful evidence making us reconsider our thought again and again till the end. And this is what makes the book so special for me.
“Memories, you see, hurt. The good ones most of all.”
I enjoyed Harlan Coben's writing style so much. He surprsied me with many twists, and the whole plot was thoroughly planned. In my opinion, I do think that Tell No One is the best crime book I've ever read since I last picked
Before I Go to Sleep in 2014. Coben successfully stuck me with the emotion that left me wanting to read crime novels again this year. And now I'm irrevocably a fan of him !
“Don't show me paradise and then burn it down”
David Beck is a multidimensional character even though he presented the flat one for the first few chapters. After he digs into the evidences of his wife and is aware that maybe she's still alive, the book leaps to the highest tempo because of his mind and my suspicion that craving some answers, and you have no idea how much that feeling hit my brain so many times until I promised my self I had to finish this book before midnight. Tell No One also has thrilling vibes and action scens, too, so you don't have to worry that it will bore you to death.
After I finished Tell No One, I have to tell EVERYONE about how amazing this book is. Harlen Coben will be the first author, from now on, when I think of crime novels, I'll pick his other books without hesitation.
4.5 stars for this mind-blowing and cunning book !
Thai review :
https://goo.gl/ddz2jc -
This is a fantastic book - much better than I thought it would be, too. The best part - and a very pleasant surprise, indeed - was the 20-30 minute interview Harlan Coben does at the end. It is a first for me, and I loved hearing about his life - how he first got into writing, going to Starbucks every morning in his pajamas, why he was named Harlan, his kids, his wife's career as a pediatrician, and, of course, his writing process, and more...
Ed Sala did a rock solid job as solo narrator. He was perfect as the voice of (main character) Dr. David Beck. His accents are also flawless. -
4.25 stars. By far one of the best thrillers I’ve read. It was twisted and complicated but it all made sense. Very well thought out and written, it had a little of everything. It’s my first book by Harlan Coben and I wIll be reading more of his books. *read the authors note, it was really great.
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I rarely read thrillers/crime novels as an audiobook and wasn't sure I would enjoy doing so but gave it a try. Surprisingly enough I liked this as an audiobook. It was a good and engaging story and I would probably read/listen to something more by Harlan Coben
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As a mystery thriller,Tell No One delivers nonstop from start to the end. Right from the impactful start, there is never a dull moment in the story. The protagonist, Beck and the rest of characters (along with a string of bad guys) are mostly well written. Coben keeps the story fast paced while introducing new twists & turns at regular intervals that keeps you hooked right till the end (like a good thriller should).
What I really didn’t like was the climax. During the long winded final act, the story introduces a series of twists and turns, which almost ruins the entire story for you. Especially the final twist is so convoluted, that the entire story doesn’t make sense, if you try putting it together backwards.
In summary, Apart from the flaws, Tell No One is good read & it will keep you entertained. If you like twists and turns,unlikely heroes and page turning action, you will enjoy this. -
I’m a fan of Harlan Coben’s Myron Bolitar series and decided that I’d start this book without reading the synopsis. It was selected as the book for group discussion in one of my groups and was highly touted. The book was that much more exciting because I didn’t know what it was about and read the prologue with no clue as to where it was going. Here’s what I’ll say about it so you can have a similar experience if you choose.
I had a really tough time putting this book down for interruptions (sleep, errands, meals, etc.) because it was pretty unpredictable, a staple of Coben’s stories. You think you know who the good guys are, only to be disappointed at a later juncture. Even the good guys are presented with moral dilemmas where they make dicey choices and you question your own self as to whether you would have done things differently. Here you have a man who's done nothing but the right things expected of him and in the space of 24 hours is consorting with people and doing things he would never have considered as an option the day before.
