Book Review: The Boy From The Woods by Harlan Coben

Available here

The Boy From The Woods welcomes some new characters, whilst treating us with the presence of the brilliant fiesty Hester Crimstein, from the Myron Bolitar novels. Wilde is enigmatic, self sufficient and a little remote ... but then if you'd been found as a feral child roaming the woods and fending for yourself maybe you would be too. 




Here's the blurb

Thirty years ago, a child was found in the New Jersey backwoods.

He had been living a feral existence, with no memory of how he got there or even who he is. Everyone just calls him Wilde.

Now a former soldier and security expert, he lives off the grid, shunned by the community – until they need him.

A child has gone missing. With her family suspecting she’s just playing a disappearing game, nobody seems concerned except for criminal attorney Hester Crimstein. She contacts Wilde, asking him to use his unique skills to find the girl.

But even he can find no trace of her. One day passes, then a second, then a third.

On the fourth, a human finger shows up in the mail.

And now Wilde knows this is no game. It’s a race against time to save the girl’s life – and expose the town’s dark trove of secrets…

My Thoughts

I really enjoyed the story, but somehow I expected a little more. Perhaps it's because it's the first of the series and the characters are just bedding in. However, I really do want to find out more about Wilde, the feral child all grown up, and will definately read the next in the series. 

The plot was fast to begin with, but then , for me at least had a little down time in the mddle, but took off again at the end.

As usual Coben's characterisation is great; the sullen teen, the irrascible old attorney, the dependable police detective, the sultry, grieving widow ... all came ro life on the page. 

Wilde and Hester Crimstein carry the novel and the dashes of humour really appeal to me. I love a little bit of humour in a novel and that's why I enjoyed the Myron Bolitar novels so much. I feel sure that Wilde will become one of my 'look forward to reading' about characters.