Six Years

This is my first “real” review. Please tell me where I go wrong and how I can improve. Thank you!

Six Years, Mystery/Thriller, Harlan Coben

Six Years kicks off with the main character, Jake Fisher, at a wedding. The problem? The wedding is between the love of his life, Natalie Avery, and her old boyfriend, Todd Sanderson. At the wedding, Natalie convinces Jake to promise her that he will leave her and Todd alone. Fast forward Six Years. Jake stumbles across Todd Sanderson's obituary and the repressed emotions towards Natalie are surfaced. Jake decides to attend the funeral from a distance, unsure whether or not he is ready to reconnect with Natalie or, for that matter, if she is even open to it. At the service, Jake strains to find Natalie in the crowd. Jake finally stumbles on the wife, but she's not Natalie. Confused and torn, Jake begins his search for Natalie except the only clues he has to go on are from their summer vacation fling six years ago. To make matters worse, nobody in the town they vacationed at remembers Natalie and the retreat she stayed at supposedly never existed. Jake encounters gunmen also looking for Natalie, which causes him to race to find her before they do her any harm, while Jake's best friend questions whether Natalie, or the gunmen, even exist outside of Jake's mind.

I understand there are many people disappointed with this book. It's the first Harlan Coben book I've read since middle school. So, maybe I don't know better, or maybe I am just simple minded; I found myself hooked on this book from page one. I found the majority of the characters credible, but I did have a hard time with Natalie. My first problem is that if she was involved with Fresh Start, she probably wasn't keying into the events that happened around Jake's life. That said, she could be like Jake's best friend and keep watch, but, even then, she wouldn't have been able to send him an email from an email address that doesn't exist – especially if she's as computer minded as Jake. Yeah, yeah, there are ways to do it. Putting that aside, the likelihood that she was not only in the same place as Jake (at the cabin), but that she was also an expert marksman is pretty weak.

In the end, I really enjoyed this work. Coben kept me guessing and my guesses were often wrong. I would recommend this book to anybody who enjoys a lighter mystery.