Missing You

By: Harlan Coben

Narrated by: January LaVoy

Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Number-one New York Times best-selling author Harlan Coben set huge sales records with last year’s Six Years - and he’s poised to do it again in his next breathtaking stand-alone thriller. Harlan Coben, author of six consecutive instant number-one New York Times best sellers and a total of 24 award-winning, best-selling, and internationally acclaimed novels, returns with another ripped-from-real-life thriller full of impossibly high emotional stakes and the real-to-life characters for which he has become famous.

©2014 Harlan Coben (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Words and music to the song “Demon Lover” composed by Michael Peter Smith, Bird Avenue PublishingASCAP, © 1986, used with permission. All rights reserved.

All good

I enjoyed this book all the way through it, in fact I did not want it to end.
Narration was good also. The “gay” part, I believe detracted from the story, did not add anything.

woke

Such a shame. Another author who goes woke. It's not necessary to have a transgender. The story line would have been the same how the man had an affair with a woman. Why do so many think they have to go Woke??? Totally unnecessary.

It was Ok

It was a good filler for my time spent traveling, but not my favorite book so far this year. Nothing really pulled me and kept me into this story.

Drama within a drama

Loved the mystery parts but the love story was too sappy at first. And then like so many other books these days, the characters turned woke. Still the mystery was worth the read!

Another Harlan slam

I think the beginning was a little blah for me. Wasn’t sure if I could make it but it did start to twist and get more interesting. I loved the ending and the constant switching of perspectives. It’s creepy and does have some described gore in it. I am surprised by how many Harlan Coben books I have listened to.

Good catch

It seemed for a while 2 stories wouldn’t collide. But they do. I love a good surprise ending and narration that compels

Can I take a breath now?

Wow what a ride! I could not stop listening to this book and January LaVoy did a wonderful job with narration. On to the next Harlan Coben read.

Good Story

The story keeps you guessing until the end. I enjoyed it. My only complaint is that it starts off like a romance novel.

Mr. Coben strikes again! Amazing.

What made the experience of listening to Missing You the most enjoyable?

Not one thing, but so many things about the book. I began listening to Mr. Coben over twenty years ago, when his books were all about Myron Bolitar. Those books were great, but eventually Mr. Coben knew that he had to diversify. And he has done so brilliantly. This is a stand-alone book which features an NYPD cop named Cat, her friend Stacy, and a whole host of other characters who are each interesting and well drawn. I really loved the entire book. The ending is very suspenseful and exciting, and if you are reading it before you go to sleep, you may have a tough time settling down. The suspense at the end is real, and it grips you so hard that you can't let go. I have no idea how long Mr. Coben can keep writing these terrific books, but he shows no signs of slowing down.Far from repeating himself, Mr. Coben seems to be picking up new tricks, and it is fun to watch him use these new toys.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes. Mr. Coben has kept current on a number of contemporary cultural experiences. One that plays a big part in this book is the world of internet dating. Cat has been given a gift membership to one of these sites, called You are just my type. She is stunned to find a man who she had been in love with a very long time ago: they had broken up eighteen years ago. However, Jeff Raines has taken a new name, and this plot development sets off a number of chases, all of which are interesting and very well written. Jeff leads Cat to a vicious villain who does unspeakable things to innocent people who have responded to the site. I will spare you the horrific details. By the middle of the book, a character named Dana and her son Brandon have risen to the center of the action, and by this time the action has reached the proverbial fever pitch. This is a book in which Part II is just as good as Part I. Mr. Coben interweaves his many characters into the group of plots that are each as gripping as the next. This is great writing.

Which character – as performed by January LaVoy – was your favorite?

I have never heard Ms. Lavoy narrate before, but I am glad to say that I will now look for her other performances. While she has a little trouble with male voices, after a while that just doesn't matter, because she brings you along for the marvelous ride that shifts into high gear until the very end of the book. Many contemporary themes are involved, and both author and narrator handle each of them with great skill. I can complain about absolutely nothing. You should have a great deal of fun with this book, and if it causes you to go back to listen to some of the Myron Bolitar books, so much the better. The older books are very funny, with the more recent works concentrating more on plot and less on jokes. I just do not know how Mr. Coben keeps turning out these great books so quickly and regularly. He is becoming one of our most prolific authors. You'd think that he would run out of steam after two decades, as, for instance, James Lee Burke has done, sadly. But no. Mr. Coben does not run out of inventive, greatly interesting characters and plots, and he shows no signs of flagging. My hat is off to him. May he write this well for another two decades.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I couldn't possibly do that. It's too long, for one, and also I enjoy waiting for what is to come in the books in between readings. I like to be able to savor a great book for a long time, rather than consuming it in one humongous bite.

Any additional comments?

Not really. I do wonder whether Mr. Coben can bring out Myron and Win and that entire cast for one more go-round. Mr. Coben seems to reach into his humor bag more deeply when he writes about Myron, and his humor is great. Truly, you won't go wrong by buying almost any book written by Harlan Coben: he is by now a national treasure.

Good read in my opinion...

While this book did not keep me on the edge of my seat biting my nails, I found that it was a good mystery with a cautionary thread running through it. I think that Harlan Coben did an excellent job in weaving two mysteries together. I recommend it, in my opinion it had good entertainment value.