In Gone for Good Harlan Coben continues his self-redefinition as a writer of taut, grim thrillers about love and its vulnerabilities with even more success than in its predecessor Tell No One. Will has coped with the death of his ex-girlfriend, the disappearance of his brother Ken (the prime suspect in her rape and murder), as well as the demands of his job as a worker with the homeless and terminally messed-up of the New York streets. When it seems that his brother is alive after all, and his lover Sheila disappears, only to be fingered by the FBI as an accessory to murder, Will is at breaking point. Only his dangerous friend Squares and Will's determination to see justice done, and find out what he needs to to ensure it, keep him going during escalating unpleasantness. Will and Ken had some dangerous schoolfellows--among them the gangster McGuane and the assassin known as Ghost--and the roots of the jeopardy Will finds himself in lie years in his past. Coben does paranoia and deceit as well as he did the good humour of his early sports thrillers--Will is a credible hero because he lives with his own weaknesses and is attractively unaware of his virtues and his charm. --Roz Kaveney
