Harlan Coben is best known for thrillers in which a good man’s loved ones are menaced by extreme evil; the protagonist’s struggles are always personal. In Caught, the author lowers the stakes considerably when New Jersey TV anchor Wendy Tynes merely loses her job after an on-camera “predator” sting results in death-by-vigilante. In an attempt to win back her job and repair her reputation, Tynes reinvestigates the case against accused molester Dan Mercer, and learns that he might have been innocent all along. Mercer, a social worker, was one of several college roommates whose lives have been destroyed by an unknown enemy.
The author is also not exactly famed for his high humor, yet here he delivers a gut-splitting scene centered around an excruciatingly untalented white, middle-aged, suburban rap artist and his white, middle-aged, suburban groupies. Adding to an already convoluted plot is the disappearance of a 17-year-old girl who had known and trusted the murdered social worker, and might—just might—have been murdered by him. One of the major satisfactions in Caught is to watch the television journalist waver back and forth over Mercer’s presumed guilt, as well as the possible criminality of his old college roommates. There is no frenzied race here to save loved ones’ lives, because when the book opens, the damage has already been done. The only question left for Tynes is “Why?” In less expert hands, that wouldn’t be enough; in Harlan Coben’s, it’s plenty.
"For me, the books I read were the call—the call to adventure, to thinking, to acknowledging other points of view. But to complete the ritual, I needed to respond."
I am surrounded by books. Every room, every space in my large, sprawling 1750s house is full of books...
Our history and experiences can define us, inspire our actions, and as writers impact our words and stories. Mine most definitely has: my father was a small-time gangster. Really.
"My ah-ha moment came when I read The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.... That was it for me – I was off to the races."
Nietzsche once wrote, “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”
"Mystery books were daring and exciting, firing up my imagination and making me yearn to become a girl detective or even a secret agent. They also empowered me to make up impromptu ghost stories around the campfire for my Girl Scout troop and sneak into the cemetery at night on a dare."
Fire and Ashes, the latest Angela Richman Death Investigator mystery, is an exploration of a fatal fire. To research this novel, Viets delved into the devastating consequences of junk science and arson investigations.
