It started really strong and immediately the engaging plot grabbed my interest. It is full of suspense and mystery that had me guessing the entire time, plus twists and turns that caught me off-guard and an unpredictable ending which adds to an enjoyable reading experience. Nap is a solid character. There are other characters who are interesting, too. And I also enjoyed the bit about the conspiracy theory. It sure gives more intrigue to the story. Don’t Let Go proved to be a great read and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. It is a well-written and fast-paced page-turner that is definitely worth your time.

Never read a book by Harlan Coben and there are mixed reviews. For me I found the story line intriguing and would really recommend it. 15 years ago, Nap's brother dies...now he has a chance to discover the truth. Really great read and I enjoyed the different twists and turns.

Another great read from this author, his followers will love it. I recommended to my husband who is not easy to please and he enjoyed it hugely and has since read others by Harlan Corben which have been on the bookcase for a while!

An entertaining fast read about a cop who lost his twin brother in a tragic but suspicious manner and now gets the chance to dig into this cold case and finally learn what actually happened all those years ago. Feels a bit like a Hollywood film.

This is a typical Harlan Coben book - a very easy read, full of memorable characters, sharp dialogue and plenty of twists.

Harlan draws you in slowly to a story that initially seems very far-fetched. but the evidence accumlates.

And then the ending takes a wild twist and everything you thought you knew is unravelled. Twice. Or maybe more times.

It so didn't happen as the reader - unless they are a lot more suspicious or canny or twisted or clever or.. than me could imagine. Clever Mr Coben.

Excellent understated writing as always. Almost conversational in tone and expression.

Myron - hurrah! LOVED this. My favourite series in the world. Please write another!

Harlan Coben really keeps the reader driving through his novels, plots with twists and turns and a final twist. Don't let go is no exception. Napoleon "Nap" Dumas is drawn back to a High School tragedy and his search for the truth about the death of his twin brother and the disappearance of his own girlfriend. Great pacing and snappy dialogue this is another great read from Harlan Coben.

Honestly, Don't Let Go was all over the place for me. It was simply "ok". Nap and his vigilantism, Maura and her running from stranger-danger, Nap's future with the NJPD... just didn't mesh well together for me in the end. Maybe the ending was too abrupt. That's my issue. Don't Let Go just simply let's go.

You can find more reviews in my blog and about this one too with some snippets of the story (not spoiling anything): https://confessionsofbookaholics.wordpress.com/2017/11/09/dont-let-go/

I’ve been given an ARC of this book in exchange of my honest review.

I’m huge fan of Coben’s books and it’s not even a secret, everyone that asks me for a suspense reading with the little hint of mystery and detective in there I’m always up to easy the person into Coben’s books. With that said I expected so much more of this book. I’m starting to realise the pattern of the books coming in, I’d like if he would change a bit of the guy always waiting forever for the woman who disappeared out of nowhere.

I like the suspense, the book was building up nicely with the clues and who is used to his writing can guess by the middle of the book the story, sometimes it’s a bummer but if the book continues to a good pace you can forgive it and move on with the reading. I like Coben’s capacity of making you care for the character, to get involved in the whole thing and when you realised you’re almost at the end of the book.

Nap is a bit bitter, closed off, tries to live his life amicably with the people around him but he doesn’t trust enough. He can’t accept the death of his brother and the disappearance of his high school girlfriend. That was partially what made him a detective. He has a best friend but you don’t really get to learn friendship that deep, you just know they are best friends, they are there for each other but their scenes were too rushed for me. I’d have liked more flashbacks or something for their story, but life goes on. He helps his best friend sometimes, she runs a shelter to help women escape abusing homes with their children and since he’s a dectetive he uses his power sometimes to make sure the men doesn’t go after the wives.

Still it’s been fifteen years of his brother’s death and he talks with him in his mind. It might be acceptable since they were twins but going through the book you discover that not everything was like you thought it was. Nap was always so sure he knew his brother that the more he was figuring it out the reasons of his brother’s death the more he found out of how little he actually knew the person he shared his room and his entire childhood/teenage life. I felt bad for him some parts, it was destroying him knowing all the things and trying to connect all of the dots. He can’t let go either of the only woman he ever loved, he can’t accept that she would just break up with him and go away, he feels like he needs to find her and figure everything out or he will never be able to actually move on.

