The Stranger

By: Harlan Coben

Narrated by: George Newbern

Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's Summary

#1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense Harlan Coben delivers his most shocking thriller yet, proving that a well-placed lie can help build a wonderful life - and a secret has the same explosive power to destroy it.

The Stranger appears out of nowhere, perhaps in a bar or a parking lot or at the grocery store. His identity is unknown. His motives are unclear. His information is undeniable. Then he whispers a few words in your ear and disappears, leaving you picking up the pieces of your shattered world.

Adam Price has a lot to lose: a comfortable marriage to a beautiful woman, two wonderful sons, and all the trappings of the American dream: a big house, a good job, a seemingly perfect life.

Then he runs into the Stranger. When he learns a devastating secret about his wife, Corinne, he confronts her, and the mirage of perfection disappears as if it never existed at all. Soon Adam finds himself tangled in something far darker than even Corinne's deception and realizes that if he doesn't make exactly the right moves, the conspiracy he's stumbled into will not only ruin lives - it will end them.

©2015 Harlan Coben (P)2015 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

The worst Coben book among the many I've heard

This offering by Coben was headed for three stars because of mixed plots drawn together by a weak thread. The premise behind the "Stranger" character was a complete stretch. The mystery behind what had happened to Corinne was enough to keep me interested. The mystery revealed was neither satisfying nor disappointing. But what happened after that in the last chapter of the book was ludicrous and brought the whole thing down to two stars. Coben must have owed his publisher a book when he penned this well-below average novel. He has done much better.

Seriously? Can I get my 20 bucks back?

This review might have some SPOILERS, but if I spoil this for you and save you $20 you should probably thank me. This book is like watching paint dry. Off white paint. In an empty room. Not only was it dull, it was at times remarkably unbelievable. Seriously, the motive for murder is just... Ridiculous. Also, if you are violently assaulted over the head with a baseball bat, you don't just wake up and stroll out of there half an hour later. And you certainly don't get to walk out of a blood bath without so much of a drive down to the precinct. I'll stop rambling. To conclude my rant, those were 10 hours of my life I'll never get back.

The Stranger's presence was underwelming

The Stranger is a young man with "strong morals" that he is doing the right thing by revealing secrets. He tells those effected by the secret and then leaves them to sort out the pieces.

I enjoyed the story for the most part, but I feel like it started to fall apart towards the end, and I started losing interest. It became too ridiculous, and I stopped enjoying it as much.

This is my first Harlan Coben book and from my understanding, he has many other books that are better than this one, so I'm not going to abandon hope, I will try another one before I pass judgement.

Coben let us down

Because we have loved the Myron Bolitar series, we hopes to enjoy this novel as well. Downloaded it for a road trip and sadly wasted our time. Weak character, predictable story, unbelievable. Coben's typical quips on daily life as a parent was accurate but like watching paint dry. It could have been a minute by minute update of an average day in my life detailing minutia. Sorry to say, we missed the great characters that typified his earlier writing. Skip it.

"Well, Mr. Secret Revealer!"

This is it...the last time I fall for a decent review of a book by Harlan Coben, I promise myself.

I dunno, maybe it's my fault that I cannot overlook dialogue that's apparently important to the story, in which one character cries out to The Stranger, "Well, Mr. SECRET REVEALER!!" It reminded me of comic lines by the buffoonish Ben Stiller character to straight-faced Vince Vaughan, in the film, Dodgeball. Here, I also laughed, so hard i swallowed drink down the windpipe. And choked.... Then gave up on another self-inflicted stomach punch in reading a silly Coben book.

Never met a Harlan Coben book I didn't love.

the one line description above is more than sufficient to recommend the book to other people.

Another good Coben novel

A stranger tells a man a secret about the man's wife, he confronts her and she promises to discuss it the following day. But she disappears before they can talk. The book is about the man's search for his wife. Excellent mystery novel with a surprise ending..

Review

The fact that I'm a HUGE Coben fan helped me enjoy this audio more than the actual plot did. Having said that, not his best AND he sometimes treats the reader/listener as if we are not too bright and need even the simplest of things way over explained to us. Still a fun way to pass time while driving and I'm holding out for better next time! Bring back the good ole boys of his earlier work and I'll be hooked all over again.

What a disappointment....Semi Spoilers

Wow. Harlan Coben, Please rethink your book a year commitment as you are running out of ideas. You are becoming the M Night Shyamalan of the publishing industry. Stop trying to invoke shock and work on your writing proficiency. People pay good money for your titles based on your previous works, and now its just getting shameful. Here are some suggestions.
1. A seasoned middle aged lawyer should not be told that 'find my iPhone' exists by his teenage son. You would think that his profession would require the use of this on a regular basis.
2. Avoid explaining through the dialogue what, to the general public, are very basic scenarios. it's a 3rd person narrative. use it. The dialogue ends up sounding wooden and ridiculous.
3. When multiple people are killed(3?) and your protagonist is hit over the head with a bat in one event, maybe explain how this is not a big story and how said protagonist can carry on with no repercussions. ie..questioning, hospital, anything?
4. When you are getting tired in the evening. take a break. don't try to cram in the last few chapters just to meet deadline.

on the plus side, i noticed that this book didn't go with the over dramatic Scott Brick. I have recently thought that maybe Brick himself was part of the reason for the deterioration of the Coben novels lately (and it may certainly contribute) but even a reasonable effort by George Newbern couldn't pull this one out of the rubble.

Definitely not worth the credit.

Meh

Love Scott Brick! Not Coben's most exciting work. The ending was ridiculous and the epilogue even more so. Not great!