Quick Synopsis

When his child is taken, a father will stop at nothing to get her back.

Publisher’s Synopsis

Shot twice by an unseen assailant, Dr. Marc Seidman lies in a hospital bed. His wife has been killed. His six-month-old daughter has vanished. But just when his world seems forever shattered, the ransom note arrives: We are watching. If you contact the authorities, you will never see your daughter again. There will be no second chance. With no one to trust, and mired in a deepening quicksand of deception and deadly secrets, Marc clings to one unwavering vow: bring home his daughter, at any cost. 

Book Review

No Second Chance is an older title from Harlan Coben. Whenever I am having difficulty getting into books or finding something I want to read, I turn to Coben’s backlist. His books always pull me into the story with one chapter and are fast paced. They have helped me escape many reading slumps. So when my year started with me unable to start a book and stick with it, I picked a random Coben standalone from my shelves.

No Second Chance is a propulsive thriller focusing on the aftermath of a crime where the main character is shot, his wife killed, and their child kidnapped. Once the father heals, he desperately searches for what happened to his daughter and finds more than a few surprises along the way.

As with other Coben books, No Second Chance start off with a bang and does not let up. I breezed through this book in one evening, unable to put it down. Something else I love about Coben’s books, this one included, is that I am rarely able to guess the ending. There is always multiple twists that I do not see coming. No Second Chances surprised me several times. To me, that is a successful mystery or thriller novel.

While I enjoyed the storyline and was intrigued by the ending, No Second Chances fell a little bit short on the character development. Typically, I praise Coben for writing thrillers that have great characters who you feel like you know in person. However, I just did not quite find that depth in this title. Perhaps it is because this is one of the oldest Coben titles I have read.

Overall, I quite enjoyed No Second Chance and thought it was a clever thriller. I recommend reading it, although it will not make my list of top Coben books.

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