NIEMAND VERTELLEN

by Harlan Coben

Paperback, ?

Status

Available

Call number

813.54

Genres

All Topics

Mystery

Fiction

Description

Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. HTML:For Dr. David Beck, the loss was shattering. And every day for the past eight years, he has relived the horror of what happened. The gleaming lake. The pale moonlight. The piercing screams. The night his wife was taken. The last night he saw her alive. Everyone tells him it's time to move on, to forget the past once and for all. But for David Beck, there can be no closure. A message has appeared on his computer, a phrase only he and his dead wife know. Suddenly Beck is taunted with the impossible�??that somewhere, somehow, Elizabeth is alive. Beck has been warned to tell no one. And he doesn't. Instead, he runs from the people he trusts the most, plunging headlong into a search for the shadowy figure whose messages hold out a desperate hope. But already Beck is being hunted down. He's headed straight into the heart of a dark and deadly secret�??and someone intends to stop him before he gets… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Gluk

This was my first Coben. Good, easy to read, interesting intrigue. A really good investigation book.

24 more

LibraryThing member latorreliliana

Man believes wife is murdered. Finds out complicated plot in her disappearance. Many twists and turns. Too many sub plots. To follow.

LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C

I tried this because it was on the Ultimate Reading List for Suspense, and that's the only reason I gave it over fifty pages, because the writing here, oh, it is painful in a way that I can't believe this is just a weak book for this author, but the work of a hack. No sappy cliche is left

unwritten. There are popular thriller writers who can boast strong prose--Dean Koontz and Dennis Lehane spring to mind. Coben is evidently not one of them. The way he bounces between first and third person and his pedestrian prose reminded me of James Patterson.

I can live with pedestrian prose if the characters are vivid creations or the plot really clever. However... The hero? A pediatrician, David Beck, who works in the inner city who says he tries not to play "Benevolent White Man" (I kid you not, the character uses that phrase to describe himself.) He has a lesbian sister who has a son she conceived through artificial insemination she's raising together with her partner, a plus-size model. All police officers in the book are pot-bellied, big nosed thuggish fascistic morons (but the neighborhood drug dealer has a heart of gold). The villain? An Eeeeevil billionaire. What else? If you're liberal, you may very well find the socio-political sensibility condescending, and if conservative, unbearably PC. I managed to find it both.

I'll say this for the novel. If I read past page 50 because of the recommendation, I kept reading because Coben does a good storytelling striptease. Thus the (generous) two stars. I once read that the key to any novel is control of information, and I think that's never truer than with a suspense or mystery novel. This one does have an intriguing premise. Eight years ago Beck's wife and sweetheart from childhood, Elizabeth, was seemingly killed by a serial killer. Except on the anniversary of her disappearance Beck is sent an email with a link to a live webcam on a busy city street. And when he clicks there on the screen is his wife looking back at him. Coben throws us just enough intriguing tidbits every once in a while that I kept reading to find out what was at the bottom of the mystery.

So, last straw? That the ending to me was such a cheat I wanted to throw it against the wall. The worse kind of trashy book is the kind to make me read for hundreds of pages and then makes me soooo sorry for every hour of my life I'm not getting back.

Show Less

LibraryThing member Michael_Drysdale

This is my first Harlan Coben book, which I really enjoyed. The book is written from the point of view of Beck, a paediatrician, whose wife had been murdered 8 years previously. The intrigue starts right from the first chapter when Beck appears to receive emails from his deceased wife. The pace is

fast with short chapters, but each adding a twist to the story. The book is a page turner and I finished it in a couple of sessions. One negative point: the final twist was not really necessary and was at odds with the narrator’s point of view which had been consistent up to that point. Despite this, it still deserves 5 stars.

Show Less

LibraryThing member TigerLMS

Harlan Coben writes so many twists and turns into this thriller you can't help but wonder how he kept track of it all. Like many mass market thrillers, there are a number of points in the book that give you reason to question a character's actions-- and all too often character's choices seemed

forced, as if they were doing something merely because it fit into the author's thriller template. The action centers around pediatrics Doctor David Beck. Beck's life-long love was murdered eight years prior, but suddenly he starts getting cryptic messages with details that only she could know. Is she really alive? Why does she tell him, "They're watching-- tell no one?" Beck abandons everything, including good reason, to follow the possibility that his Elizabeth is still alive and on the run after all this time. The set-up is good, but I'd lost my suspension of disbelief by the end. Trying to guess who really did it and why is like trying to guess who will win an election that's up for bids-- it simply stops mattering after a while. Similar to some David Baldacci and some John Grisham books-- it's a thrill ride with little substance.

Show Less

LibraryThing member uryjm

I didn’t expect much from this best-seller fodder, although I did admit Stephen King has written a few goodies, and that James Lee is now pushing such lists. It was a nice surprise, a ripping yarn that kept me going over two days and almost guessing who’d done it. A few corny touches – the

ghetto thug with a heart of gold for the doc being the worst – but counter-balanced by some other stronger characters, such as the Oriental hit-man who kills with his hands. I’ll put Coban on my list of “worth a read” authors.

Show Less

LibraryThing member KnittyGritty

If you like a spooky story & to be challenged as to the "who" of the whodunit, you will really like this one. Set aside the time required to finish this because you won't want to put it down.

LibraryThing member Yorkshiresoul

This was a tremendous read, its been sat on my book shelves for ages until I picked it up last week, and then got through it in a couple of days.

The set up, a young married couple are brutually attacked, the wife kidnapped, tortured and killed by a serial killer who is then caught and imprisoned.