The story kept me off balance the entire time and the twist at the end really caught me off guard, just when I believed I had everything sorted out. If you like tension, action, mystery and strange suspense and a little bit of romance, you’ll like this book. I certainly did. -
Tell No One, Harlan Coben
Tell No One is a thriller novel by American writer Harlan Coben, published in 2001. For Dr. David Beck, the loss was shattering. And every day for the past eight years, he has relived the horror of what happened. The gleaming lake. The pale moonlight. The piercing screams. The night his wife was taken. The last night he saw her alive. Everyone tells him it's time to move on, to forget the past once and for all. But for David Beck, there can be no closure. A message has appeared on his computer, a phrase only he and his dead wife know. Suddenly Beck is taunted with the impossible- that somewhere, somehow, Elizabeth is alive. Beck has been warned to tell no one. ...
تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز هفتم ماه نوامبر سال 2018 میلادی
عنوان: به هیچ کس نگو؛ نویسنده: هرلن (هارلن) كوبن؛ بهزاد رحمتی؛ تهران : چلچله، 1396؛ در 481 ص؛ شابک: 9786008625551؛ چاپ دیگر: تهران: کتابسرای میردشتی، 1397؛ در 424 ص؛ شابک: 9786229504123؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده 21 م
کتاب «به هیچ کس نگو» اثری از «هارلن کوبن»، نویسنده ی آمریکایی است، که نخستین بار در سال 2001 میلادی منتشر و موفق به کسب جایزه «ادگار» شد؛ در بسیاری از رمانهای ایشا�� بازگویی رخدادهای حل نشده ی گذشته، و حادثه های منجر به مرگ است، و ویژگی بارز آثارش پیچشهای ناگهانی در داستان، و شوکه کردن خوانشگر است. درد فقدان برای دکتر «دیوید بک»، کمرشکن بود. و او هر روز، در طول هشت سال بگذشته، با ترس و وحشت آن اتفاق را، زندگی کرده است. آن برکه ی درخشان. نور کمسوی ماه. شیونهای دلخراش. همان شبی که همسرش را ربودند. همان شبی که آخرین بار او را زنده دید. همه به «دیوید» میگویند که وقت گذشتن از آن ماجرا و فراموش کردن گذشته، یک بار برای همیشه، فرا رسیده است. اما برای «دیوید بک»، پایانی در کار نخواهد بود. پیامی بر صفحه ی کامپیوتر او ظاهر شده، که حاوی عبارتی است که فقط او و همسرش میدانستند. «دیوید بک» ناگهان با غیرممکنها روبرو شده است؛ اینکه در جایی، و به طریقی، «الیزابت» هنوز زنده است. ا. شربیانی -
Fantastic roller-coaster ride!
I have seen Coben novels around for years and I’ve even watched a couple Netflix adaptations but this is the first that I’ve read. Why did I wait so long?
This was thoroughly engrossing. I didn’t want to take my AirPods out of my ears. Twisty, turny, and totally addicting. Though I did find several of the characters stereotypical I still thought a couple really took center stage. Shauna wins best friend award… I really enjoyed her snarkiness and Tyrese wins best thug… I loved his redemption.
The end of the audio included an interview with Coban at the Recorded Books studio which I really enjoyed. He spoke about his inspirations for this and about his writing/creative process. Found this fascinating & appreciate it being included. My first Coban novel, but not my last. 4.5 stars. -
4.95 stars! So good. And I will explain my ridiculous rating too.
I don't think I've ever read a book that left me guessing so much. Literally to the last page. Any book that can stump me like that is a winner in my book. It was so full of suspense and twists and turns, one of the best thrillers I've read. It would make a great movie too.
I just can't believe no one fact checked the historical reference to the architect Stanford White! (Not a spoiler). Its inaccuracy bothered me a little bit and that's why I made a silly .05 of a star deduction. -
This was my 1st HC novel which made me seek out and read the rest of his books. Great suspense and a fast read! Highly recommend.
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I. Loved. This. Book. (Listening to Audiobook version - free on Hoopla & Scribd) "Tell No One" was an incredibly gripping tale.
