Harlan Coben (2008) Hold Tight. New York: Dutton.

 

Harlan Coben (2008) Hold Tight. New York: Dutton. (416)

 

Summary

There are two stories set in New York that 'collide' (they don't). First, two parents 'spy' on their son Adam's computer usage and find out eventually that he's involved in a prescription drug scam. Second, 'Nash' - a psychotic who made a deathbed promise to his former wife that he'd look after her siblings - is killing people whom he regards as a threatening the happiness of his brother-in-law.

 

My comments

This book is like the script of a formulaic US cop show. It has one interesting idea, which it worries to death for 400 pages: if you spy on someone, when do you tell them what you've found - because when you do, it will be impossible to spy on them any more. The 'characters' have absolutely no depth, the 'dialogue' rarely lasts more than two sentences (there's a lot of white paper in this book!) and the descriptive work is superficial, giving no idea of places - wealthy suburbia and gritty Bronx - that you couldn't get from a comic book.

 

The two murders committed by 'Nash' - the psychotic - aren't described in forensic detail, fortunately, but there's enough detail to shock. It's clearly intended to grip the reader with horror, but it's just Coben's prurient conjuring of new ways for a man to kill women - and, nearly, two girls, too.

 

With the two exceptions of Chief Investigator Muse (!) and hot shot attorney Hester Crimstein (!), all the women are victims of some sort of tragedy and all the men are action men - either creating tragedies or sorting them out. Are men really still writing this stuff?