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THE INNOCENT is a hair-raising stand alone in the true Coben tradition. The prologue, told, as is the epilogue, in the present tense, details an horrific incident in the life of the novel's protagonist Matt Hunter. At the age of 20, he is embroiled in a fight and accidentally kills Stephen McGrath. For that he is imprisoned, which ruins his chances of becoming a lawyer. On his release from gaol Matt, nonetheless, studies law and is, at his brother Bernie's urging, taken on by a prestigious law firm at which Bernie works, as a paralegal. When Bernie dies, Matt is kept on by the firm to which he has proved his value. Matt is now married and his wife Olivia is pregnant with their first child. Olivia is to go away on a business trip to Boston, but prior to her departure the couple buy matching mobile phones, the kind which has a facility for taking and transmitting photographs and videos. In the meantime, Kimmy Dale, a 35-year-old exotic dancer and former friend of murder victim Candace Potter, is visited by a girl claiming to be her friend's daughter, relinquished for adoption upon her birth. Another seemingly disparate thread is begun when investigator Loren Muse is contacted by the nun in charge of the school Loren had attended. Mother Katherine wishes Loren to investigate the death of Sister Mary Rose. Mother Katherine fears Sister Mary Rose was murdered and wishes Loren to allay or confirm those fears. Matt Hunter receives strange and disturbing messages on his new mobile phone, together with distressing pictures. These imply to him that he does not know his beloved Olivia as well as he had thought. Coben entwines these seemingly disparate threads as the lives of Hunter and his wife become enmeshed with those of exotic dancers, the parents of Stephen McGrath, Loren Muse the investigator, various people from Hunter's childhood and even a pair of FBI agents, in a very violent and exceedingly mysterious tale. Coben increases the tension proportionately with the mystery. The plot is intricate, even by Coben's standards, and the resolution -- well, read it and see for yourself. For those who have eagerly anticipated the release of Coben's new work, don't delay in reading it. It is a corker.
Reviewed by Denise Pickles, April 2005
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