THE STRANGER - Harlan Coben

Over the years I'd heard so many great things about thriller writer Harlan Coben, yet The Stranger was my first try at reading him.  The novel opens in upper-middle class New Jersey, where attorney Adam Price leads an ideal life with his daughter Corinne and their two sons ... until a man - a stranger - approaches Adam in the local American Legion, revealing a dark secret Corinne has supposedly been keeping from her husband; a secret that hangs obsessively over Adam like a noose and will prove to change his life forever.  As Adam deals with his dilemma, we learn Adam isn't the stranger's only victim, and when Corinne disappears and Adam starts snooping around, the bodies begin to pile up and a more sinister meaning behind all that's going on slowly emerges.  An okay premise, potentially, but I was truly disappointed in The Stranger.  Adam Price, as the lead, isn't fleshed out very well as a character - to the point I found myself unable to emotionally connect with him on any more than a superficial level - and the plotting felt equally thin, as well as unrealistic (also beware of plot-holes!).  Even the ending, which I hoped would be a high-octane nail-biter, instead came off rushed and poorly written.  I'd like to try Coben again, for sure ... am just sadly disappointed this was the one I started with.   **

Note: I received a free ARC of this title via NetGalley and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.