He wished he was able to let go and for a moment I wanted him to so he wouldn’t suffer, but people were dying after fifteen years and he was finding connections all over the place he couldn’t just let go. He was betrayed so many times that I felt bad for him, he wasn’t expecting at the end.

That is what I love in Coben’s books, the crimes so well tightly tied, the connections, the possibilities, the alternatives of who might have done it and why, the mystery lingering until the end. That is what gets me coming back for me every time.

I enjoyed the read that it was very quick pace my reading and I was able to finish in less than a week. The ending is something I’m on the fence about it. I like open endings if it makes sense but this one I think it would’ve been better if it were more tightly explained and closed it. But overall a good reading indeed.

Alrighty, right off the bat, this was a super quick read, so it hooks you very early and keeps you busy throughout, the pace barrelling along at a breakneck speed, never really slowing down. It’s a thrilling little story that is well written and doesn’t waste your time dawdling around.

The characters are not particularly fleshed out or robust, but that doesn’t hurt this in the least. Nap is the most important, and he is a character we get to know more than the others purely because the story is being told by him and the conversations he has in his head with his dead brother Leo. Then there is his best friend, Ellie, who is only really his best friend, and never becomes real. Augie is also a peripheral character, but important to Nap, and so, like Ellie, he becomes important to us.

There were many leaps and bounds that the story took, but nothing too outrageous. You hang in for the ride, filled with twists and turns every step of the way. I do think that a lot of the humour fell flat though, which is unfortunate. It came across as trying to be smarter and sharper than it was, and just didn’t get really well. While there aren’t a lot of super likable characters in this, there is an interesting story. Conspiracy? Murder? Secret clubs? Obsession? So many boxes ticked for me, so naturally I was on board.

Don’t Let Go is a book that hustles and bustles along, a busy little read that zooms by before you even know what’s happened. It reads easily enough and has a story that will keep you hooked from the get-go. It won’t linger long after you have read it, and will not change the way you think about things, but that does not detract from the fact that the read is entertaining as all hell. If you are looking for a quick, gripping thrill of a ride, this book definitely meets that criteria.

You can always rely on Harlan Coban to give you a good twisty read and this was no different.

Nap Dumas is a detective in New Jersey. Fifteen years previously his twin brother, Leo, and Leo’s girlfriend died on the railroad tracks having been hit by a train. Although their deaths were put down as being accidental there were so many unanswered questions. Nap’s girlfriend disappeared at the same time as the couple died and mysteriously her prints have now, fifteen years later, been found in a car driven by a cop killer. Nap decides that the time has come to seek answers.
For some reason, I had not before read any of this award-winning author’s books. For the first few dozen or so pages I was unsure as to whether I would want to read anymore. The laconic dialogue was rather off-putting as was the habit of Nap addressing his dead brother almost without warning in the middle of a paragraph on a different subject. However, once I had become accustomed to both I really got into the plot and was desperate to know how it ended, even to the point of reading until 3.37am one sleepless night just to find out.
The characters are very well-drawn and fleshed out so that the reader will feel that he knows them well. The description of the small town is atmospheric and the effects of the deaths of two young members of the community touch everyone’s life. Then there is the military base which hangs like a pall over the town. It’s linked to the deaths in some way, but how? Are the more recent suspicious deaths of Nap’s school peers also in some way linked to the past?
The plots romp along at a great pace with twists and turn on every page. The ending came as a bombshell to this reviewer but everything fell neatly into place once it was uncovered. There were very few loose ends.
According to many enthusiastic followers of Harlan Coben’s novels, this was not his greatest example. If that is so I can’t wait to read some of his more popular stories.
mr zorg
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Are there some secrets that should be left buried and forgotten? This is the real question when it comes to this story.

Nap is obsessed with finding out the truth about the death of his twin brother Leo. His death was so unexpected and sudden that over a decade later Nap still hasn’t come to terms with it, especially because his own girlfriend disappeared into thin air on the same night.

Now she has suddenly made a reappearance he also takes note of the strange things happening to other old high-school friends. Is there something more nefarious going on other than random acts of violence and disturbances, which just happen to be connected to said old friends.

How well do we really know any person, even when you have a tight connection like twins. Everyone has secrets or personality traits they keep hidden from certain people. Thinking that his brother was nothing less than perfect is clouding his view of the facts.

Corben combines a fast-paced thriller with strong emotional undertones to create a read which may make you ponder the advantages of raking up the past.

