Caught, Harlan Coben, Dutton, $27.95.
In Caught Coben's deft portrayal of suburbia is in perfect form, especially as suburbia relates to teenagers. He must have a few himself because there's no way he could describe them so accurately if he didn't actually live with one. His description of how concerned they are with their own selves and their own stomachs; the way they lie around like "they'd removed their skeletons, hung them in a nearby closet, and slid to a collapse against whatever upholstery was nearby"; as well as their eye rolling whenever an adult asks them a basic question about, say, Facebook (an experience I had myself only this afternoon). And teens are front and center in this story.
His main character in this Myron free outing is Wendy Tynes, a reporter for a local tabloid type station who makes a name for herself exposing pedophiles, among others, but the book begins with her exposure of a pedophile. When the man in question is released with no charges against him, and then he disappears, Wendy is fired and she's forced to question almost every assumption she's ever made—about almost everything, not just this man in particular.
Closely tied to this story is the disappearance of a "good" teen—a teen on college track, active in sports, with lots of friends (she measures the distance between the trophies on display in her bedroom in inches)—who everyone is sure is dead, but when the pedophile disappears, everyone is then not so sure and her parents begin to feel hopeful. As with any Coben novel, the twists in this one are unexpected and clever, and since you will undoubtedly be reading so quickly you won't notice, if they are slightly unbelievable it simply doesn't matter. I think what sets Coben apart from James Patterson is the fact that he started out as simply an excellent mystery writer with a novelist's instinct for concise character study. In this one, his refusal to let a central character find forgiveness leaves you wondering, even after you've finished the book. Coben is not "simply" a thriller writer, he's one of the best, and the details he brings to the table, character and setting wise make him even better. After the slight disappointment of the last book, he is back in fighting form.
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