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| The Innocent | 
 enlarge | Author: Harlan Coben
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  153 reviews
Sales Rank: 287386
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 2744187755
EAN: 9782744187759
ASIN: B000BLNPD2
Publication Date: April 26, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Matt Hunter made a mistake when he was 20 years old and paid for it with a four-year stint in prison that left him with a determination never to be locked up again. Finally, his life is back on the promising track he was taking before he accidentally killed a man: He has a good job, a newly pregnant wife he adores, and is about to close on the home of their dreams. Then he gets a couple of bizarre photos on his cell phone that seem to show his wife in a compromising position with a black-haired stranger. But before he can sort out who sent the anonymous pictures and why, he's running from the law--especially from the cop who was his best friend in grade school, and a sharp young detective who's stepped right into the middle of an FBI investigation spurred by the discovery that a dead nun who wasn't who she claimed to be is somehow mixed up in Matt and Olivia Hunter's life. Coben deftly wields a complicated plot involving a missing stripper, a dead gangster, an incriminating videotape, and a couple of agents who aren't quite who they seem to be, while Hunter manages to hold onto his faith in Olivia despite her clouded past and uncertain future. Like all Coben's protagonists, (including the hero of his popular series starring sports agent turned detective Myron Bolitar) Hunter is a nice, middle-class New Jersey boy who's still the innocent of the title, despite the miscarriage of justice that sent him to prison. Or was it? That's the moral question at the heart of this tightly constructed thriller, which will no doubt shoot directly to the top of the bestseller list, and deservedly so. --Jane Adams Amazon.com Exclusive Content A Bit of Bolitar: An Exclusive Essay by Harlan Coben
 Beloved series character Myron Bolitar appears in a new short story included with Harlan Coben's latest thriller, The Innocent. In this Amazon.com exclusive essay, Coben shares his thoughts on Bolitar's return.
Product Description
A gripping new thriller from Harlan Coben, author of the instant New York Times bestsellers Just One Look, No Second Chance, and Tell No One.
Abridged CD - 5 CDs, 6 hours
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| Customer Reviews: Read 148 more reviews...
 An exquisitely crafted thriller / mystery May 14, 2005
64 out of 79 found this review helpful
Harlan Coben is a total master of his craft. In "The Innocent" Coben weaves a very complex plot, populates with believable characters and, at the end, leaves you disappointed that the book has drawn to a close. You want more. More of Matt Hunter, who accidentally killed someone in a college brawl. More of Loren Muse, the intelligent, conflicted investigator who thinks Hunter is involved with current murders. More of Olivia Hunter, Matt's pregnant wife who wants nothing more than an ordinary life. And more of all the characters Coben creates.
He is that good.
The story is not simple. Coben's plotting reminds me of a gnarly tree: it starts at the bottom with a trunk and than branches off with some of the branches intertwining with others. Stories and characters overlap, but not to point of confusion.
Coben is a master. In "The Innocent," he has written a superb mystery thriller. Ordinary people thrown into extraordinary circumstances and doing what they must to survive --- if the bad folks don't kill them first.
Superb.
Jerry
Prepare yourself for a roller coaster read! June 14, 2005
47 out of 60 found this review helpful
Those familiar with Harlan Coben's series featuring sports agent sometimes detective Myron Bolitar will delight in this gifted author's latest book, The Innocent. Joining other stand alone books of Mr. oben's like Tell No One and Gone for Good, this book takes its rightful place along with the above mentioned as being a hair raising roller coaster of a read. And one which I imagine most readers will love as I did when Mr. Coben's newest book around the asks the age old question, do we really and truly know the person we're married to. To day this is a really good suspsense book and will have yoru emotions going up and down as the suspsense mounts is an understatemnt.
Matt Hunter is 20 years old when during a vacation from a college vacation, he is involved in a brawl and accidentally kills a college student. Although he ha dlittle do with instigating the fight and merely was trying to help a friend, Matt is found at the scene whiel others scurried away and stands trial for the death of another college student.
While this most likely was an accident and he may be innocent he is found guilty by a jury and is sentenced to spend several years in prison. Needless to say, as a young suburban man, Matt is less than prepared for prison life but manages to stay alive. When he leaves prison four years later he is taken under the wing of his older brother,a laywer with a prestigious NJ firm which eventually hire Matt as a paralegal. But life for Matt as a convicted felon will never be the same.
