Caught

By: Harlan Coben

Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie, Danny Campbell

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

From the number-one New York Times best-selling master of suspense comes a fast-paced, emotion-packed novel about guilt, grief, and our capacity to forgive.

Seventeen-year-old Haley McWaid is a good girl, the pride of her suburban New Jersey family, captain of the lacrosse team, headed off to college next year with all the hopes and dreams her doting parents can pin on her. Which is why, when her mother wakes one morning to find that Haley never came home the night before, and three months quickly pass without word from the girl, the community assumes the worst.

Wendy Tynes is a reporter on a mission, to identify and bring down sexual predators via elaborate and nationally televised sting operations. Working with local police on her news program Caught in the Act, Wendy and her team have publicly shamed dozens of men by the time she encounters her latest target. Dan Mercer is a social worker known as a friend to troubled teens, but his story soon becomes more complicated than Wendy could have imagined.

In a novel that challenges as much as it thrills, filled with the astonishing tension and unseen suburban machinations that have become Coben's trademark, Caught tells the story of a missing girl, the community stunned by her loss, the predator who may have taken her, and the reporter who suddenly realizes she can't trust her own instincts about this story - or the motives of the people around her.

©2010 Harlan Coben (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

“The thrill-a-minute action zooms on sharp, slippery twists and turns in a white-knuckle race from start to finish.” (Number-one New York Times best-selling author Nora Roberts)

“With Caught, Harlan Coben knocked another one out of the park!” (Number-one New York Times best-selling author Lisa Jackson)

“A Tilt-a-Whirl of a story....Buckle up and prepare for whiplash.” (Number-one New York Times best-selling author Sandra Brown)

It's Coben at his best!!

The narration was a bit off-putting at first, Scott Brick or Harlan Coben himself might have been better, but by about the third chapter I didn't care who was reading it. It was the story and the story was really great. Twists and turns are Coben's style and this stand alone novel does not disappoint. It was especially nice to see Win again along with a few others from the Bolitar series. If you're a Coben fan, you'll love it. If you just like a good story, this works.

Intriguing

This was such a good book. It kept me on the edge of my seat. The twists and secrets. It was amazing.

Complex, Well Written Mystery

A well written mystery but the subject matter was unsettling. Not a fun read.

You Know What You Think You Know

Harlan Coben is at his best when he writes about the seamy underbelly of suburbia, in his case most often suburban New Jersey. Caught is firmly within that oeuvre. But Coben also adds some other element to his stories, which in Caught is tabloid TV -- no longer the force it was just about a decade ago when this book was written, what with TV propaganda having made tabloid TV seem downright quaint, but still a nice focal point for a story about a missing girl and the pedophile who possibly killed her.

Wendy Tynes is the star reporter of the tabloid TV show that pins the missing girl on the pedophile. But then things start to get complicated, as they always do in Coben's thrillers. Red herrings, subplots, reveals, and twists continue right down to the closing minutes. This is one mystery that was not easy to guess. There are some credulity defying coincidences and actions, but they don't really take anything away from the overall fun.

But plot is not enough to get to 5 stars. The characters have to be good. What I especially liked in Caught is that just about all of the supporting characters are quite good, starting with familiar ones like Win Lockwood and Hester Crimstein, the former a mainstay of the Bolitar series and star of his own eponymous entry, the latter the ace lawyer, herself a tabloid TV star, who will figure heavily in future Coben novels.

If you're already a fan, what's not to like? If you're new to Harlan Coben, what's not to like?

HORRIBLE nafration

Read other reviews citing poor narration before I bought. Thought, "oh it can't be that bad". It is. I enjoyed the story but seriously...worst narration ever. All of the voices were ridiculous characterizations that were difficult to suffer through.

Great story...but...

... the narration is HORRIBLE!!
Harlan Coben is one of my very very favorite authors and the book is lost in the terrible narration.

Well done

Well read and produced, and an exciting ride! Not quite as compelling as Tell No One, but that one is hard to top...

Good but not best

I consider Harlan Coben one of my favorite authors and have read all of his books, but this one was not one of his best. The Narrator was aweful in my opinion. We need another Bolitar novel.

Riveting!!

Absolutely loved this one!!! A bit slow on the uptake to get started, but once it gets going, I couldn't put it down.

Awesome

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Another great Coben story. Keeps you wondering right until the very last sentence! Great narration as well