The Innocent

By: Harlan Coben

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Some mistakes can change your life forever. For Matt Hunter, that mistake came in one terrible moment when his attempt to help a friend and stop a fight resulted in an accidental death. Matt was convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison. Time that his peers spent in college, Matt endured behind bars.

Now, nine years after his release from prison, his innocence long forgotten, he's an ex-con who takes nothing for granted. With his wife Olivia pregnant, and the two of them closing on a house in his hometown, things are looking up. Until the day Matt gets a shocking, inexplicable video call from Olivia's phone. And in an instant, the unraveling begins.

A mysterious man who begins tailing Matt turns up dead. A beloved nun is murdered. And local and federal authorities, including homicide investigator Loren Muse, a childhood schoolmate of Matt's with a troubled past of her own, see all signs pointing to a former criminal with one murder already under his belt...Matt Hunter. Unwilling to lose everything for a second time, Matt and Olivia are forced outside the law in a desperate attempt to save their future together.

An electrifying thrill ride of a novel that peeks behind the white picket fences of suburbia, The Innocent is at once a twisting, turning, emotionally-charged story and a compelling tale of the choices we make and the repercussions that never leave us.

©2005 Harlan Coben (P)2005 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"What Coben does best is take readers into his characters’ hearts and minds. His protagonists are just common folks, minding their own business when - bam! - they are drawn into a terrifying world of sordid crimes and mayhem.” (USA Today)

“Modern suburbia unravels in this latest puzzler from Coben...Don’t make the mistake of not reading it!” (Library Journal)

"Jaw-dropping plot twists...Fans of rose-tinted nightmares [will] gasp their way through Matt’s free fall, scared and happy as kids on a roller coaster.” (Kirkus Reviews)

I'm Guilty!

Guilty of being sucked in from the start and seldom turning off my ipod. This grabbed my attention and never let go, despite its length. Scott Brick now feels like an old friend and it is a pleasure listening to anything that he narrates. There were a couple of scenes that were emotional by themselves, but with his added compassion and understanding of the characters, I was actually almost moved to tears, which makes me feel quite silly, but also is a testament to how deeply the characters are developed and how we get to know them and feel for them.
In addition, I am most certainly not good at predicting what will happen or who the "bad guy" is, but the ending made my mouth drop and a little gasp escaped me. All this while at the gym.

Most definitely and very highly recommended!!

Starts strong, finishes weak

Coben is one of my favorite authors. I've read and re-read most because I enjoyed them so much, getting lost in his wonderful stories and captivated by his characters. This started out like so many other Coben gems, strong and riveting right out of the gate. But it all started getting convoluted mid-way and by the end, the bad guys (and there were many of them) were ensnared in a complicated web that I no longer cared very much about. You see, most of the baddies were people we either never got to know at all, or were only vague shadows hanging out in the outer peripheries of the plot. Unlike most Coben villains, they didn't make the flesh crawl because they were strangers to the reader. And that was the fatal flaw in this story. I cared about a few of the characters but only slightly.

If you're a Coben fan, as I am, probably nothing I say will dissuade you from spending a credit or even real money on this book. Heck, Scott Brick is narrating so it's worth the price of admission, right?. But I thought it only right to prepare you for the inevitable disappointment. Even Coben, master of the thriller genre, is entitled to an occasional blunder, right? Well, this is it.

The Innocent

This has plot twist that will keep the you guessing until the end.

Intricate fun

The first half is slow, meticulous development leading to a non-stop second-half roller coaster ride. Definitely worth the buildup. After I finished it, I relistened to it immediately to better appreciate the skill of the author and the detail of the story.

nicely done

Nice plot twists and good character development.
Read it.

One of The Best Books I've Listened to!!

You can NEVER go wrong with Scott Brick and Harlen Coben. First of all, I love Harlen Coben's books, and I've listened to them all. They never disappoint me. Secondly, I'll listen to anything read by Scott Brick. He's fantastic. He must pick and chose the books he reads, because he always reads such fantastic books. Regardless, this book is wonderful. I hope I don't have to wait too long for the next one.

Good

Good, but not great. Hes good at weaving things together for a unique story, but this one to me was average.

Four Stars

The most unbelievable thing about this book is how a “collector” would so readily have all the information and details about an obscure dancer from years ago so fresh in his mind.
Makes you go....hummmm!

Good Book for Long Drive

Harlen Coben does a good job of creating another unique story. Good book for a long 7 hour drive. Not a "on the edge of your seat" type of thriller, but good twists and good characters.

good story

I liked the characters and plot. it was full of twists but they flowed. narration was very good.