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I Will Find You

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Member Reviews

Looking for a(nother) story of a good man wrongly convicted, blessed with luck and friends in the right places, charming and eerily brilliant? Harlan Coven’s newest protagonist David Burroughs is the hero for you. A nice, fast-paced book with plenty of action, but shallow and only slight believable.

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What a ride this story was, typical Coben suspense. Some of the descriptions in the prison were upsetting and some of the plot unbelievable but overall a good read. The FBI team were hilarious at times. I would love to see this on film or tv.

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A man is in jail for murdering his son when his ex sister-in-law shows him a photograph of his son-alive. He sees his only option is to break out of jail to search for and rescue his son. It's a gripping story with lots of suspense and a little romance thrown in!

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I've read every book written by Harlan Coben and have always found them to be fast paced, interesting and hard to put down. This one was no different. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

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This is an author that I have loved reading from the first book I picked up by him. I never hesitate to pick up one of his books. They are well written and hard to put down. This book is no different. I enjoyed watching the growth of the plot throughout the story which made it easy to read. The characters pull you into their world from the start and keep you engaged to the end. They are strong, connectable characters that add to the entertainment value of the story. This is a story about how far you will go for your family and to clear your name. The twists and turns are ones you don't want to miss. This is a fast paced story that I highly recoomend. You don't want to miss what happens with the characters for sure.

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I loved this one as I do most of his books . Coben is a master at plot and pacing and her never disappoints. I really loved the creep premise of this book.

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Absolutely fantastic! This fast pace novel will not only keep you second guessing but routing for the main character throughout the whole book. There were times I forgot I was reading, and that is an auto five star for me :)

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David is in jail for life for brutally murdering his young son. Five years later, his sister-in-law visits him in jail with a photo she’s come across…a recent photo that seemingly shows David’s son in the background. As David strives to do the impossible (break out of a maximum-security prison, get his son back, and clear his name), we get to go on the wild ride with him as we try to wrap our heads around the fact that the dead boy they held a funeral for may actually have been a stranger. I love Coben’s books—he is one of my go-to authors that I don’t even need to know what the book is about because I know I’m going to read it. Although this wasn’t one of my favorites (there’s the believability factor, for sure), I still absolutely recommend.

Special Note: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Thank you to Harlan Coben, Grand Central Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

David is a convicted felon currently five years into a life sentence for killing his 3 year old son. However, he knows he didn't do it and will do anything to find out the truth including escaping from prison.

I Will Find You follows David and his sister-in-law, Rachel in a twist and turn suspenseful mystery. The story is a little out there, but I loved the quick pace and definitely wanted to know how it was going to end. Harlan Coben is a favorite of mine and this book did not disappoint!

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This is my first time reading a Harlan Coben book, and I was not disappointed. It was a fast read that had me thinking how I would behave in many of the characters' shoes. It is an easy read with just the right amount of complexity to keep the reader interested. I also love a multiple perspective read!

I Will Find You follows David, a convicted felon, breaking out of prison to clear his name and find his son. At the beginning you do not know a lot about David, or the other narrators (Rachel, Cheryl, Max) but you get tidbits throughout the book that both do not seem groundbreaking, but add context and value to the plot.

Is the plot unrealistic, sure! But that is why we read, right?

There is something about being able to truly hate the "villain" in this book that makes it so great. There is a scene in the last 10% of the book that, as a reader, I began to hate the "bad guy" and sometimes it is satisfying in a way to be able to distinguish who the reader should be cheering on.

The ending did not leave me wanting more, but everything was not neatly tied up, a good balance of both.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

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I will find you follows David, convicted five years ago of killing his son as he attempts to find the truth of what happened that horrific night. What follows is a high stakes prison escape and attempt to unravel the mystery of who murdered 3 year old Matthew. The book moves at a great pace and the cast of characters feel very refreshing and human, you truly can connect and root for David. As a big Coben fan I also appreciated the connections to several other books he has created. However, I did feel as though this novel did not live up to past books in his catalogue. it sometimes felt too rushed and didn't build up the mystery like I am used to. While I feel it is unfair to compare previous works, it is hard to separate from my mind entirely while reading. While I had high expectations that I Will Find You did not completely live up to, I still thoroughly enjoyed this book.