Sometimes it’s better to let sleeping dogs lie. At least that way one can maintain some semblance of a facade for others, and more importantly for our or their own peace of mind. Like I said it is an interesting combo of conspiracy and moral of the story tale.

What can I say this s Harlan Coben-a master of his craft. As usual full of twists and surprises. Recommended although not his best work to date.

It’s always my favourite time of the year when a new Harlan Coben novel is released! And I am thrilled that this new release is one of his standalone novels which I have to admit to preferring over his Mryon Bolitar crime series. Saying that though I will read,and usually enjoy, anything this man writes! He has cornered the market in the small town America twisty crime dramas that thrill the reader until that very last page and he is definitely an author that should be on everyone’s To Read list!

Nap Dumas is a police officer with plenty of personal demons and that makes him a bit of a loose cannon when his emotions get the better of him! He lost his twin brother Leo 15 years ago and shortly afterwards his girlfriend upped and left. He hasn’t been the same since and definitely hasn’t been able to “let it go” so when Maura’s fingerprints turn up at a crime scene, Nap is determined to track her down to find out the truth about what happened all those years ago. What follows is a fight for the facts, uncovering deeply buried secrets and lies where everyone is hiding something from the formidable cop. And that’s where Harlan Cobens strength lies, in his archetypal lead character who won’t stop chasing the truth-one that every reader will be cheering on. Nap is a principled force to be reckoned with, with a moral compass that he mislaid occasionally but was never completely left without purpose.

The conspiracy theories that weaved their twisted way throughout the storyline kept my attention throughout and my ideas about the impending fallout changed constantly. There were some major surprises for me that I could kick myself for not seeing coming but I was enjoying the developing plot way too much to worry about the ending which I also have to say worked perfectly for me!

If you haven’t read a Harlan Coben novel before then you do have a lot of catching up to do but I thoroughly recommend you do and this one is a pretty good one to start your love affair with!

Highly recommended by me!

Don't Let Go by Harlan Coben was published Random House on 26 September 2017. Two murders which took place 15 years ago are brought back into the spot light thanks to a drive by shooting. 15 years ago Leo Dumas and Diana Styles were found dead on train tracks (no one could explain why they were there) and Maura Wells, Napoleon Dumas' (Leo's twin) girlfriend disappeared.

Fast forward a decade and a half, Nap is now a cop, a detective, investigating the drive by shooting of Sgt Rex Canton, an off duty Pennsylvanian cop and Nap's high school classmate, who was specifically targeting the guy who shot him. Maura's finger prints are found in the car driven by Rex. Nap has never forgotten about his twin and regularly talks about him. He is also aware that he cannot investigate a crime that happened outside his jurisdiction.

Leo, Diana, Maura and Rex were/are all linked through the Westbrook High's Conspiracy Club, a traditional teen anti-establishment group. When Hank Stroud, one of the last 2 living members is found dead, murdered on a street corner, Nap decides to question Beth Lashley, the only surviving member of the club. He discovers that she too has disappeared. Nap investigates and tries to discover what secrets the club had uncovered which would result in their deaths.

This s where the book fell down for me. The reasons are mundane, not that mind bloing or intersting. The book is beautifully planned out and well written, just like all his novels, but the climax, in my view, is anti-climatic.


I received my copy from NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK in exchange for an honest review but this does not influence my opinions as all opinions are my own.

Thrilling ,on edge the entire read. I had to finish it so read over two days.

https://www.deadgoodbooks.co.uk/best-books-out-in-september-2017/

"Mistaken identities, dark family secrets and mysterious conspiracies lie at the heart of this twisty new thriller from one of our favourite authors, Harlan Coben. This is a writer who understands pace, plot and character like no other, serving them up with a sprinkle of his trademark wit to produce a novel that will hold you in its grip until the very end."

A stand alone thriller written in the first person so making it an easy read style though I did take a while to get used to the monologues to his dead brother but they are integral to the story. Nap, a policeman verging on the vigilante, cannot erase from his mind the deaths of his twin brother and girlfriend that coincided with the disappearance of his own girlfriend Maura. The latter’s fingerprints appear at a murder crime scene. This sets off a whole chain of events linked to that fateful night and what actually happened. Who is telling the truth ? An intruiging web of deceit, secrets and lies emerges both at a local and national level