Gone for Good

by Harlan Coben

Book Overview

SOON TO BE A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES - "Gone for Good contains more plot twists than you can count, with a jarring revelation in nearly every chapter. . . . [Harlan] Coben has crafted a taut thriller... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 038533558X
• ISBN13: 9780385335584
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: Delacorte Press
• Length: 340 Pages
• Weight: 1.19 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

My favorite

This is my absolute favorite Harlan Coben novel.

By-pass this one.

Boring in comparison to the rest of his work. Just didn’t keep me really engaged with the characters.

What Could Be Better?

This was my first Coben book, so I can't compare it to "Tell No One." I cannot tell you if it's a rerun of his previous plots. I can tell you that this is a superb thriller.Part thriller, fully a mystery, "Gone for Good" starts with Will Klein's discovery that his older brother is perhaps still alive. The questions mount: How did his brother die? Was he really guilty of murdering a teenage girl? And the answers come only quick enough to lead to other questions.When you think there are no more questions, you're wrong.When you think you have all the answers, you're wrong.Coben writes with a deceptively easy style. He writes with a quick pace, yet never forgets to give his characters heart. I found myself caring for these people, even feeling emotions in my throat once or twice. He paints with a broad brush, showing rage, love, pain, sorrow, twisted violence, and family concern.If you haven't read Coben, I'm sure you'll enjoy this book as much as I did. If you're already a fan, then why'd you keep this guy secret for so long?

Another Winner!

Harlan Coben makes his second departure from the Bolitar series (please, Harlan, don't forget Myron Bolitar entirely!) to skillfully plot another great thriller about a missing person!Coben's newest is set in surburban New Jersey and NYC, and his hero is a social worker, Will Klein, whose life is a series of tragedies. His old girlfriend was brutally murdered, his brother accused and disappeared for the last 11 years, his mother succumbs to cancer, and his girl, Sheila Rogers, disappears and is feared dead. Will enlists the help of his friend, Squares and Katy Miller, his first love's young sister.He feels compelled to try to unravel what is happening, because the FBI and local law enforcement appear to be involved in a cover-up regarding his brother, Ken.Squares is an enormously entertaining "yoga master" with a checkered past, and real devotion to his friendship with Will.Another great character that Coben explores is John Asselta, a sociopathic acquaintance of Will's brother, known as "The Ghost".All in all, Will encounters a lot of evil events in his search for Ken, a search that ends in a group encounter in the last chapter that has more plot twists and turns than I've ever seen.Gone for Good is engrossing, well-written, and makes you care about Coben's main characters. The women in the book, unlike many suspense novels, are well-defined, and you care what happens to them. Coben succeeds, where others fail, at defining relationships while he builds suspense.Don't miss Coben's latest, it looks like it will top the charts for a good long while, and the only thing to criticize is the neon yellow dustjacket....although it is an improvement from "Tell No One's" deer hunter orange jacket!Get it, and get into it, as soon as you can!

Secrets, Lies, Betrayal, and Love.....

Three days before her death, my mother told me-these weren't her last words, but they were pretty close-that my brother was still alive..." So begins Harlan Coben's powerful and harrowing page-turner, Gone For Good. Narrated by Will Klein, the youngest son of a middle class New Jersey family, now working as the Director of Covenant House for runaway teens, he recounts the story of his popular and charismatic brother Ken, who eleven years ago vanished after being charged with the rape and murder of a neighborhood college girl. The Kleins always believed in his innocence, and after so much time passed without a word or clue, had come to the conclusion that Ken must be dead. This all changes when his mother's declaration sends Will on a search of the house where he finds a current picture of his brother hidden in his mother's bedroom. Now with the help of his girlfriend, Sheila, the love of his life, he's determined to find Ken, bring him back home, and clear his name. But his plan soon begins to unravel when Sheila disappears, and her fingerprints are found at a grisly murder scene two thousand miles away in New Mexico. With the help of Covenant House street friends, Will begins to connect the ghosts of the past with the puzzling events of the present, and uncovers secrets, lies, and betrayals that shake the very foundation of his family, and what they thought to be the truth..... Harlan Coben has done it again, written a suspenseful and compelling thriller that grabs you from page one and never lets go. This is a novel that has it all...an intricate story line full of twists, turns, and more than a few unexpected surprises; smart, clever, and eloquent writing with a real ear for dialogue; and intense, riveting, vivid scenes that set you on the edge of your seat and keep you there. But it's Mr Coben's original and marvelously well drawn cast of characters that makes this novel sparkle, and he is able to breathe life into even the most minor figures, and bring them to life on the page. With a stunning climax and very satisfying ending that ties up all the loose ends, Gone For Good is a roller coaster ride of a thriller that doesn't disappoint, and should definitely find its place at the top of mystery/thriller lovers "must read" lists.

Better Than 5 Stars

This is quite simply one of the best books I have ever read. Character development is too the point and not overdone. The storyline is intriguing and it has normal people responding in normal ways, no superheroes here, nor are their supervillians. And oh did I mention it has the best ending I have ever read. If you like twists, we are talking corkscrew like twists, then this is your book. The Sixth Sense has nothing on this book. Anyone who reads his Myron books, trust me when I tell you, get this book. And anyone who doesn't read his Myron books, trust me when I tell you, get this book. You'll feel the same after having read it. Now if my family would just return my copy, it seems to be making it's rounds. Expect the same from your family, you'll be touting this book to them like it contains the secret to eternal life.......Review help - I enjoy Robert Crais, Stephen White, John Grisham, Micheal Connelly, and Ridley Pearson. If you enjoy these writers then you will definitely enjoy Coben. If you liked City Of Bones, L.A. Requiem, get Gone For Good. It's better.

The best yet

I was very upset over the news of Harlan Coben's decision to temporarily shelve the Bolitar series. They were the best of its kind. Two steps above the Parker Spencer series. But all was forgiven after I had read Tell No One. A book the I personally bought 5 copies of just to give to friends. This was simply the best mystery I have every read. Until now. I have just finished Gone for Good; please don't make the mistake of thinking the last few pages of the book just ties up loose ends. From start to finish this book rocks. No longer is Tell No One the best mystery I have ever read, its now second best to Gone for Good. The only problem is I now have to buy a bunch of additional copies for my friends, so they too can read the best mystery author of our times.