While going to the lake with the family on one weekend, Dr. David Beck (Pediatrician) and his wife were brutally attacked one night. She is taken - screaming as she disappears. Beck is hit in the head with a baseball bat and nearly drowns. That was eight years ago, the last night he saw his beloved wife, Elizabeth, alive. He has loved her, and missed her everyday since.
On might while working on his laptop at home, a message has appeared on his computer, a phrase only he and his dead wife know. How could this be? The phrase is one that they shared with each other affectionately. The coded message was a time the sender would be back in touch. The message also said: "TELL NO ONE". What? What the heck?? Suddenly Beck's mind is spinning out of control and is taunted with the impossible- that somewhere, somehow, Elizabeth is alive. How could that be possible? Elizabeth's own Father, a policeman, is the one who positively identified her body in the morgue when she was found!
Beck eventually starts being looked at a suspect in his own wife's death the more answers he seeks to uncover. Someone (or maybe more than one) are tailing him, bugging his phone, looking at his emails, questioning him, and soon he needs to flee for his own life. Secrets abound and they have got to be uncovered to save his own life! He must find out if his wife is truly alive!
This story is a mystery from start to finish, full of twists, colorful characters, and suspense. The final revealed a shocking twist I never saw coming!
Clean, solid, wonderful story telling! The narrator, Ed Sala, does an amazing job! If you like Mystery, Thriller, Crime Drama genre's - check it out. And I wholeheartedly recommend the audiobook version! -
Okay, I'm gonna be honest. This was a difficult one for me to get through. I don't know if it's because it's a product of an earlier time period where such a novel would be praised as new and thrilling, but I was incredibly underwhelmed by this story.
The narrative is riddled with a sporadic, redundant writing style that, if workshopped a lot more, would probably narrow down the book's length by half. The POV skips back and forth between first and third person perspective, which was jarring at first and something to which I had to become begrudgingly accustomed. Because of the convoluted narration, the twists were either hackneyed, confusing, or just straight up out of the blue (i.e. The Boogeyman. Where the holy heck did that come from?) However, the deepest gashes of the book, I believe, lay with the speaker himself and how his particular perspective guides, or rather, drags the narrative along.
Let's begin with Coben's characterization of racial minorities. It is clear that at the time when Coben wrote this book that he had very few if any black people in his personal life. The black characters who played a fairly significant role in the plot were mere archetypes of what Beck (or Coben) thinks black people and their lifestyles are like. Tyrese, Brutus, Agent Stone (A bumbling Yes-Man to his more competent white partner, Agent Carlson), Latisha (who didn't get one word of dialogue in the story despite her being mentioned and encountered on more than one occasion), and the rest of the black ensemble were characterized not by their individual personalities, but by the mere fact that they were black.
I understand that Beck is a doctor meant to "service the poor", which, to him, is shorthand for "anyone who is black or Hispanic", but he speaks about these people with such self-righteous derision and condescension that you can't help but wonder if his purported convictions are even sincere. He spends a lot of time describing, from his stunted perspective, the woes that plague the impoverished, but never once does he analyze the causes or possible remedies, which begs the question why he brings it up at all. I mean, he's a doctor. He more than anyone should know better than to just rattle off surface-level symptoms followed by a vague, slapdash diagnosis. In one moment he will claim to want to help those in need, and in the next, he will write off these same individuals with little gem descriptors such as "ghetto-garbed father" who uses a "complicated handshake" whilst showing off "gangsta struts".
And let's not forget about (ughh) this:
"I caught my reflection in a building window and couldn't help but notice that I looked utterly ridiculous in my borrowed garb. Gangsta Prep. Yo, word"
Gangsta Prep Yo Word? What? Beck treats racial minorities as if they are cartoon characters who only have one mode and zero dimension. Yes. He at times literally treats racial minorities as though they are invisible. Anyone who isn't white is always "The black guy" or "the Asian guy" without ever affording any other character trait to them in a way he does for the other white characters in the story. Because of this, he comes off less as a sincere doctor helping the needy and more as a hypocritical asshole with a serious Messiah Complex.
