Hold Tight

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 416 pages
• Published by: Dutton Adult
• Edition: 1st Edition April 15, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0525950605
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0525950608
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Weighs: 1.5 pounds

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Parents will find this compulsive page-turner from Edgar-winner Coben (The Woods) particularly unnerving. A sadistic killer is at play in suburban Glen Rock, N.J., outside New York City, but somehow he's less frightening than the more mundane problems that send ordinary lives into chaos. How do you weigh a child's privacy against a parent's right to know? How do you differentiate normal teenage rebelliousness from out-of-control behavior? When and how do you intervene if suicidal signs appear? Other issues include single parenting; career versus family; marital honesty; and how much information you should share with a child at what age. Coben plucks each of these strings like a virtuoso as Mike and Tia Baye try to deal with the increasing withdrawal of their 16-year-old son, Adam, after a friend's suicide. A pair of brutal, seemingly senseless killings, punctuate the unfolding domestic troubles that ratchet up the tension and engulf the Baye family, their friends and neighbors in a web of increasing tragedy. The this could be me factor lends poignancy to the thrills and chills. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Review
Praise for The Woods

“The Woods might just be the best thing Coben has written. . . . A gripping story, filled with fine characters and dark secrets.”
—Chicago Sun-Times

“Gripping. . . . The characters are authentic, the writing spare, and the courtroom drama so riveting.”
—Boston Sunday Globe

“Harlan Coben has been keeping me awake at night. . . . I devoured his latest bestseller The Woods. . . . Fortunately you won’t have to worry about navigating impenetrable woods. Coben is the perfect guide, clearing all the hurdles with maximum speed and efficiency.”
—The Orlando Sentinel

Reader Reviews
Harlan Coben specializes in writing intricate and suspenseful mysteries that keep you turning pages late into the night. His first (and to my mind, his best) standalone murder mystery was "Tell No One". Since then he has written several more novels which have been increasingly similar in plot. I was pleasantly surprised that "Hold Tight" marks a departure in formula, in that it doesn't center on an ancient murder case or the long ago disappearance of a family member. While this does mean that the book struggles a little to find its own momentum, at least Coben is trying something different instead of giving us more of the same. "Hold Tight" juggles a number of different stories, all of which in some way center on the theme of parents trying to protect and/or understand their children. While initially they seem to be quite disparate plotlines, eventually the connections between them become apparent and it is this process of putting the jigsaw pieces together that is the most satisfying part of reading "Hold Tight". One of the things that I really like about Harlan Coben's writing is that there are never any loose ends or things that get left unexplained. "Hold Tight" is a little slower in pace than his other novels and at times it gets confusing keeping track of so many people, but it's still is a satisfying mystery that keeps the suspense going right until the final pages.