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Harlan Coben has won the Edgar Award, the Shamus Award and the Anthony Award. By very definition, then, he must know what mystery readers enjoy. With Gone For Good he has produced yet another of his mazes made words to mystify and delude his fans. Coben's other novels -Darkest Fear, The Final Detail, One False Move, Back Spin , Fade Away , Drop Shot, Deal Breaker and Tell No One include a series featuring Myron Bolitar but Gone For Good, like Tell No One before it, is a stand alone adventure. This story is told against a backdrop of the fate of homeless kids in New York and Covenant House, a body that attempts to rescue those children from their lives of prostitution, drugs and all round general crime and utter despair. Even without referring to Mr. Coben's acknowledgments, it is obvious that he admires the work Covenant House does. The author has made his protagonist a director of the institution albeit one who is kept away from the public gaze when it comes to fundraising and similar events. The reason for this is that Will Klein's brother, Ken, was, eleven years previous to the beginning of the tale, accused of raping and murdering Will's former girlfriend Julie Miller. Because of the amount of Ken's blood discovered at the scene of the killing, Will and his parents have always thought that Ken had died. On her deathbed, Will's mother tells both Will and his father that Ken is alive. Will, while never having forgotten his love for Julie, has fallen in love and is living with Sheila Rogers. Shortly after the funeral of Will's mother, Sheila disappears. She, like Ken Klein, is gone for good.The present narrative is rooted in the past in that people who were at school with Ken and Will are now seen in their adult roles contrasted with what they were when children. Ken's friends John Asselta, a.k.a. the Ghost, and Philip McGuane have grown up to be killers and big time crime figures in whom the FBI are extremely interested. The FBI are also very interested in Ken Klein whom they insist is not dead but living in the United States. When Sheila Rogers' body is found and her fingerprints discovered at a murder scene, the FBI extend their interest to her. Will, in addition, becomes an oject of interest to the local FBI chief - whose own agenda is eventually disclosed to the reader. This book is bound to appeal to all thriller aficionados who enjoy loads of violence accompanied by massive amounts of gore, grue and torture. One of the most chilling scenes of the book, to my mind, was where a killer describes the pleasure he derives from murdering people. The pace of the tale is hectic and nothing is straightforward. Of the characters, the most appealing is Will's boss, Squares. The remainder will either evince the reader's tepid liking, horror or pity. As for the plot itself - well, I think that Mr. Coben has overdone his twists and surprises. The tendency has been evident in earlier books but he has outdone himself this time. No one, with a couple of rare exceptions, is as he or she seems. No part of the story is as it initially appears. I am afraid that, despite the breakneck speed of the narrative, I became a little bored by the constant shocks. It could have been an excellent story but I feel it was weakened by the author's predilection for stunning surprises accompanied by just too much blood and violence. Oh yes - one scene I found even less believable than the convolutions of the plot was where a helpless victim threatened his armed captors. These things having been said, readers who have enjoyed Coben's earlier works will probably also enjoy this one. Editoržs Note: This is a review of the Australian Edition 
Published by Orion, released on June 8, 2002, $Au29.95
Reviewed by Denise Wels, June 2002
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