Book review : Gone For Good

Gone For Good - Harlan Coben

Title : Gone For Good

Author : Harlan Coben

Edition : Paperback

No. of pages : 383

Goodreads rating : 4.09 out of 5

My rating : 4 out of 5

Book synopsis :

Will Klein lost his brother and the love of his life on the same day. Eleven years ago, Will's ex-girlfriend was found brutally murdered. The prime suspect : Will's brother, Ken. With overwhelming evidence against him, Ken disappeared and his family believed he was gone for good.

Over a decade later, Will is still convinced of his brother's innocence. And when the new woman in his life disappears, Will is pulled into a dark and violent mystery. He can feel himself coming closer and closer to a terrible secret, a secret someone will do anything to keep buried. And, as the lies begin to unravel, Will uncovers startling truths about his lover, his brother and even himself...

My review :

When I first picked up this book, I had expected it to be like any other crime-based book : There's going to be an obvious protagonist, an obvious antagonist and an obvious crime and story-line. I had expected reflection from either the protagonist or the antagonist, but this book went beyond my expectations. In fact, it made me pace my room with excitement and anticipation.

"He's alive."

Those were her exact words. And if they were true, I didn't know if it would be a good thing or bad.

Harlan Coben is indeed the King of plot twist, and indeed, this book really is worth its wonderful reviews from people. With every turn of events, I held my breath and my mind was filled with many expectations, but Coben wonderfully created a plot that I can never in my right mind can think of. This book focuses on Will Klein and the mysteries of his past that involves his brother, Ken Klein.

A decade passed, and Will is still certain of the innocence of his brother, until his current girlfriend was also murdered. (Sorry, a small spoiler.) To be painstakingly honest, I never really had a closure for the bond of Julie Miller and the Ghost. I was a little bit disappointed on the method of revelation towards the ending of the book for I had expected some more action-filled revelation kind of thing. (I am a fan of action filled stuff, you know.)

But then again, this book really did challenged me in my knowledge of psychology and criminology. I had tried to really involve many kind of theory, practicing my own understanding, but I had failed in many ways for this book. I understand that the Ghost is, well, like his name due to his upbringing, but the plot twist made me speechless and just gasp in awe at the magnificent way Coben led the plot. It is challenging indeed!

What made me really love this book was when Will found a really crucial evidence from the Julie Miller's case. From then on I began to change my perspective about many characters. Judging my own judgements, and in the end, the character that I had despised from the beginning began to change into my favourite character.