Six Years

By: Harlan Coben

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Six years have passed since Jake Fisher watched Natalie, the love of his life, marry another man. Six years of hiding a broken heart by throwing himself into his career as a college professor. Six years of keeping his promise to leave Natalie alone, and six years of tortured dreams of her life with her new husband, Todd.

But six years haven’t come close to extinguishing his feelings, and when Jake comes across Todd’s obituary, he can’t keep himself away from the funeral. There he gets the glimpse of Todd’s wife he’s hoping for...but she is not Natalie. Whoever the mourning widow is, she’s been married to Todd for almost two decades, and with that fact, everything Jake thought he knew about the best time of his life - a time he has never gotten over - is turned completely inside out.

As Jake searches for the truth, his picture-perfect memories of Natalie begin to unravel. Mutual friends of the couple either can’t be found or don’t remember Jake. No one has seen Natalie in years. Jake’s search for the woman who broke his heart, who lied to him, soon puts his very life at risk as it dawns on him that the man he has become may be based on a carefully constructed fiction.

Harlan Coben once again delivers a shocking novel that deftly explores the power of past love and the secrets and lies that such love can hide.

©2013 Harlan Coben (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Not so good six yeats

Very difficult to get interested in initially. The story picked up, gained my interest and then lost me again. I finally finished it. It had a good ending in spite of how it progressed!

Campus setting adds appeal

Combination of mystery, academia & love combined with OC makes this a gripping tale. Will send me to seek more by author.

So drawn out

so much longer than it needed to be. so much of the story was unrealistic.

Good thought badly executed

Arggh. So frustrating listening to this.
What should I do?
I can do this, or that, or that or this ...
If I do this that might happen, if I do that this might happen.
And then I saw it. My heart went cold. Never before has my heart been so cold - or has it? Maybe once when ...
Sorry but way too much pontificating ...! Just do it. Argh.

Very enjoyable thriller

This review relates to the audiobook version, although I have read the Kindle version as well.

I first read this book in 2018 on Kindle and listened to the audible version in 2021. I enjoyed both and I was quite surprised that there were so many negative reviews. It seems as if people had read two chapters and decided they didn't like the book.

There is some need to suspend disbelief initially. I mean Jake Fischer sees an obituary for a man called Tod who looks something like the person who married his ex-girlfriend six years earlier. So now he wants to go see the widow, except she isn't his ex-girlfriend and nobody knows about the wedding. The artist/writer's retreat that he was at was never there and nobody remembers it and nobody knows anything or wants to talk about it. It all seems a bit far fetched. Maybe he had forgotten some details, or maybe Tod wasn't the guy.
The clincher is when the FBI friend can't find ANY info on the ex-girlfriend. And then somebody takes an interest in Jake and it becomes physical in a violent manner rather quickly.

I enjoyed it in 2018 and again enjoyed it in 2021. A well written, engrossing thriller.

Review

This book was absolutely amazing! It reaches into your soul and grabs you. Very riveting.
All those who have truly been in love can relate to this story.

Enjoyable book, narration troublesome

I enjoy Harlan Coben's books and have read several in paper & ink format. I have also listened to quite a few audio books, but this is the first for this author. I found the performance somewhat annoying. I understand the character's emotional state, but the performance was moderately to extremely whiny and I found it off putting. It took away from the excitement of the story, in my opinion.

Great story. Great storyteller. Great book.

Coben is a master. That’s well-known. I love this story. At times it was reminiscent of some other book or story read long ago but then there would be the catch that would bring me back to the unique seas of this book. At times it seemed it was going to be predictable, and on some level it was, but, as they say, it’s the journey and how you got there rather than the destination. The characters were well-constructed and a bit unforgettable. You’re constantly asking yourself has this guy lost his mind or is there something more going on here.

It was all brought together by yet another remarkable performance by Scott Brick who became my favorite narrator years ago. He puts unique life into each character in every performance. How he remember the unique voice for this or that character I’ll never know but Brick finds serious business in every story he performs. He made the book more interesting - some audiobooks become background noise and others I just can’t finish because the narrator just doesn’t do it for me. Brick is 100%. Hrs clear and effective in bringing the characters to life.

All in all, I’m very pleased with this book. To some extent I was at first a little disappointed because I thought the end was predictable. But I know that as I listened, I backed up several times to delisted to sections to make sure I got them. With that kind of book and narration, you know you have a winner and indeed I did.

Really enjoyed this book.

Overly dramatic

Thought it was a little over the top in the narration for my taste. Seemed like he was going to cry on every sentence.
Story was full of different key characters and sudden plot twists so pay close attention to details and names. I lost track several times.

AWESOME! Tops in story & performance!

What made the experience of listening to Six Years the most enjoyable?

Love addiction gone WAY BAD! Complex thriller, brilliant writing and outstanding narration.

Which character – as performed by Scott Brick – was your favorite?

Jake

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Anxious for the revelation of the truth.