But this problem doesn't extend to just people of color. I could pin Coben's treatment of racial minorities on the specific, possibly-purposeful-but-probably-not characterization of Beck and the classism that comes with his "white suburban" upbringing and profession (though being a pediatrician isn't exactly the crème de la crème of the medical field, but whatever). However, his approach to characterizing women (and gay women) applies to multiple characters' perspectives throughout the story. Femininity takes a constant and sometimes literal backseat to masculinity, and his treatment of sexuality, while better than average, I'll say that, still leaves much to be desired.
First, Beck's description of his dead wife, Elizabeth, is of course laced with constant praise of her "slender, elegant beauty" with a tacked-on nod to her intelligence, which is barely even demonstrated or clarified in the novel. In other words, we're told that she's great without actually knowing what makes her so great. Yes, she's his wife so I know he's a little biased here, but we, the readers, are not. She ain't our wife, so why should we care? Knowing what makes Elizabeth so special to him by showing us would raise the stakes (and therefore our investment) even more for Beck and his uncovering of the truth. And even when the truth is uncovered, what is revealed about her character still leaves us with a pretty limp and floppy impression.
Now to Coben's honest credit, he does establish a key lesbian character who has an actual, albeit, failing relationship in the novel. And for 2001, when this book was first published, I think that deserves some recognition. Shauna, the lesbian in question, is actually one of, if not the best things about the book. With a clearly-written and enjoyable characterization, I was always happy to see her name show up on the page. With that said, even she subscribes to a more traditionally masculine role than her traditionally feminine wife, Linda (also Beck's sister), whose integrity both as a character and as a person is steadily watered down to the point that by the end of it, I barely even recognized who she's supposed to be.
But there's one moment in particular that really did it in for me. Without going into too many spoilers, there is a moment when one of the Agents is questioning Elizabeth's parents about their daughter's death. When the Agent is just about to impart a key suspicion within the case, this inexplicably happens:
"The two men hesitated. The hesitation said one of two things: not in front of the lady or not in front of the civilian. Hoyt picked up on it. 'Kim, do you mind if I talk to the agents alone for a moment?'
'Not at all.' She stood on wobbly legs and teetered toward the stairs. 'I’ll be in the bedroom.'
When she was out of sight, Hoyt said, 'Okay, I’m listening.'"
Kim is dismissed to the bedroom like a child who doesn't want to hear their parents bickering. Kim is also the mother of the deceased Elizabeth. You'd think the Agent would want - or even assume - both of the parents to be invested in what's happened with their own daughter's case. But nope. Off Kim goes to the bedroom. She stays there for the rest of the novel too. You think I'm kidding, but anytime we encounter this Hoyt character, his grown ass wife, Kim, is always in the bedroom asleep, forever banished to a life of female insignificance.
Alright, so here's the thing. None of these complaints would be all that earthshattering or even surprising were it not for the fact that there's this underlying subtext that Coben seems to be trying to communicate about subverting expectations, classism and power dynamics, and being socially conscious or whatever. But he does a lot of telling and not enough showing. What's worse, he does a lot of telling, but then has his characters contradict what it is that's already been told.
This all brings us back to Beck. Beck consistently cites the death of his wife as a result of his own shortcomings. Which, you know, could be survivor's guilt and all, I get it. But Coben never actually describes what Beck is feeling as survivor's guilt. Instead he treats his insecurities as something that legitimately need to be worked on in order to redeem himself *as a man*. As if it's somehow "unmanly" to grieve, or to be afraid, or to be knocked unconscious into a lake without any warning whatsoever. None of these things relate to being a man-they're quite literally just circumstantial and painful events anyone would struggle with, regardless their gender.
