Don't Let Go

Conspiracy Theory

The tribute to Harlan Coben in Stephen King's The Outsider, is quite deserved. The creator of the bestselling Myron Bolitar  and Mickey Bolitar (for young readers) series and some standalone thrillers, has legions of fans among readers of crime fiction.

His last novel, Don’t Let Go is a tensely plotted story that moves from the present to the past and envelops a very scary conspiracy that is right out of news headlines.

New Jersey cop Napolean ‘Nap’ Dumas had lost his twin brother Leo fifteen years ago, when the young man  and his girlfriend Diana were run over by a train; Nap’s own girlfriend Maura had disappeared the same night, and he still misses her. There was no rational explanation for how Leo and Diana even landed up on the tracks where they were killed, or why Maura skipped town.

Nap was so shattered by those events that he talks to his dead brother and takes great pains to remain under the radar in the small community when a single man would be viewed with suspicion. As a cop, however, he takes risks and is not averse to bending a few rules.

Years later, suddenly, Maura’s fingerprints are found in a car that was being driven by an off-duty cop Rex Canton, who was shot dead.  What sets alarms ringing in Nap’s head is that Leo, Diana, Rex and Maura were all members of their school’s Conspiracy Club, which seemed like a harmless fun activity till they found out something they were not meant to know. Of the two other members of the Club, Hank and Beth, who survived what seems to have been an attempt to wipe out the group, one is murdered and the other goes missing. Nap figures that they may have stumbled upon a secret that some powerful forces want to keep under wraps and have the means to eliminate anyone who threatens them. An abandoned military base in the town seems to hold the answers, and Nap goes out on a limb to reach the truth, even if it matters to nobody but himself.

The answer may seem a bit far-fetched, but Coben writes in a foreword, that this book was inspired by a local legend in suburban New Jersey, where he grew up, which turned out to be true. Enough to give nightmares to the sanest of readers.

Don't Let Go

By Harlan Coben

Publisher: Dutton

Pages: 400

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