I Will Find You by Harlan Cohen - A Book Review
Synopsis:
David and Cheryl Burroughs are living the dream – married, a beautiful house in the suburbs, a three year old son named Matthew – when tragedy strikes one night in the worst possible way.
David awakes to find himself covered in blood, but not his own – his son’s. And while he knows he did not murder his son, the overwhelming evidence against him puts him behind bars indefinitely.
Five years into his imprisonment, Cheryl’s sister arrives – and drops a bombshell.
She’s come with a photograph that a friend took on vacation at a theme park. The boy in the background seems familiar – and even though David realizes it can’t be, he knows it is.
It’s Matthew, and he’s still alive.
David plans a harrowing escape from prison, determined to do what seems impossible – save his son, clear his own name, and discover the real story of what happened that devastating night.
Genre: Suspenseful Mystery-Thriller
Tropes:
- Missing Person
- Abduction
- Prison Escapee
- Murder
- Wrongful Conviction
Now that I’ve completed my A-Z Reading Challenge, my goal is to dip into my TBR Jar that’s been very neglected the past few months.
I have always been a fan of the screen adaptations of Harlan Coben’s work. I absolutely loved Netflix’s The Stranger and Stay Close and Prime’s Shelter (absolutely gutted that it’s been cancelled!), but I haven’t ever read his books, so when I saw I Will Find You, I thought it would be a good book to start with!
I first came across I Will Find You in Waterstones and it stuck with me because the premise of the story really interested me – how is he in prison if his son is alive?
When this book popped up for me to loan from my local library, I knew it was time to venture into Harlan’s writing!
The pace of this was extremely slow to begin with and I felt like a lot of the details were unnecessary filler. I always think thrillers need to be fast paced and snappy because if they’re slow paced, it gives me too long to think about the plot twists.
Based on the synopsis that got me intrigued to read the book, I thought David’s son William to be an adult rather than a child and I was expecting the premise to be that William framed his own father – oh how I was wrong!
When I first set out reading this book, I was thrown from time to time as the chapters alternated between the first person of David and then a third person perspective of the other characters – only it wasn’t mentioned whose pov it was. This did really confuse me as I would be reading each chapter not knowing whose pov it was, until halfway through the chapter. Once I realised this, I was quickly able to realise what was happening going forth.
I wasn’t necessarily hooked on the plot, I was more motivated to finish it and discover the big Harlan Cohen twist. I predicted that Cheryl (William’s mother) went ahead with the insemination because David couldn’t father a child, which meant that Hayden (Cheryl’s sisters ex) ended up being the father, which resulted in Hayden to kidnap his child. I was pretty spot on, aside from the Hayden did the insemination as revenge for Rachel, believing it was her having the procedure, rather than her sister.
I think there were too many side plots pushed into the story which made it very hard to follow such as the neighbour who framed David and her own separate reasons, which really had nothing to do with William’s disappearance.
After reading this months ago and rethinking about the plot, it has made me realise how twisted this plot actually was and how intertwined parts were, plus the additional side plots.
I think I will read more of Harlan’s work, if it’s something that interests me and catches my attention, but I don’t think I’d actively pursue looking for his next work. I do like his adaptations, so I will continue to watch those.
This is a book I would be excited to see turned into a screen adaptation.
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Georgia
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