Six Years

I wish I trusted my instincts after the first eye rolling moment in this book, but I've read other books by this author so I thought I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. I shouldn't have, because it was just one ridiculous plot twist and unbelievable scene after another. Rather than being a mystery thriller--It is more like a comedy--Maybe they should get Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn for the movie version. Jake gets the crap beat out of him, knocked unconscious by a baseball bat to the head, then wakes up--Jumps through a window to escape, puts a band-aid on his forehead and he's fine? Hmm, okay. Well maybe I should have played a drinking game , and took a shot every time Jake tells the reader or another character about how much he loves Natalie. If I did, I'd be dead of alcohol poisoning half-way through this waste of time. My advice is to trust your gut the first time you have one of those "Aw, come on" moments. It doesn't get better, you'll just get more and more angry that you've wasted your time on this.An author shouldn't just get to slide by with junk because they've had success in the past with good work, it's deceitful to the reader and it's a cheat to get their money.

I usually enjoy books by this author but have preferred the Bolitar series. When I came across this one, I picked it up, surprised that I hadn't read it as it was several years old. I call this a "stupid man" book because at every turn, he is told to drop his search or he'll get her killed, let alone himself - he gets kidnapped and barely escapes, he gets threatened multiple times and barely escapes, his best friend tells him to drop it, he's being chased by mobsters and yet he keeps going because he REALLY loves Natalie. Of course, you know he'll still be alive at the end, but really not sure the journey to get there was worth it. There is a twist at the end as with most of the author's books, but it hasn't been worth my time.

I've not read Coben before but relied on the overall rating for this book which was WAY too high in my opinion. The voice immediately annoyed me, similar to Catcher in the Rye, where I'm hearing every thought and question in this guy's head. The main character is supposed to be a college professor, youngest to become head of his political science department, yet speaks and thinks like a teenager complete with cliches from the 80's. I actually checked the publishing date on this book to see if it was written 30 years ago. As the story progresses, there is no reason I want this guy to EVER find his ex-lover. He's delusional, immature, careless, and selfish..all in the name of a relationship that lasted a few months. I'm not describing a complex character development but rather an unbelievable protagonist. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

Ugh, I can’t believe I wasted hours of my life reading this. So unbelievable, ridiculous that all the things in this book would happen or that the protagonist would continue to pursue this woman he met and knew for about 5 minutes. I only finished it (skimming through pages after 40% finished) just to see how this mess was wrapped up. Wish I hadn’t even wasted my time doing that. How did so many people give this good reviews?

Jake Fisher fell in love with Natalie six years ago when each was attending a retreat. The affair was short, and was ended when Natalie told Jake she was marrying another man (Todd, an old boyfriend for whom she still had feelings) and asked Jake not to interfere in her new life. For six years, Jake has honored her request, but has continued to love Natalie with the kind of devotion that only a Coben fan or a Knight of the Round Table could relate to. Jake learns that Natalie's husband has died, and decides to attend the funeral, supposedly just to check in on the lost love of his life. Imagine his surprise when he learns that Todd's wife is not Natalie at all, but another woman to whom he has been married for twenty years. Jake determines to get to the bottom of the mystery. It's an intriguing premise, but from there, the story goes very wrong.The driver of all the action in this book is Jake's undying devotion to Natalie, and while Coben routinely employs protagonists who carry their feelings for unattainable women on their sleeves, when that devotion takes over the character's life, that devotion makes him more creepy than likable. Add to that that much of the action in Six Years is unbelievable (Jake kills a man that attacks him, then attends the funeral for clues after the police identify him for Jake) and you have a very unsatisfying book. Harlan Coben is a good writer, but I frankly couldn't tell whether he was writing a love story with thriller aspects or a thriller with a love angle. Either way, this book doesn't work for me.

This book was terrible: predictable from the start! Tries to get into the head of the main character, Jake, but ends up making him seem stupid and unable to solve problems. Good POV roaming from first person to third, but not used to the book's advantage -- that is, if you have several POV's, you should be immersed in the mindset of several characters -- in varying degrees. Not so here. Don't like Jake, don't like or understand Natalie, ending is unbelievable. Too many charaters make the pace fast, but does ot make the book exciting or interesting. Cut half the charaters out; develop the others, bury the plot peripities so they surprise, not bore the reader. Coben seems to have talent -- edit for clarity, cut out excess characters, remove repetition-- the reader is not stupid.

