Blog Entry Two

Tell No One - Harlan Coben

Now that the characters, setting, and other basic parts of the story have been established, the plot is really beginning to pick up steam. The protagonist, Dr. Beck, is now a fully wanted man by authorities, and even more chilling, by other shady villains. In an effort to keep his desires to see his wife alive again, he flees from his assumed surrender in order to try to meet Elizabeth at a specific location later that day. Beck even assaulted a police officer--which only paints him as more guilty--but it really demonstrated the lengths he is willing to go to to see his wife alive. Coben also goes into the legal proceedings of all the events at hand. There are several of "behind closed doors"meetings between Beck's hard-hitting attorney and the police force and other attorneys, who seem predisposed to believe Beck guilty. Indeed, all of the evidence is pointing at him--a warm gun in his trash can, his blood at the crime scene--but Beck never once loses hope. More and more of his acquaintances are murdered by shady villains with an unclear agenda. As the story progresses, more and more evidence begins to turn up and it continues to point to Beck, even though the reader knows (or would like to think) that he is not guilty.

Since the beginning of the story, the overall tone of the story has become much darker. More murders are taking place, and are being described in more chilling detail. Even past murders are being brought up, with horrific descriptions of tortures and beatings as well. However, even among all this, I really like how the author uses dry humor. Coben instills his brutal honesty into Beck, even at the most dire of times. In regards to child abuse, for example: "The Bad Man isn't lurking in playgrounds, kiddies. He lives in your house." (170) Beck doesn't play games with himself; he knows how he thinks and he has a pretty good grip on what other people's thoughts and opinions are too. I also like how Beck has come to develop thus far. He began in the story as what seemed to be a typical grieving widow. Yes, he was crushed by his wife's tragic death, but he had began to live his life again. Now, we see Beck in a different light. He used to be "married to his work", but but it is obvious that he still hasn't gotten over Elizabeth's death. He has developed (or maybe regressed) to an individual who acts without thinking, with his eyes only on one prize. As the story progresses, I will be interested to see whether this almost immature thinking on Beck's part will lead to him getting what he wants, or maybe his downfall--because I know so little about this author, I wouldn't be surprised if the novel had a "sad' ending.

So far, the fast-paced plot is the main aspect of the story that is making me want to turn the pages. This story has all of the thrill of a classic Dan Brown book, and I'm anxious to see how it turns out.