My mum said it was violent but enjoyable (Tell No One - Harlan Coben)

Member Name: goodasgold

Product:	Tell No One - Harlan Coben
Date:	01/07/02 (253 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: light, escapism, easy to read, keeps you guessing

Disadvantages: samey

Basically, I bought this book because I saw it sitting next to the latest John Grisham offering and with a couple of quid knocked off it in Woolworth’s and as I was due to go off to Spain in a couple of weeks I picked up the both of them, hoping that they may pass some aeroplane time there and back. In the end I was unable to take it to Spain as my mother had pilfered it a few days before I was due to go, and was still reading it when I left. Typical. Although in fact, it’s not very often that my mum borrows my books, so I was interested in finding out about what she thought of it, so hey, you’ve got two opinions rolled into one here. Don’t tell me you never get your money’s worth. She enjoyed it, but got quite into the swing of her ‘being a good mother’ role by trying to discourage me from reading it. She found it quite violent, and thought that it may be a bit too graphic for my sensitive eyes. I am only 20 after all. She found the violence it contained quite shocking, but admitted that she wouldn’t say it was gratuitous. Despite this she said it was ‘very good’ and described it as ‘compelling’.

The main character is David (aka Beck) and he narrates the story in the most part. We are taken into the thick of the plot relatively quickly – there’s little messing about with niceties here, which is a relief as I just hate that in books. The short prelude provides the necessary background information and ends with the catastrophe upon which this book is based: the moonlit attack that tears Beck’s life apart with the murder of his soul mate and wife, Elizabeth.

Chapter one zooms us forward eight years. Beck is a paediatrician, and has still yet to come to terms with the tragedy that befell them those years a go. The pain is brought nearer to the surface at the time of the year that we initially join him in his surgery, as this time holds multiple significances. It
marks the anniversary of their first kiss which was celebrated each year by the return to the tree that bore their initials and the 13 carved lines that represented the number of times this anniversary had been honoured. The number of lines carved under their initials would have soon made 21 had it not been for the fatal attack that struck shortly after the 13th line had been carved. This time represented cherished memories marred by intense grief and flashbacks of terror.

However, an email is set to trigger off a chain reaction of events that keep the reader guessing and turning the pages throughout. This email provokes the chief question of: Is Elizabeth still alive?? (Cue Hitchcock music.)

I wont go into the plot too much here, or this will end up being more of a review than an opinion, so it will suffice to say that it becomes a ‘John Grisham eat your heart out’ sort of book. The ensuing events involve police chases, lawyers, beating ups, glimpses into the lives of the socially depraved, underworld dealings, tension, suspense, murders and technological wizardry. Hold onto your hat.

The essence of the plot is contained in Beck’s search for the truth behind what actually happened on that fateful night. Coben keeps you guessing right to the end, and the best way to describe the style of this book is by likening it to one of John Grisham’s – the all-American, little-good-guy-fights-big-bad-guy kind of book. (Sorry if you have not read a Grisham book before, but he has been described as the world’s most popular author.) Coben appeals more to the emotions here though. He involves the reader to a greater degree emotionally through his use of violence and through the strong side plot that one senses exists in the exploration of grief and loss.

The violence is indeed more explicit than your usual Grisham book (sorry again if you haven’t read his work) and could shock sensitive readers. It wi
ll likely suffice to say that one of the tough men sent in to prevent the truth from being discovered is of Asian origin and has learnt some very handy ways of disabling someone just by the exerting of pressure on the right places with the fingers and thumbs. Apparently the pain is excruciating. Nice. However, although I may have found those parts somewhat uncomfortable to read, I wasn’t really shocked by them. I might have made a few ‘ooooh’ expressions, but fortunately those parts of the book were quite short-lived.

This ‘exploration’ I mentioned is really quite limited in scope, but I feel that it is a key undertone of the book. It is a story, a tale of fictional adventure, but the themes of loss and coping are recurrent, and I get the impression that Coben is making a vague effort at addressing the issue here. He sets out the basics of this secondary theme in the beginning, when Beck outlines the plot for us, and gives us the setting through informing us that ‘There was my life before the tragedy. There is my life now’. There is a before and after outlook to it. Much of what he describes to us is related to his memories – ‘Memories, you see, hurt. The good ones most of all’. It’s not a book that has deep meanings, although you can gain something through the recollections and experiences of Beck, which will probably strike a chord with most readers.

Tell No One is easy to read, and makes for a good light read for relaxation. First person style of writings can tend to make for a type of shallowness that offers more appeal to those who are looking for an easy, escapist read. It’s written in a modern style that uses all forms of modern living and lifestyles to good effect, for example through the use of email as the focal means of plot developments, so it is a book that will have something for a wide audience. Against similar books from this genre it compares well, as the pl
ot has many twists and the sought after elements of suspense and escapism are there. It’s typically American, and so also sticks to the safety of being commercially attractive through the use of ‘trendy’ terms such as he “tossed his cookies” to describe someone being sick. Strangely enough, I find this kind of American English quite endearing, although I know that many don’t like it at all. The style of writing is very relaxed, and I was half expecting Beck to turn to the reader and say ‘you know what I mean, like, dontcha?’ .

However, I am now bored of these types of books. This ‘modern thriller’ genre is so similar now that the plots and styles of writing across the range could belong to a score of different authors. You wouldn’t be able to tell who wrote what if the author’s name was scribbled out on the cover. Tell No One fits into this genre well in that you’ve read other books like it, and will no doubt read others similar in the future. After reading it, I thought ‘what was the point in that?’. A negative outlook I know, as it passed the time nicely, but I gained little from it in terms of style, content or meaning, as I’ve read a hundred like it already so I’ve seen it, read it, and heard it all before.

Nevertheless, if you like modern thrillers and are a fan of Grisham, then I would recommend this book. That is why I gave it four stars because it is a good example of this type of writing and wouldn’t disappoint a fan of this. It’s excellent if you want a light read for a bit of escapism (I finished it in an evening and a day) and if you don’t mind a little bit of detail when it comes to the ‘nasty scenes’!


ISBN 0-75284-471-7
Orion

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