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I WILL FIND YOU: Harlan Coben is such a talented author whose unique storylines always impress.This book is one you won’t put down until reading “the end.”. The suspense will keep you guessing! I highly recommend both the book and the author. #IWillFindYou

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Best-selling author Harlan Coben relates that the inspiration for his latest stand-alone book, I Will Find You, was a sentence that popped into his head. "I'm serving the fifth year of a prison sentence for murdering my own child. Spoiler alert: I didn't do it." He thought to himself, "What if I opened the book with the man, who is accused of murdering his own child and is in prison for it, finding out his child may still be alive right away?" Deciding that would be a "cool opening," the story developed from there. Remarkably, given the intricate and shocking plot twists for which Coben is known, he insists that when he sits down to write, "I know the beginning, I know the end, I know nothing in between. So it's like travelling from my home state of New Jersey across the country to L.A. -- I may go Route 80, I'll maybe go via the Suez Canal or stop in Tokyo, but I always end up in L.A."

Coben says he enjoys "playing with the idea of a perfect life, and the outside forces that could change any aspect of it." And does just that in I Will Find You. As noted, the first-person narration begins with David Burroughs explaining his circumstances and why he did not protest his innocence more vehemently when he became a suspect in the murder investigation: guilt. He felt that he had failed the son it was his job to protect. "Guilty or not guilty of the actual murder, it is my fault and thus my sentence to serve." Three-year-old Matthew was murdered in his own room and David discovered his lifeless child in his bed wearing his Marvel-Hero-themed pajamas. From that moment on, David explains, he was constrained to a "metaphorical life sentence" irrespective of how the legal proceedings played out.

David loved his son. Like any parent, he was not a perfect father. He and his wife, Cheryl, were struggling to make their marriage work. Cheryl had just completed her residency in general surgery and was working a night shift, so David was alone with Matthew. "Three-year-olds can be tough" and David was preoccupied, tired, and decided to put Matthew to bed without reading him a bedtime story. He didn't hold his liquor well, and after drinking more than he should have, he passed out without ensuring that the doors were locked. If Matthew's killer(s) made any noise entering the house, David didn't hear it, nor was he awakened by any screams coming from Matthew's room. He woke up at 4:00 a.m. and instantly knew something was wrong in the quiet house. When he went to check on Matthew, he discovered his beautiful son had been bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat. A baseball bat on which only David's fingerprints were found that elderly Mrs. Wilson testified she watched David bury in the woods separating their houses. There was no evidence that David had been drugged, no discernible motive, no other suspects, and he had a history of night terrors and sleepwalking. It didn't take the jury long to return a guilty verdict and David accepted his fate, even though he knew he did not kill his own son. Unless . . . Could he have killed Matthew while in a fugue state and have no recollection of committing the crime?

But David makes clear that his story won't be about his innocence being proven and his freedom restored. Because "my son would still be dead."

Rather, his story is about a chance sighting of a young boy in the background of a photograph taken at an amusement park by a vacationing family. The photograph is shared with friends, as routinely happens countless times every day. But the photograph in question depicts a boy, in profile, about the age Matthew would be now who bears a congenital hemangioma -- a port-stain birthmark -- that is significantly similar to the one that Matthew was born with on his cheek.

By the time Rachel, David's sister-in-law, engineers a visit with David, she has had a forensic examination of the photograph conducted. Age-progression software has concluded that the photograph is a match to one taken of Matthew, but Rachel has not revealed the discovery to Cheryl, who has remarried and is pregnant. Rachel is a journalist whose career recently imploded after her ethical choices came under scrutiny. But she still has sources and connections, yet David knows that if she takes the photograph to the police, they will not institute a new investigation. They will write it off as a coincidence because, after all, the perpetrator was caught and convicted. The case of Matthew's murder is closed.

