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Summary and Reviews of Tell No One by Harlan Coben

Tell No One by Harlan Coben

Tell No One

by Harlan Coben
  • Critics' Consensus:
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  • First Published:
  • Jun 1, 2001, 352 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Feb 2002, 400 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

"Begins at a run and in no time is moving at an all-out sprint.... The characters are engaging and the strange goings-on will leave readers rapidly turning pages in search of fresh clues.... [Coben] writes with wit and a shrewd sense of plotting."

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 there.

Excerpt
Tell No One

Eight Years Later

Another girl was about to break my heart.

She had brown eyes and kinky hair and a toothy smile. She also had braces and was fourteen years old and--

"Are you pregnant?" I asked.

"Yeah, Dr. Beck."

I managed not to close my eyes. This was not the first time I'd seen a pregnant teen. Not even the first time today. I've been a pediatrician at this Washington Heights clinic since I finished my residency at nearby Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center five years ago. We serve a Medicaid (read: poor) population with general family health care, including obstetrics, internal medicine, and, of course, pediatrics. Many people believe this makes me a bleeding-heart do-gooder. It doesn't. I like being a pediatrician. I don't particularly like doing it out in the suburbs with soccer moms and manicured dads and, well, people like me.

"What do you plan on doing?" I asked.

"Me and Terrell. We're real happy, Dr. Beck."

"How old is Terrell?"...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Detroit News
Set to be one of the big thriller reads of the summer.... Fifteen pages into this book, you're sucked in and Coben never lets the pace stall.... If it takes more than two days to finish this one, you're working too many hours. A hot summer rush.

San Francisco Chronicle
Harlan Coben's Tell No One begins at a run and in no time is moving at an all-out sprint.... The characters are engaging and the strange goings-on will leave readers rapidly turning pages in search of fresh clues.... [Coben] writes with wit and a shrewd sense of plotting.

USA Today
Compelling, cinematic ... with surprises in store for the reader until the very last page.... [readers will] savor every clue, every detail.

Kirkus Reviews
A gloriously exciting yarn. ... A quest for answers that will have you burning the midnight oil till 300 a.m.

Library Journal
Coben's latest thriller is the book everyone should take to the beach this summer. ... Tell everyone to read Tell No One.

Publishers Weekly
Coben knows how to move pages, and he generates considerable suspense.

Author Blurb Iris Johansen
A thriller of runaway tension.

Author Blurb Jeffery Deaver
Suspense at its finest.

Author Blurb Lisa Scottoline, New York Times bestselling author of Moment of Truth
Tell No One is such a terrific thriller, you'll want to tell everyone! Harlan Coben delivers the near-impossible -- a can't-put-it-down page-turner with a slam-bang surprise ending. You'll read this book in one breathless gulp!

Author Blurb Phillip Margolin
Non-stop action with plot twists galore.

Reader Reviews

Marti

very good
I loved this book. It kept me on edge in a good way :), I mean every time I thought I figured out who did it, I turned out to be wrong; but I think that was the best part, so if your wondering if this is a good book to read, I have to say yes =D
Morgan W.

Just amazing.
This is probably my favorite book. I like everything about it. The climax scene at the tree made me cry, I was just so happy for him. You have to read it, and once you start you won't want to stop, seriously.
Natasha

Twisted
I really hated how the book kept twisting the story.
Kim

My first Coban, but not my last!
I don't read many mystery-thrillers. There are so many mediocre entries in this genre that I think it's very difficult to find a good one. I was therefore initially disappointed when my book club chose this novel, but I decided to participate ...   Read More

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Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

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