Eight years later, the husband receives a strange e-mail with a link, when he follows the link it shows him a street scene on web cam, as he watches, his wife steps in front of the camera, speaks to him, then walks away.

Tell No One is a non stop rollercoaster of thrills as the protagonist Dr. Beck is plunged into a whirl of violence and intrigue as he strggles to understand what could have happened to his wife eight years ago. The plot constantly twists and turns as Beck uncovers revelation after revelation, I do like the sort of book where you cannot see the next plot jink coming, and Coben even saves a final twist for the very last page.

A really good thriller, very entertaining, top marks.

Show Less

LibraryThing member edwardsgt

A young married couple are brutually attacked, the wife kidnapped, tortured and killed by a serial killer who is then caught and imprisoned. Eight years later, the husband receives a strange e-mail with a link, when he follows the link it shows him a street scene on web cam, as he watches, his wife

steps in front of the camera, speaks to him, then walks away.

Tell No One is a non stop rollercoaster of thrills as the protagonist Dr. Beck is plunged into a whirl of violence and intrigue as he strggles to understand what could have happened to his wife eight years ago. The plot constantly twists and turns as Beck uncovers revelation after revelation.

Written with Coben's usual depth of charactistion, detail and humour.

Show Less

LibraryThing member karriethelibrarian

This was my first Harlen Coben book, and I read it because it was chosen for the 2008 Abraham Lincoln Book Award list. To say I couldn't put it down is as cliche as it gets, but that's what happened. It took me two days to squeeze this between work, home and making dinner. I'm totally hooked on his

books now, and steadily making my way through all of them.

Show Less

LibraryThing member xinu

I really enjoyed Coben's writing style so I'll certainly try another of his titles, but the purported twists in this title were a little anticlimactic.

LibraryThing member dara85

David Beck receives a strange e-mail. The sender seems to know things that only he and his wife shared. Could Elizabeth, his wife, who was murdered 8 years ago be alive?

LibraryThing member MonicaLynn

This book was very good, it kept me interested the entire way through. Hard to put down.

LibraryThing member jepeters333

For Dr. David Beck, the loss was shattering. And every day for the past eight years, he has relived the horror of what happened. The gleaming lake. The pale moonlight. The piercing screams. The night his wife was taken. The last night he saw her alive. Everyone tells him it's time to move on, to

forget the past once and for all. But for David Beck, there can be no closure. A message has appeared on his computer, a phrase only he and his dead wife know. Suddenly Beck is taunted with the impossible - that somewhere, somehow, Elizabeth is alive.

Show Less

LibraryThing member BellaFoxx

I really like this book, I thought I had it figured out, but I was wrong! It kind of scared me though. I will probably not sit next to any blond Asians on the subway for a while!

LibraryThing member litelady-ajh

One of my favorite books by this author. The other is Gone for Good. Both are very un-put-downable & kept me up til all hours to finish.

LibraryThing member gilly1944

Good but not as good as the French film of the book which was excellent!

LibraryThing member nakmeister

a cracking thriller, gripped me from the first chapter and kept me guessing all the way through. Quick and easy to read but very satisfying with a good twist at the end.

LibraryThing member novelgirl

Definitely a light read but the story has good characters, the plot really pops, and the pace of the story is perfect. Mr.Coben is a refreshingly concise writer. I thought it was so good, once I finished it, I just wanted to start reading it again.

LibraryThing member krissa

I really liked that it kept moving, and was always hard to put down, even when I only picked it up for a “couple quick pages”. While I was finishing it up last night, there were a couple of times I realized that I wasn’t breathing. ;) Lots of different layers to the story, and interesting

things happening simultaneously. Believable, down to earth, funny characters. I have never read this author before, but it is love at first read.

Show Less

LibraryThing member beccam2

I am a Harlan Coben fan and have enjoyed all his books. This one is a bit different. While it has his usual plot twists and turns- and he excels at that- in this book he failed to develop characters that we really understood or even cared about very much.They seemed to be more of a plot device than

real people. Secondly, he did have to stretch to tie all the elements together, and it wasn't particularly believable. However, despite these flaws, I still enjoyed the book. So 3 1/2 stars.
Comment

Show Less

LibraryThing member KarriesKorner

books now, and steadily making my way through all of them.

Show Less

LibraryThing member Kenny_grif

This book is one of the reasons why I love reading! It was the first book I have read by this author and I did so in record time because it is that good. It's a fabulous suspense novel about an 8 year old incident involving David Beck and his wife Elizabeth, which had ended in her death. But that

night and the incidents leading up to it comes roaring back when the now Dr. Beck receives an anonymous email from his "deceased" wife... his hunt to find out the truth of how she is alive ensnares him with the powerful and ruthless Griffin Scope and has him running for his life. Coben unveils the truth of the secrets these three families share in a manner which has you anxiously turning the page to find out more. The inter-connectivity of the families and the secrets going back twelve years are superbly weaved! An excellent read; I was sorry when it ended. Forgot to mention, it is tinged with romance! Really there is something for everyone in this book. I highly recommend.

Show Less

LibraryThing member Ste100

I liked it! The guy has a good eye for detail and pathos.

LibraryThing member miyurose

This was Coben’s first post-Bolitar stand-alone novel, and he starts out with a theme that reoccurs through many of his stand-alones — the missing and/or presumed dead loved one. It borders a little on over-used, yet it never fails to create suspense. It takes a while in this story before

you’re really sure whether or not Elizabeth is alive, but figuring that out is far from the whole story. There’s a lot going on here — so much that I got a little lost in a few places — but Coben does a good job of tying it all up in the end. And I really did not guess the final twist. It was twisty enough to make you rethink some of Beck’s actions. Gotta love that!

Show Less

Fewer