The Innocent

April 4, 2005
Once listeners get past an awkward prologue told in second person, present tense ("Your name is Matt Hunter. You are 20 years old..."), this twisty thriller reverts to the more familiar objective point of view, and the combination of Coben's yarn spinning and Brick's crisp, thoughtful narration mesmerizes. Listeners are drawn into the nightmare world of Matt Hunter who, in that off-putting prologue, is attacked by a gang of drunken frat boys, accidentally kills one of them, is found guilty of murder, serves four years of hard time, picks up the pieces of his life, marries a loving woman and is on the cusp of fatherhood when he receives an ominous phone call. And that's just for openers. A master manipulator, Coben keeps the story in constant motion, shifting from Hunter's travails to those of homicide detective Loren Muse, a lapsed Catholic who's investigating the murder of a nun with breast implants. The pace is fast and furious as Hunter and Muse race along their collision course, but Brick's cool, calculated delivery helps listeners hang on through the hairpin turns. From an African-American hooker and an aging mother superior to a hard-boiled ex-con and a sexy private eye, Brick conjures a proper vocal match for every character. Indeed, the combined efforts of author and narrator make for such an electrifying listen that an epilogue reverting to that second-person point of view barely dilutes this overall satisfying experience. Simultaneous release with the Dutton hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 7).

January 1, 2005
Out of jail after a conviction for manslaughter (he was just trying to stop a fight), Matt Hunter suddenly finds himself suspected of multiple murders.

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2005
Thriller writer Coben (who has won the Edgar, the Shamus, and the Anthony Awards, the trifecta of mystery writing) specializes in adapting technology to new and terrifying uses. What Hitchcock did for the shower, Coben does for the cell phone. In his latest, a newly pregnant wife convinces her husband, Matt Hunter, who has severe though irrational misgivings, that they should buy a camera phone so they don't miss a minute of parenthood. She leaves on a business trip, and quicker than you can think, "Photo incoming," the husband receives an image of his wife with another man in a hotel room. Someone starts tailing the husband. A nun is murdered. The suspect is the devastated husband, Matt Hunter, because he accidentally killed another college student in a street brawl nine years before. Coben's prologue, which traces young Matt Hunter from childhood through the moment on spring break when his life broke, sending him into prison for four years, succeeds in getting you to care deeply about his main character--and fast. The shadow of Matt's past lends richness to his desperation to clear himself and to his agony that his newly reconstructed life may be ripped away. As usual with Coben, an intriguing start, hinging on one out-of-whack technological trick, hurtles into a fast-paced hunter-and-hunted drama. First-rate.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)