Review of HOLD TIGHT (audiobook 2008) by guest blogger Star Lawrence
Author, Harlan Coben; read by Scott Brick
Do you like those thrillers that plunge you into ghoulish cruelty and completely gross you out, but your main thought is, "Huh? Who is this character? Do I know who this is?"
Not that there is anything wrong with that. Context--who needs it?
Thriller master Harlan Coben perfects this weavy-type plotting in HOLD TIGHT. Characters are introduced by the dozen, lovingly fleshed out, described, and croaked, and so on, and you have no idea how they fit into the story. You just bought the ticket and got on the ride.
The setup is two rich parents in the Sopranos-rich New Jersey 'burbs, Mike and Tia Baye--he a transplant surgeon, she a lawyer--who decide to put spy software on their teenage son's computer. Oh, they agonize over invading his privacy, but in short order, done deal.
Naturally they don't like what they find, such as cryptic IMs alluding to "staying safe." In the meantime, though, and seemingly unrelated, a man and woman are snatching middle-aged women and killing them. Coben describes this in loving detail.
A friend of the Baye's 11-year-old is also having a meltdown over being insulted by a teacher who made a crack about the little mustache on her upper lip, leading sadistic teens to call her "XY."
But, about those murdered women again. Does anyone know what's going on?
Scott Brick reads for us. He is one of my favorites and his sort of nasal, long-suffering, sing-song cadences suit the work well.
As for resolution, it is nearly gift-wrapped by the end. Maybe a little too neatly. As the reader, or in my case, listener, all you can do is say, "Aha. I get it now."
Star Lawrence is owner of the health humor site, Health'Sass.
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