12/17/2018
In this bombshell-laden thriller from bestseller Coben (Don’t Let Go), Wall Street financial adviser Simon Greene and his pediatrician wife have a perfect life by all outward appearances—except that they haven’t seen their drug-addicted daughter, Paige, in six months. When by chance Simon spots Paige panhandling in Central Park, he approaches her, but Aaron Corval, her junkie boyfriend, who he believes is holding her against her will, confronts him, and the two get into a fight. Paige flees the scene. When Aaron later turns up dead in an abandoned house in the Bronx, Simon and his daughter become suspects in his murder. Vowing to find Paige at any cost, Simon soon finds his search intertwined with a Chicago PI’s case to locate a missing person. Though the sheer amount of jaw-dropping plot twists is impressive, some do come across as a bit contrived. Still, the breakneck pacing and audaciously intricate story line will have readers on the edge of their seats. Seven-city author tour. Agent: Lisa Erbach Vance, Aaron Priest Literary. (Mar.)
"I read [Harlan Coben's] new book RUN AWAY straight through without moving. It's RIVETING."—Ann Patchett
"Brilliantly executed...might be the best book Harlan Coben has ever written. For such a master storyteller, that's a high bar indeed but one Coben effortlessly crests...[Run Away] features an effortlessness and fluidity that define everything great storytelling should be. A fantastic read and early contender for the best thriller of 2019."—Providence Sunday Journal
"Harlan Coben is a master at taking what seems to be an ordinary family and exposing the facade and secrets that are buried just below the surface. With Run Away, his writing and storytelling are firing on all cylinders and the seemingly straightforward tale takes a sharp turn when it's least expected. The narrative continues to navigate that twisty mountainous road until the shocking conclusion."—Associated Press
"One major bombshell awaits in the last few paragraphs. It's a secret so major that it will leave readers wondering how they would handle it long after they put the book down."—USA Today
"[A] greased-lightning domestic thriller."—Kirkus Reviews
"[A] bombshell-laden thriller...the sheer amount of jaw-dropping plot twists is impressive...the breakneck pacing and audaciously intricate story line will have readers on the edge of their seats."—Publishers Weekly
"A twisty, edge-of-your-seat thriller...to say more would ruin the sheer genius of...an absolutely brilliant, taut thriller that begs to be read in one sitting."—Library Journal (starred review)
"The modern master of the hook and twist."—Dan Brown
"Coben never, ever lets you down — but this one is really special."—Lee Child
"Solid Coben, with clever plotting and dead-on
character sketches."—Booklist
"Coben serves up characters and plot turns that are startlingly inventive. All of this keeps the book springing fast ones on the reader down to the last word."—Toronto Star
"The world needs to discover Harlan Coben. He's smart, he's funny and he has something to say."—Michael Connelly
"I'm a huge Harlan Coben fan, and I just finished Run Away—maybe my all-time favorite of his! In addition to the incredible twists and surprises that he is famous for, the book is a powerful and emotional portrait of a father's anguish at losing his daughter, and the limitless lengths that parents will go in order to save their child from danger. Impossible to put down!"—S. A. Lelchuk, Entertainment Weekly
"This page turner reminded me of the Saturday matinee movie serials with each chapter leaving you breathless at the conclusion...RUN AWAY is a pip." —David Rothenburg, WBAI Radio
"Another Coben classic — you'll tear through it — and wish it could last."—George Stephanopoulos, Good Morning America
"What you will find in RUN AWAY as things progress and conclude would be more than enough to keep you reading and entertained throughout, but you will get even more than you might reasonably expect."—Bookreporter
"Coben's work is full of the unexpected...easily moves back and forth between heart-breaking and heart-pounding."—CrimeReads
"Fans of Coben—and there are many—will not be disappointed...RUN AWAY is a gripping, edge-of-your-seat thriller with many twists and turns."—Booktrib.com
"Being a master, Coben knows how to hook readers from the opening line...readers are lucky to go along for the ride."—New Jersey Star Ledger
