If You Go Down To The Woods Tonight... (The Woods - Harlan Coben)

Member Name: salem_witch

Product:	The Woods - Harlan Coben
Date:	31/10/07 (329 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Plenty of twists and turns

Disadvantages: It could keep you up at night wanting to read more and more

Having read all of Coben's other novels I just had to pick 'The Woods' up when I saw it on the shelf in the library. I didn't even read the blurb on the back, as I knew I'd want to read it anyway. I didn't even know if it was a stand-alone novel or part of the Myron Bolitar series. Either way I wasn't really bothered as I enjoy both as much. For those of you who don't know Coben started off writing his novels with a character called Myron Bolitar who is a retired basketball player who investigates a lot of cases. He then introduced his stand-alone novels which are good if you've not read all the Bolitar series as you don't feel you could be missing some things out if you don't read them all or in the correct order. 'The Woods' is in fact a stand-alone novel so even if you've never read Coben before this doesn't matter, as it won't effect your enjoyment of the book.

The book opens with a prologue where Paul is watching his father digging in the woods. Paul thinks that he doesn't see him watching but after he follows him out there eight times he tells him that this time he needs to go alone. All the time Paul thought he was hidden well and his father was oblivious to him watching him. Coben gives a few facts but not the full picture - enough to grab your attention and want to know more. His mother ran off and something has happened to his sister Camille but we're not told the details yet. After his father goes out to the woods on his own he doesn't go back again. Then twenty years later his father is on his deathbed and he says how they still need to find her and then he dies. So straight away I was hooked. I wanted to know what he was digging for, what happened to Camille and why he stopped digging.

The story then shifts to Paul three months after his father has died. We learn more about his sister Camille. During one summer they were at camp where Paul was a counsellor something terrible happened. His sister went into the woods with three other teenagers and not one of them came out alive. Margot Green was found with her throat slashed and Doug Billingham was also found dead with his throat slit and several stab wounds. Gil Perez and Camille Copeland were never found but were presumed dead. Two years later Wayne Steubens (also a counsellor) was found responsible for the murders after killing others. He never did admit to any of the murders that summer.

If that wasn't tragic enough Paul also lost his wife to cancer five years ago. He has a 6-year-old daughter Cara who he's had to bring up on his own since. He is now watching Cara doing gymnastics, at her school, with his sister in law when two detectives turn up. They ask him to come with them as a man called Manolo Santiago has been murdered and although Paul doesn't know him he has some things on him to suggest that he knew Paul. Naturally he is confused and is worried where it will all lead. After seeing a scar on his arm Paul realises that Manolo is in fact Gil Perez - the man who disappeared in the woods at the same time as his sister. How could this be? If he is alive then could his sister be alive? What really happened in the woods that night?

As well as all this going on we're introduced to Lucy Gold who is a Professor of English and Psychology. She is getting her students to anonymously send her stories via email about something traumatic that has happened to them in their life. When she gets one about a couple in the woods the author really has her attention. Although she promised the students that she won't know who wrote what she gets her assistant to find out who sent this particular one. She doesn't care that she's going back on her word. She just needs to know. When reading this it's clear this is all connected but not all the facts are clear. As I was reading I guessed a few things and kept reading to see if I was right.

Paul is intrigued that Gil has been alive all this time and wants to find out more and see if he can find out what happened to his sister. Several people try and put him off digging around but he is persistent and wants to find out the truth even if it does turn out that his sister is dead. He is a prosecutor and has a big case in which his client is accusing two men of rape. So he juggles the two as well as looking after his daughter Cara. He talks about his parents who were from Russia and how they moved to America when he was a young child. He is highly likeable and uses humour, which reminded me a little of Myron Bolitar. Not in the goofy sense but he uses jokes and sarcasm when talking to the opposition. I only noticed he did this when working and he didn't when he was looking into the disappearance and possible murder of his sister. Obviously it's not a joking matter.

His chief investigator Muse helps out a lot with the rape case and eventually she helps him find the truth out about his sister. He trusts her and as well as being loyal to him she is a hard worker and gifted at what she does. The further into the book you go we learn more about Lucy and what she is like. I don't want to say much about her as I don't want to give anything away. What I will say is that Coben skilfully switches between Paul and Lucy. When you want to know more about one and there is a twist it jumps to the other. Normally this would annoy me but both are as interesting as the other and are as important to the story as each other.

When I first started reading 'The Woods' I only intended to read a little bit as it was just before I went to bed. I actually read a third of the book in one sitting. I wanted to know more and more and there were lots of twists and revelations that I knew I'd have trouble getting to sleep unless I knew what happened next. The same happened the following night when I read about the same amount. So anyone considering reading this count yourself warned as it meant I didn't get much sleep as it was so gripping. I found the further I got into the novel the more hooked I was, which considering I was hooked from the beginning says something. When I do normally read a book I'll read small bits each night and it will normally take me over a week to read. I tried reading this in three nights but the third night I was really tired and had to be up early so I had to force myself to put it down and go to sleep. I then wished I'd gone to bed early just so I could have finished it all.

As you've guessed by now 'The Woods' has plenty of twists and turns and I found it almost addictive when I was reading it. Even though some bits I guessed (which I think you're supposed to) the ending all came as a complete surprise and I was shocked at some of it. As with his other novels Coben's writing style is very easy to read and the chapters aren't all that long so if you did need to read it in little bits then you can do. I don't think you'd want to read this in little bits though as I found it impossible to do myself. I can't really think of anything bad to say about this book. At first I thought that the detail on Paul's rape case was a filler and not really that necessary but after reading it all I can see it does make it more complete. So if you haven't read anything by Coben before and you like the sound of this then give it a go.

Summary: A stand alone novel