Beck's personal resolve seems to be less about figuring out what the heck is going on and more about just proving to himself that he can be a man's man. But, like, who cares? If Beck's motivations were simply about him trying to uncover the truth surrounding his wife's death, I would've been perfectly fine with that. But instead, Beck's motivations are muddled with him trying to redeem himself when nothing needs to be redeemed, and to "take action" instead of being passive (which, again, was something that was never actually shown, just told to us). This just reinforces the idea of archetypal masculinity, no matter how phoned-in, trumping everything else, including the book's own plot and narrative.
When Beck makes a revelation about himself at the very end that I honestly saw a mile away, it really throws into question what exactly we're supposed to think of him. And not in a Walter White-ish way either, I mean in a confusing and contradictory way that is due to haphazard character development. He claimed to be passive and sensitive, which we never saw (what, is being a doctor to "ghetto-garbed" patrons supposed to make us think you're Jesus?). His own actions that he shamed constantly seemed to be in the realm of what any normal person would take. And yet, the big reveal just throws that all up in the air and quickly dashes it away because hey! We got a story to wrap up and no time for you, the reader, to question the consistency of this character that you've spent all this time with!
All in all, I stuck with the story because I do enjoy a good mystery, and the novel did deliver in some areas. But Beck's hypocritical tendencies and just the general structure of the story and underlying tone left a somewhat sour taste in my mouth. I haven't read any other of Coben's work, so I won't write him off as an author altogether. This particular one just wasn't my cup of tea.
Also, apparently there's a movie based on this book that got pretty good reviews, so that's a silver lining.
Cheers! -
Dr. David Beck receives mysterious emails eight years after his long time childhood friend, and wife for six months was taken. The 13th ring around a heart with their names in against the tree, was the last time they would celebrate a love that started out just about their first year together in school. It was impossible for him to get over the events and move on with his life.
He had no other choice but to sleuth his way to the truth of what happened that night in the lake when Elizabeth disappeared and he woke up in the hospital five days later.
Now, after all these years he was warned not to tell anyone about the emails. And he didn't. And the clues keep stacking up that there was much more to his memories than the serial killer who was arrested for a crime. Someone was sending him pieces of his own memories he had never shared with anyone ...
In an unpredictable, fast-moving suspense drama, the past is connecting with the present at breakneck speed. Nothing seemed what is was, and people had a side to them he had yet to discover.
A really good read! -
Another 5 star read...Man I've been lucky lately:)
A friend who first turned me on to
Harlan Coben recommended this as her favorite of his.
Tell No One was another page turner for me...suspense, turns, twists with humor, drama, and the unexpected. Loved the cast of characters who were anything but one-dimensional. I was totally sucked into this book and bummed when I had to get back to the real world. Highly recommended! -
I would like to know - Are all Coben's books this good??!
Tell No One was right up my street. I loved everything about this page turner - the characters, the clever plot, the twists... I call that AWESOMENESS!
I listened to the audio book and normally, I only listen to audiobooks when running or walking. With this one, I just couldn't stop (no, I didn't do more running), but I listened to it at home, which only shows how much I enjoyed it. The narrator did a great job, making my audio experience very atmospheric.
I think the last time I got this excited about a crime novel was when I read The Dry by Harper. I am now off to order a few copies of the book and give them to my friends and family! -
This is not Coben's best; perhaps one of his subcontracted works, Still, I kept reading because I didn't really know what was going on and there was enough sustained tension.
' -
The pacing in this book makes for a brilliant mystery thriller - no time for unnecessary information or wordy explanations, it's a real rollercoaster ride!
I can't say that anything about this felt genuine or that I particularly cared about any of the characters, it's just not that kind of book.
What kept me hooked was the craft of the mystery and all the mini-reveals that evolved in an exciting and punchy way.
I was a little disappointed with the ending as it didn't really add up but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the thrilling ride to enlightenment overall!