So David decides he has to escape so that he, with Rachel's assistance, can conduct his own investigation and find his son. Because David is convinced Matthew is the boy in the picture.

At this point, readers with any knowledge of how prisons operate must suspend their disbelief and accept that David is housed in a facility where the warden, Philip Mackenzie, is not just the former partner of David's father, a retired police officer, but his father's best friend and David's godfather. (Ostensibly, these family connections constituting a major conflict of interest, were overlooked by officials when the warden sought to have David housed in the prison he ran in order to ensure David's safety.) Moreover, Coben never explains why David, who would have been charged with murder under the criminal statutes of and serving his sentence in a state prison, is instead housed in a federal penitentiary. No federal crime is described, thus the F.B.I. would have no jurisdiction. Nonetheless, the warden not only believes David's contention that the boy in the photograph is likely Matthew -- after all, he never believed David was capable of committing such a heinous crime -- but agrees to risk his own life and career in order to help David escape. And enlists the assistance of his son, a police officer. Together they plan and carry out an elaborate escape that is as harrowing, fast-paced, and entertaining to read as it is implausible.

Coben can be forgiven for taking dramatic license because he needed a mechanism to get David out of prison so the real adventure could begin. With assistance from Rachel, David begins his quest by going home to visit his dying father and his aunt who cares for him. The bedside scene is poignant and wrenching, even before Coben reveals his father's history. David also returns to his old neighborhood where many of the guys he grew up with remain. Some are eking out an honest living while others are still affiliated with gangs and engaged in criminal endeavors. Step by step, David starts gathering clues to why Matthew was targeted while maneuvering in ways that permit him to continue eluding the F.B.I. And the two agents assigned to the case, Max Bernstein and his partner, Sarah Jablonski, are fully developed, intriguing, and frequently hilarious characters who deserve to be the main protagonists in one of Coben's thrillers. Max insists he is a funny guy and that's why they're referred to as "the F.B.I. Desi and Lucy," but Sarah is convinced the nickname stuck solely because she is a redhead. Their banter is crisp, but their sixteen-year partnership is tested when Max begins to question David's guilt and Sarah is adamant about their role in the case. They are assigned only to apprehend a fugitive, not re-open an old murder case.

Coben intersperses chapters featuring Gertrude "Pixie" Payne, the eighty-two-year-old matriarch of the Payne family, heirs to the Payne Kentucky Bourbon dynasty. Pixie is the cousin of popular Coben character Windsor Horne Lockwood III or "Win." The Paynes are wealthy, influential, powerful, and very used to getting exactly what they want. Coben gradually reveals that Pixie may be getting on in years, but she is still a forceful, decisive woman who manages her family and its assets. She has spent her life surrounded by men who have engaged in despicable behavior and has done whatever was necessary to keep the family's secrets buried, scandals avoided. She's currently doing whatever is required to protect her grandson, Hayden, who has arrived for a visit with his son, Theo.

In his signature style, Coben melds a large cast of fascinating characters (even criminal defense attorney Hester Crimstein makes an appearance as Rachel's lawyer) and surprising plot twists into a cohesive, absorbing, and decidedly contemporary tale. The story's gait is set from the first page when David reveals his circumstances and never slows for even a beat. In fact, Coben notes that I Will Find You may well be his fastest-paced book to date. Indeed, I Will Find You moves at breakneck speed, with revelation after revelation demonstrating just how adept Coben is at weaving a clever, complex mystery without ever sacrificing character development. It is never readily apparent how Coben is going to pull the numerous loose threads of the plot together . . . until he again manages to seamlessly do so. Which is why I Will Find You is such a compellingly good story. Considering that Coben does not know what direction the plot is going to take when he sits down to write, his ability to concoct believable details that illustrate the ways in which the characters' lives are intertwined, why they made the choices they did, and the dramatic impact upon their lives of those choices is nothing less than awe-inspiring and unparalleled.

