Book report: No second chance by Harlan Coben

Thèmes abordés

Harlan Coben, Month Club

Résumé du document

”No Second Chance” by Harlan Coben was sold worldwide through the” book of the Month Club” in 2003, and that is how a copy ended up on one of my mother´s book shelves. She is not very keen on thrillers so she never even read the book. Like many ”book of the Month” subscribers her aim was only to improve her personal book collection and sadly not to read a good book. Five years ago, during the summer, I needed a good book for my holidays so I took it. I read it many times and liked it so much that it is now permanently part of my own collection. I love good thrillers, I have therefore read other novels by Harlan Coben but ”No Second Chance” is by far my favorite. The novel is still a best seller due to good marketing but more importantly because it is finely written. It is a thriller generously peppered with often-funny dialogues . It is in fact hard to keep track of time when reading it. It is fast paced, twist filled and humorous .

The plot evolves around the kidnapping of Marc Seidman´s baby daughter, it becomes though soon much more complex and thrilling. Harlan Coben has a very unique way of writing which can be recognized as his signature in all his books. The main character, Marc is also the narrator and uses ”I ” throughout the novel. After a few pages it is very easy to forget that it is not a true story but fiction and that the main character is not Harlan Coben. The reader is allowed to know what is inside the narrator´s head and ” see” with his eyes but no other piece of information is ever given. It is the narrator (Marc) who sets the rythm.

Extraits

[...] Harlan Coben does not set his novels into imaginary surroundings. He uses his childhood memories. He likes to create plots where events are often misinterpreted and involve the resurfacing of the past. This is also the case for second chance”. Harlan grew up in a well-to-do middle class suburb of the East Coast very similar to the neighborhood that the narrator describes throughout the story. Harlan also uses his memory to describe the house he lived in as a child, the grand father summer cabin, the city . [...]

[...] He is at first accused of the kidnapping and the murder until the ransom arrives. With the help of his best friend and lawyer Lenny and his very rich father in law, Marc is able to reach the kidnappers until they disappear leaving only behind his dead sister but not the baby girl. He discovers that his sister was supporting the kidnapping gang. The first part of the book goes very slowly as the emphasis is put on Marc trying to grieve and understand what happened. [...]

[...] He finds his daughter and his long lost love falls in love again with him. Though everything does not end well, like in real life. The plot develops mostly around the notion of family: He faces the burden of guilt and duty to find his daughter but also due to the fact that he can not have the relationship he wishes he had with his parents. His father is permanently handicapped after a bloodclot and ends up dying. Marc lives only a few blocks away from his parents. [...]

[...] He also discovered that his wife was mentally instable and had hired a detective to spy on him. Those elements are finely entertwined in the plot and make SecondChance” a perfect thriller. I would never have guessed the end. I had to read again and again the book to make sure I had understood all the subtleties of the plot and look forward to reading its sequel. Bibliography: Book reporter, No Second Chance. Retrieved October 21th 2014 www.bookreporter.com/reviews/no-second-chance Blog review No Second Chance. [...]

[...] Then they find a way to overcome the situation and get major payback[5]: Marc´s best friend and lawyer Lenny, ends up being the one who killed his wife and took the daughter. Lenny is a crook. Marc had known him since childhood, he considered him like a brother. Lenny thought Marc was dead when he took the girl. He thought she would be brought up my Monica s parents. Lenny absolutely hates them so he decided to give the baby to a lawyer who he knew was selling Eastern Europeans babies to infertile couples. [...]