Caught by Harlan Coben

About the Book- Caught

17 year-old Haley McWaid is a good girl, the pride of her suburban New Jersey family, captain of the lacrosse team, headed off to college next year with all the hopes and dreams her doting parents can pin on her. Which is why, when her mother wakes one morning to find that Haley never came home the night before, and three months quickly pass without word from the girl, the community assumes the worst.

Wendy Tynes is a reporter on a mission, to identify and bring down sexual predators via elaborate—and nationally televised—sting operations. Working with local police on her news program Caught in the Act, Wendy and her team have publicly shamed dozens of men by the time she encounters her latest target. Dan Mercer is a social worker known as a friend to troubled teens, but his story soon becomes more complicated than Wendy could have imagined.

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Our Review of Caught

There are two parts to this book. The first part is just going through facts and everybody in the book. You know like going around the neighbourhood, meeting everybody and saying all niceties. But yes the book does open to a major event but then it is pushed aside to pick it up later because we need to know the players first to understand the game. Then it’s the second half that opens the real book, the real plot. By the time the book ends it’s nothing like you expected. It’s nothing as to how it started out to be. It’s completely upside down. Having toppled everything, throwing some major facts and shocks at you. So yes the book for me was a two-part wonder.

I had the book on audio and would admit that after an explosive opening, I thought I saw the book getting on a slow lane. For a while, the book kept just wandering around the neighbourhood in the beginning. It was taking a bit more time than usual for me to have everything settled and get on to the action. So yes the book is a slow burner. It takes a while to catch the fire but once it’s fully light, it is nice.

What I liked about the book is the ending. There is an ending and then there is THE ENDING. You will understand this when you will go through the book. When you think yes now I get it. So this is the big mystery, the book gives you a bonus ending which changes everything. Then you start to look at the book with a new perspective after the grand reveal.

Conclusion

I loved the book. I felt that the book was an easy to follow investigative thriller although it takes its sweet time to come to its full force. But isn’t that the fun, the slow and gradual trail to a major destination? It is in no way a quick read as there are way too many subplots and incidents that would grab at you. So you will need your full brain functioning but at the same time, it is also quite easy to follow and picture where everyone was and what is taking place in a scene.

Squirrel Rating

Book Recommendation
1. Still Mine
2. The Good Lie
3. The Missing Piece