February 6, 2015

“Missing You” by Harlan Coben – Digital Preying

Missing You by Harlan Coben (book cover)Few are those who would claim that the countless technological advancements we come up with don't have their extraordinary benefits.

Why, only in the past few decades we've developed a highly-efficient and unprecedentedly vast global network capable of connecting anyone with everyone else in real time.

This network, which we all know as the Internet and deeply venerate, has of course opened up the opportunity for good as well as evil, and as it happens Harlan Coben explored that idea in his latest novel, Missing You.

Just like with his previous literature, Coben bases this story around some sort of technological devices and uses it to drive the plot, and in this case that device is online dating, or rather, the dangers lurking in them, awaiting to prey on the careless and hopeful ones.

In this story, we follow the NYPD detective Kat Donovan as she suddenly finds on a dating site the profile of her ex-fiancee from eighteen years ago.

She decides to try and reconnect with him, but that's a decision which only ends up leading her down a darkened path full of twists and turns, one that keeps on bringing into question knowledge of her own past, slowly but surely chipping away at any certainties she held in regards to this world.

While that's taking place, Donovan is also tasked with solving a rather pressing matter; it seems one or more monsters are preying on the vulnerable ones through these dating sites, and the bodies only keep on piling up one after the next. In other words, the detective has more than her work cut out for her.

As virtually every review takes care to mention it, here we see Coben in his natural environment, developing the kind of story he made his career from: a technologically-driven thriller, one where humanity's greatest advancements are used by despicable beings to commit the most vile acts imaginable.

There is a whole lot of food for thought given on the topic of online dating sites, and though it does feel like fear-mongering at a certain point, it can be said that Coben comes to some logical and frightening conclusions.

The way the technology theme is incorporated into the story is truly magnificent as always without being overdone; the plot is paced sublimely, achieving a fast and regular rhythm and delivering us different types of information, keeping things fresh and interesting.

Otherwise said, yes, the murder mystery itself, if that is what interests you, is a solid and complex machine, one that gets impressively dismantled through the course of the novel.

However, I must admit that I found Coben to be a tad weaker than usual when it comes to the characters and the ways in which they interact with each other. On many occasions the dialog felt a bit forced, thin and rushed, with there being a real excess of one-liners and uses of speech patterns that you'd seldom find in the real world, at least not without looking for them.

Though that in itself isn't really that much of a problem, it does take you out of the novel when you have to imagine characters speaking as if they are trying to string together all the cool new words and expressions they learned at the Bingo last night.

Nevertheless, that doesn't hamper the book to the extent that it becomes hard to enjoy, and with a bit of practice you can learn to look past that.

Missing You by Harlan Coben (book cover)

All things considered, though Missing You certainly has a few faults here and there which set it back, it has more than enough to keep different types of mystery fans interested.

You'll find here food for thought in equal amount to the intriguing and personal development mystery plots, making this a rather solid and complete work that certainly deserves your attention if you're into the genre, and especially if you enjoy the theme of technological progress.



Harlan Coben (Author)

Harlan Coben


Personal site

Harlan Coben is an American author whose body of work mainly revolves around thrillers and mystery novels.

In many cases he seems to want to explore unresolved events of the past, an approach which won him multiple awards, including the 1996 Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original.

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