Jake’s endless determination to find the woman he loved was great. (Spoiler Alert: Revealing a part of the story) The only part that didn’t make a lot of sense to me was Natalie’s marriage to Todd, because why would anyone need to set up an elaborate fake marriage with their real family and guests in attendance just to prove to an ex-boyfriend they’ve moved on. Natalie inviting Jake to her wedding was also bizarre considering her goal was to get far away from him for his own protection. This book was action packed and Jake was a great lead character. The ending is very good too.

Six years ago, Jake Fisher watched Natalie - the love of his life - marry another man and he never managed to get over the broken heart. So when he reads Todd’s obituary, he decides to attend the funeral and realises that the man’s wife isn’t Natalie. As he searches for the truth, it appears that a lot of things he thought were real in his life might actually be little more than fiction.The first Coben I’ve read, this opens well and maintains a generally decent pace (it says slightly in the middle) throughout. I liked Jake - who tells the story in first person - and his career (a professor), friends and life are well detailed and realistic. As the house of cards begin to crumble it’s interesting to see how Coben twists and turns through the plot and a few of the revelations surprised me. Apart from a bit of a “wow, that was lucky” moment at the end, this is a great read and if you like your thrillers to be full-on, I’d recommend this.

Found the novel a complete disappointment after the downloaded sample had really whetted my appetite. Too many underdeveloped characters, unlikely action and changes of tack made the plot very difficult to follow. I stuck with it in hopes but, for me, the ending defied belief for reasons I won’t specify as I don’t do spoilers. A shame because I was so looking forward to reading it after having expectations of this prolific author raised by watching TV productions of “Safe” and “The Stranger”.I wish I had taken note of other one star reviews as the Kindle edition price tag is comparatively high, interestingly.

Well first the good news - this is nothing like the last Coben novel I read (Shelter) - all the characters are strictly adults there are no gangs of teenagers solving crimes or Nazi war criminals in sight. That having been said it's the same plot as ever - man loves woman, woman goes missing in mysterious circumstances, man tries to track her down, putting himself and a lot of others in danger in the process.To be fair though, I knew exactly what I was buying into when I purchased this (and the price reduction did play a part as well). I just expected the story to have a bit more impact. Problem for me was that the author doesn't really give us enough insight into the relationship between Jake and Natalie - which is seen only in flashback from 6 years on. He should started have the book six years in the past at the retreat where they met and let us see their relationship first hand, then we might understand why Jake still loves her and will do anything to find her rather than the author continally having having to remind us that he does. Show not tell! Think also that he went a bit over the top with Jake - not only is the guy a college professor he's also a bit of a babe magnet with a bod that wouldn't look out of place on TV's 'Gladiators'. (Seems suspiciously like a middle-aged male novelist's fantasy alter ego :)) Why create a hero who's supposed to be smart and then have him go blundering around solving most of his problems with his fists? Why can't someone who teaches Political Studies get his head around what's going on and actually use his brains to get himself out of difficult situations?The mystery which sucked me into buying this book is an intriguing one - there's something fascinating, almost surreal, about the way Natalie has disappeared, but that doesn't last too long - I started to figure out what was going on almost from the start and before long we are immersed in punch ups with gangsters as our hero blunders around trying to figure out what's going on. For me the middle section of the novel dragged badly and I found myself skipping pages about three quarters of the way through to get to the end. Which surprised me - by being nowhere near as bad as I feared - in fact to be honest I rather liked it (though it does beg the question - why couldn't all this have happened six years ago?). There was definitely some promise in the storyline here but the writing seemed tired and hackneyed - he must be getting a bit sick of trotting out the same plot time and time again. Could have been much better ...

Terrible. The writing sounds like the author hasn’t a clue about reality. I couldn’t get past chapter 2 as the narrator was obnoxious, vain and dumb. The things that he says makes me cringe so bad: I’m not the type of professor who hangs out with the students but they love me and I have banter with them... I couldn’t bare to read anymore. Yuck!

Two problems trouble me with this novel: the character of Natalie is under developed so the reader has no understanding of her or the historic relationship with Jake. And secondly, the second half is awfully messy with myriad loose strings and connections to understand and tie up. I became exhausted by the end of the story. I did finish the book but can recommend it only half heartedly. Harlan Coben is capable of much better than this.