And I Will Find You is an emotionally resonant story. Coben credibly conveys the guilt and grief that David has lived with for more than five years, as well as his self-doubt in light of what appears to be uncontroverted evidence that hebrutally took his own child's life (his fingerprints on the baseball bat, an eye witness who positively identified him, the dearth of any evidence pointing to intruders entering the home while he slept). Cheryl's grief at losing both her son and her marriage, and her commitment to carrying on her important work as a transplant surgeon and starting over with a new husband and child, are heartbreakingly realistic, as is Rachel's relatable need to uncover the truth about her nephew's fate and, perhaps, reclaim her dignity, self-esteem, and professional standing in the process. Max and Sarah squabble about their ethical and moral roles and responsibilities, and readers will want to see justice done once the whole truth is revealed.

I Will Find You proves yet again that Coben is one of America's best storytellers. It is another must-read novel from the acclaimed author that will undoubtedly be touted as one of the best thrillers of 2023.

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If you like Harlan Cohen, then you will like this book.

It was a very fast paced book. Too fast. Bang, bang, bang and we are at the end. I would have liked more character development and back story. I thought the FBI partners were trying to hard to be witty and fell flat for me.

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"I am serving the fifth year of a life sentence for murdering my own child. Spoiler alert: I didn't do it." ~ pg. 10

These are the first words from the narrator to the reader. Got your attention?

David and Cheryl Burroughs were living an ideal life until tragedy struck one mysterious night. Their son was found brutally murdered in his bedroom. David is found guilty and serving life in prison and Cheryl is now remarried. David maintains his innocence even though he was drunk with no memory.

David's first visitor in five years in Cheryl's sister, a journalist trying to revive her career but also with unexpected news. She believes the son is still alive. Coming with proof a photograph of a boy with the same distinctive birthmark. Is it possible? David plans an escape from prison to save his son, clear his name, and discover what really happened that devastating night.

A few of the last Coben standalone novels were more miss than hit. It's definitely been a minute before I gave a 5⭐️ rating. I am a devout Myron Bolitar, Mickey Bolitar and Win series fan. I still give the standalone books a fair chance. Thank goodness I did not bypass I Will Find You. Coben brought the thrill back in thriller! The fast-paced, get down to action started from the first line to the last.

The premise was a bit far-fetched and handled flimsily but the idea of a wrongly convicted man proving innocence is very realistic. Highly recommend to all mystery/suspense bookhearts, especially before it hits Netflix.

Happy Belated Pub Day, Harlan Coben! I Will Find You is now available.

Disclaimer: An advance copy was received directly from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are my own and would be the same if I spent my hard-earned coins. ~LiteraryMarie

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The narrative commences as David Burroughs endures his fifth year of a life sentence for the murder of his son. Consumed by despair, he never contested the conviction, believing his life was already over without his child. Although he could not fathom killing his own son, the night of the incident remains a blank in his memory. Initially refusing visitors in prison, David is taken aback when his sister-in-law, Rachel, insists on meeting him. This encounter plants seeds of doubt in his mind, leading him to question if his son might still be alive. Harlan Coben delivers yet another gripping novel, which I found impossible to set aside until the very last page.

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David Burroughs is wrongly accused and convicted of murdering his young son. While in jail, his sister in law shows him a photo which suggests that his son is still alive. His godfather, the prison warden, together with his son, helps David escape so that he can find and save his son. I am a Coben fan but this is definitely one of his better books. I could not put it down. I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

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Thank you NetGalley for the Advanced Copy of I Will Find You by Harlan Coben. I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone who wants an intense thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat! This was such a page-turner and I devoured it! Action-packed, quick paced, thriller - a must read.

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When it comes to knocking your socks off, Coben is your guy! Wow! This book blew me away. Propulsive and thrilling with an ending that satisfied most of my thoughts throughout this read. The plot and story were so well done. The characters had me on the edge of my seat. Grab a copy everyone you will not be disappointed

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Harlan Coben’s consistency of excellence continues in his new book “I Will Find You” - I was immediately enveloped by the question: Is Matthew alive? The twists of the book keep you engaged and the ending reminded me of a classic mystery novel with a satisfying solve for the reader and enough suspense to leave some questions until you read them on the page. I highly recommend!

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