Author: Harlan Coben                
Publisher: Dutton Adult 
Year: 2008
Price: About $26.95

Harlan Coben specializes in writing intricate and suspenseful mysteries that keep you turning pages late into the night. His first standalone murder mystery was "Tell No One". Since then he has written several more novels which have been increasingly similar in plot. I was pleasantly surprised that "Hold Tight" marks a departure in formula, in that it doesn't center on an ancient murder case or the long ago disappearance of a family member. While this does mean that the book struggles a little to find its own momentum, at least Coben is trying something different instead of giving us more of the same.

"Hold Tight" juggles a number of different stories, all of which in some way center on the theme of parents trying to protect and/or understand their children. While initially they seem to be quite disparate plotlines, eventually the connections between them become apparent and it is this process of putting the jigsaw pieces together that is the most satisfying part of reading "Hold Tight". One of the things to admire about Harlan Coben's writing is that there are never any loose ends or things that get left unexplained.

"Hold Tight" is a little slower in pace than his other novels and at times it gets confusing keeping track of so many people, but it's still is a satisfying mystery that keeps the suspense going right until the final pages.