What I've Read: Stay Close

If there is one negative to being in school for a year, it means I have a ton of reading to do each week that isn't exactly what one would call fun. Sure, it's fun because I'm utilizing those brain cells and growing my skillset, but it's such technical reading that there isn't a way to explain how exciting and interesting this stuff is without coming across as a total nerd.

It also means that when I do pick up a book for personal, relaxing reading, it takes about eight weeks longer to read it because I just can't make the time for it. My usual daily train reading gets overrun by class reading. Just not a lot of time for escape reading, even if my version of escapism tends to be nonfiction or documentary films. Damn, I am a dork.

While it took me much longer than it ever should have, I was able to read Harlan Coben's latest. And while the cover looks innocent enough, the subtle break in the fence should warn you that things in suburban New Jersey are once again in a state of "oh, shit." In this edition, a soccer mom gets her world rocked when she (rather stupidly) decides to tread back into her former life that she once abandoned for greener pastures. She can't quite let it go, and it comes back to bite her in the ass when people start dying around her (or being tortured) and she can't quite understand why and by whom. Throw in the ex-lover that always has to reappear and some creepy killer types, and it's a fun read. I was surprised by the limited number of characters in this novel because normally Coben throws a lot of characters at you and does some festive crossover of other novels he has written. But in Stay Close he keeps it simple and that allows him to dive a bit deeper into some of the characters and when things get super-personal later on, it gives it a bit more weight when normally you gloss over some certain events.

After he took some time to develop a more teen-centered novel (clearly trying to being the Twilight type crowd into his brand of novels), I'm glad he's returned to his more adult-themed stuff because I don't know that I was ever going to follow him down the road of Myron Bolitar's nephew. Of course, if this means Bolitar himself isn't returning anytime soon, I'll be definitely disappointed.