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Smile UK Store - The Woods
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List Price: £6.99
Our Price: £4.49
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Manufacturer: Orion
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780752881904
ISBN: 0752881906
Label: Orion
Manufacturer: Orion
Number Of Pages: 464
Publication Date: 2008-01-24
Publisher: Orion
Release Date: 2008-01-24
Studio: Orion
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Editorial Reviews:
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"* 'If you read only one American novel this year make sure that it is this one' Sunday Express. * 'Coben's genius - and his most frustrating trick - is that he makes it all seem so obvious, then kicks your legs away before the end' FHM. * 'Harlan Coben always has a good tale to tell, and he knows how to present it with elegance, pace and loads of tension' Guardian. * 'One of America's top thriller writers. This is his best book yet' Daily Mirror"
Twenty years after his teenaged sister and three of her friends were murdered at their summer camp, a New Jersey prosecutor learns that one of the victims - and maybe more than one - may have walked away.Almost everyone Paul Copeland loves is gone. His mother took off years ago; his perfect wife died of cancer; his father went to his grave digging in the woods surrounding the old PLUS camp and telling Paul, "We still need to find her." In fact, nobody's ever found any more of Camille Copeland, than some bloody clothing. Three months after his father's death, a fresh corpse reopens the case with a jolt. Pressed by the NYPD to view the body found carrying his address, Paul's sure it's Gil Perez, even though he's supposed to have died in the woods two decades ago and his parents insist it's not him. The discovery is so shocking that Paul can barely keep his mind on his latest high-profile case: the prosecution of two frat boys for raping exotic dancer Chamique Johnson, who was invited to a party at their house and then assaulted. Maybe it's just as well if Paul is too distracted to bear down on the defendants, since their wealthy fathers are determined to cut him off at the knees by any means necessary, even if that means hunting for skeletons in his closet. EJ Jenrette goes after Paul with gusto. Considering his checkered family history, however, the ensuing revelations are a lot less resonant than they ought to be. And Coben's fondness for playing out twist after twist long after most tale-spinners would have packed it in makes his yarn seem urgent but not terribly consequential, because unlike most of the author's heroes (Promise Me, 2006, etc.), Paul never feels as if he's in real danger.All the surprises you'd expect from Coben, but a lot fewer thrills. (Kirkus Reviews)
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: The past is never finished: Harlan Coben's The Woods
Comment: 'I see my father with that shovel.'
Harlan Coben opens his bestselling crime novel The Woods with this disturbing recollection. Significantly it is 'that shovel' and as we accompany the protagonist 'Cope' through his difficult confrontations with his past, which is fraught with betrayals, Soviet barbarism, mistaken identity and death, we gradually realise how ironically appropriate the opening line might be. What is the father digging for? Who is his trying to resurrect bone by bone? Actions are metaphors for life itself.
For Paul Copeland (a county Prosecutor) finds 'seeing' profoundly challenging. There are so many secrets past and present, that his whole identity about who is is comes under savage scrutiny. Deceit is ubiquitous. Blindness is survival, yet self-destruction. The price of being Lazarus is high indeed!
Coben is superb at layering his novels in terms of plot and he renders the lives of his characters surreal. Like an archaelogical dig(first line again) The Woods visits and then revisits the past proving that any apparent fact, any assumption can be placed in jeopardy through a moment's revelation.
There is something very solid and enduring about Coben's narrative here and character and place are given enough 'reality' to persuade and support the changing possibilities of the intricate plot. The protaganonist has a dependable foil called 'Muse(!!) and the writing style is polished and assured.
Enough to say that 'everything connects' and the final pages of the novel still holds out an element of surprise with a somewhat ambiguous ending.
A very entertaining and quite creepy read I have to admit. The Woods raises the spectre of summer camp slasher horror very subtly and it lingers!!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Above average thriller
Comment: The Woods
Paul Copeland is a county prosecutor who was at a summer camp twenty years ago where four children were murdered and this has come back to haunt him and threaten his career.
Far too much of the first half of the novel is taken up with a court case of date rape that seems to belong to another novel, the purpose solely to enable the wealthy father of the accused youngsters to pry into Copeland's past. Exactly the same purpose could have been achieved without the long irrelevant court scenes slowing down the pace of the novel to a point where I nearly gave up.
However after this initial aberration the plot gains pace and with good character development I thoroughly enjoyed my first (and probably not the best) Coben novel.
A good but not outstanding read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: trash fiction - rubbish!
Comment: I was led to Coben by suggestions and links from other books on amazon. Having read RJ Ellory's superb work I came to Harlen Coben with great anticipation. I have been thoroughly disappointed. Cliche ridden rubbish. Boogie monsters in the woods, etc. Come on. If you want something to read on the beach and you're 16 then Coben is for you, otherwise you should try elsewhere, I am frankly amazed why this author is so popular.
I have to admit i didn't finish this book - i lost it whilst on holiday. I really did want to finish it and then refer to the text whilst i wrote this review (my second ever). However i couldn't bring myself to waste any more money. I groaned continually at the shoddy plot and narrative. I feel it's written in the style of another literary travesty - The Da Vinci Code - written like a tv mini series CSI or some other flimsy tat. Anybody looking for great prose and drama, suspense and originality could do a lot worse than RJ Ellory.
The intellectually challeneged should stick with Coben, horses for courses i guess.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Comment: Well this is by far the best book I have read for years, so much so that I am writing this review. The book tells an amazing story that is well written and in such a way that it is incredibly difficult to put down, I will definetly buy more of this author and a very recommended book!!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not His Best, but an OK Read
Comment: I've now read 6 Harlan Coben novels and he is currently one of my favourite authors. I only gave this book - The Woods - 3 stars, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it at all. Compared to his other books I've read I found this one only worthy of 3 stars instead of the 4 or 5 ratings I've given to his previous novels.
Maybe I'm getting more used to Coben's style and formula, I'm not really sure, but I found The Woods to be a lot more predictable than his previous works. The twists and turns were not as intricate or ambiguous. I tended to see what was coming before it happened. And occassionally there seemed to be a sudden, unexpected twist that didn't really seem to make a lot of sense in the overall context of the plot. Some almost contrived twists in an attempt to make it less predictable. The pace was definitely slower in this novel too.
These are just my own personal views. Everything aside, I still enjoyed reading the book and I would recommend reading The Woods if you are a fan of the genre. I just feel that Coben fans (like myself) might be a touch disappointed with this one compared to earlier works.
How To Keep Your Man: And Keep Him For Good
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