"Run Away by Harlan Coben proves once again he is a master storyteller...exciting and riveting. Readers will be unable to put the book down."—Crimespree Magazine
"When it comes to misdirection and catching readers off guard, no one's better than Harlan Coben, who continues to land unexpected twists and shocking reveals. Fast-paced and helplessly entertaining, Run Away is everything his readers have come to expect and then some."—The Real Book Spy
"Run Away is a novel you should plan to read from start to finish, because there is absolutely no convenient place to stop reading. Once you're in, you're there for the duration."—Winnipeg Free Press
"Coben is a masterful storyteller who switches smoothly between sets of characters, keeping the reader engaged and intrigued. Even the secondary characters are interesting and believable. Like an old-fashioned Agatha Christie, Coben's book challenges the reader to figure out what's going on. But the action also ratchets up the suspense with some scenes of violence."—New York Journal of Books
"Coben is particularly adroit at documenting the heartbeat of a longtime marriage."—NJ.com
"Yet another fantastic thriller from the master."—Bookstr.com
"Run Away confirms one of the world's finest thriller writers is at the very top of his game."—Peter James
"Wonderful . . . yet another winner."—Richard Osman
"Few of Harlan Coben's thrillers are anything less than gripping, but every now and again he writes one that exceeds his own high standards. Run Away is one."—The Times Online
Narrator Steven Weber is the perfect match for this thriller, which blends plot twists and suspense in equal portions. Simon and Ingrid Greene, a successful and apparently perfect couple, find their lives falling apart in the most dramatic of ways when their drug-addicted daughter disappears after dropping out of college. With seeming ease, Weber voices the cast of characters, who range from the most privileged to those at the edges of society. His characterizations mainly employ authentic-sounding accents and changes in tone. His timing helps to build the ever-increasing suspense, allowing the listener to savor every twist of the Greenes’ situation. K.J.P. 2019 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
2018-12-11
A Manhattan money manager who once had it all is threatened with losing most of it in Coben's latest greased-lightning domestic thriller.
Things haven't been that great for Simon Greene ever since his daughter, Paige, dropped out of college and disappeared. But his world turns much darker the day that, following a tip, he sees her playing guitar in Central Park and tries to talk to her. Paige, clearly strung out on drugs, takes off, and the closest Simon comes to catching her is punching her companion, junkie Aaron Corval, in the face. His attack, captured on the phone videos of passers-by, goes viral, and he's rebuked by millions of strangers. Three months later, Bronx Homicide Detective Isaac Fagbenle turns up in Simon's office asking questions about the murder of Aaron, who vanished instead of sticking around to press charges. Simon and his pediatrician wife, Ingrid, go to visit the crime scene in the hope of picking up Paige's trail, and moments after one of Aaron's scuzzball neighbors warns them, "Even if you find her, this story won't have a happy ending," bullets fly, sending Ingrid to the hospital in a coma. Meanwhile, Chicago PI Elena Ramirez is hired to find the missing adopted son of wealthy Sebastian Thorpe III, and a mysterious pair named Ash and Dee Dee are executing a laid-off meat packer in Boston and a tattoo artist in suburban New Jersey. Clearly all this mayhem is somehow connected, and readers spoiled by Coben's long history of triple-barreled thrillers (Don't Let Go, 2017, etc.) will be turning the pages with bated breath. But the broadly hinted connection, a Maine religious commune to which Dee Dee professes undying loyalty, is more cartoonish than compelling, and the alternating chapters recounting the investigations of Simon and Elena dilute the suspense instead of intensifying it. By the time the double-twist payoff arrives, fans will be torn between dissatisfaction and relief.
In seeking to extend his formidable range, Coben overreaches: the far-flung complications feel forced and schematic rather than nightmarish. Wait till next year.