Now it is nine years later, Matt's brother is dead from a brain
aneurysm and his father is also gone. Matt's mother and
sister live far away but he still helps out his sister in law
and his two nephews. Matt also continues to work for the same law firm as before but he is now mrried to a wonderful woman, Olivia and they are expecting their first child.He is also about to close on a home in his old neighborhhod and Matt cn't help but think that life is good. But when his wife convinces him to buy two cell phones which can send pictures, this sets in motion a series of events which have Matt wondering who Olivia really is and why is his life spiraling downwards. on one otherwise ordinary day Matt's phone rings and
the sights he sees will once again change life as he knew it.
And we as readers now embark alogn with Matt on a whirwind and well thought out plot stretching from New Jerey to Nevada
with a cast of characters we come to know and enjoy.
This was a real good read, much better than Coben's last two books, No Second Chance and Just One Look, in my opinion. The characters are fully developed and we are privy to not only what is happening now but what happened to them in the past as well. Readers are able to feel all of the emotions as this story takes off and doesn't let go. One slight change from Mr. Coben's other stand alone books and main characters is that, Matt Hunter isn't quite as sarcastic as other characters found in this author's other books, ie Myron Bolitar This fact makes Matt a much more believable and vulnearble character. And as hardened as Matt may seem from priosn life,underneath we know that he can't believe the world he has made with Olivia is unraveling before his eyes.
Harlan Coben's books at best are rather convoluted which
has been one criticism which I have often heard about his books. I even found myself taking a few notes while reading his books to try and keep one step ahead of these well crafted novels. Overall, though, I found this book a bit easier to keep up with and if I didn't get all of the goings on at the end, Matt Hunter himself says there are some things he won't ever understand either. And this I can live with since I really enjoyed this book. If I had one small criticsm it would be that the end was a bit too coincidental as if the author decided to tie up the book with an ending which readers were hoping would happen.
While I have read all of Mr. Coben's stand alone books I haven't read any of his Myron Bolita series books. I hope to read them this summer. And I also am anxiously waiting for Mr. Coben's next stand alone. he can't write them fast enough for me and I highly recommend his books.
Good read November 6, 2005
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
This was a very good read, not his best book but well worth reading.THE INNOCENT' is non-stop action and will have you turning the pages so quickly your fingers will burn. Every character is strong and well developed and the story is thoroughly engrossing. So you may be wondering why with all of this high praise did I only give it 4 stars? Well, while I knew to expect Coben's signature twist at the end, I thought that maybe there was just one twist to many in this ending.
MISTAKES ARE MADE, MISFORTUNE FOLLOWS October 18, 2007
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
Some mistakes can change your life forever. In "The Innocent" the past comes back with a vengence to haunt the lives of ex-convict Matt Hunter and his pregnant wife Olivia.
Nine years ago Matt went to prison for manslaughter, convicted for an accidental death that occurred when he attempted to help a friend. While his friends were in college, Matt was serving his time in prison. Now a free man and happily married, Matt will do anything to protect and maintain his new life.
Suddenly a series of events put Matt and Olivias "happily ever after" in jeopardy. First, an admired and well loved nun is murdered, then Matt begins receiving anonymous and compromising photos on his cell phone and suspects he is being followed by a mysterious stranger. He enlists the help of a female detective friend to help unravel the mystery. Unfortunately dead folks begin popping up all over the place and all of them seem to be connected to Matt in one way or another. The local and federal authorities think him a likely suspect to pursue and, worst of all, it seems that sweet Olivia has a few secrets of her own she hasn't shared with her hubby.
What M. Night Shymalan did with unexpected plot twists in his movies, notably The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, Cobin does with his books. Both men ably tell compelling tales about the interaction of fate coupled with the choices we make in life. The Innocent seems to prove that no one is completely innocent.
 Good, but convoluted April 30, 2005
16 out of 24 found this review helpful
I am a big fan of Harlan Coben and anxiously awaited this book. Like most of his books, this one requires a healthy dose of suspended disbelief. However, I found I could only suspend it so far. About three quarters of the way through, it just got too crazy. And, unlike any Coben book before, I figured out the ending before I got there (I won't reveal it and be a spoiler). However, I liked the characters and the story and anything by Coben is better then most of the stuff out there
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