From Publishers Weekly
Coben's latest thriller (after No Second Chance) is a riveting, albeit perplexing, nightmare that finds hapless New Jersey wife and mother Grace Lawson dealing with an assortment of fearful developments, including a missing spouse, a terrifyingly adaptable hit man, deceitful friends, hidden agendas and ghosts from the past. Reader MacDuffie wisely takes her cues from Coben's prose. When he describes a policeman as "patronizing," she lends just the right vocal inflection to his lines, then quickly switches to the sarcastic tones of feisty Grace. And for the novel's most ingratiating character, Charlene Swain, MacDuffie's voice subtly shifts from vague to vital as the Percodan-popping, bored-to-tears housewife rises above her ennui to give Grace a helping hand in combating the wicked hit man Wu. Coben fills his thriller with unoriginal characters (including a murderer on death row, a rock-and-roller in comeback mode and a gentrified mobster with revenge on his mind), but MacDuffie's skillful interpretation brings the characters and action into sharp focus. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From AudioFile
After the mysterious appearance of a twenty-year-old photograph in her Photomat packet and her husband's middle-of-the-night disappearance, Grace Lawson's seemingly perfect suburban life undergoes a seismic shift. Who are the people in the snapshot? Why did her husband deny being one of them? As she searches for answers, more questions arise, involving police, private investigators, neighbors, and mobsters. Narrator Carrington MacDuffie keeps the pacing sharp. Her accents are true, her vocal control impressive. As Grace realizes her marriage has been built on lies, MacDuffie's tone grows appropriately paranoid. Her characterization of Eric Wu, a reptilian hit man with martial art expertise, is chilling. The combination of Harlan Coben's intricate plotting and crisp, understated writing and Carrington MacDuffie's smart, lively performance guarantees listeners that no nail will be left unbitten. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
If the trick of suspense writing is to get readers to identify so passionately with the beleaguered principal character that they disappear into the story, feeling the knife points of tension themselves, then Coben is the Houdini of the form. Coben, who has won the Trifecta of mystery writing--the Edgar, the Anthony, and the Shamus Awards--likes to burst the bubble of suburban security by having his characters' well-ordered, happy lives upended in ways that mirror readers' fears. In his four stand-alone thrillers, the past comes back to bite or haunt the protagonist, or the present vanishes in one fatal moment. In this latest excursion into the dark, a suburban mother finds one picture that does not belong in the pack of family outing photos she's just picked up. The picture, showing a group of college students, seems as if it was taken 20 years ago. One of the group looks like her husband. A girl in the group has an X drawn across her face. When Mrs. Happily Married shows the picture to her husband, he seems shaken, then leaves home. Coben ratchets up the suspense of the wife trying to find her husband with another drama, that of a serial killer in the neighborhood. A tragic accident from the woman's past intersects with her husband's secrets and the movements of the killer in ways that are satisfyingly creepy. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"An ordinary snapshot causes a suburban mother's world to unravel in an instant. When Grace Lawson picks up a newly developed set of family photographs, there is a picture that doesn't belong - a photo from at least twenty years ago. In the photo are five people: four Grace can't recognize and one that looks strikingly like her husband, Jack." "When Jack sees the photo, he denies he's the man in it. But later that night, while Grace lies in bed waiting, he drives away in the family's minivan without an explanation, taking the photograph with him." "Not knowing where he went or why he left, Grace struggles alone to shield her children from Jack's absence in the days that follow. Each passing day brings only doubts about herself and her marriage and yet more unanswered questions about Jack, along with the realization that there are others looking for Jack and the old photograph - including one fierce, silent killer who will not be stopped from finding his quarry, no matter who or what stands in his way." When the police won't help her, and neighbors and friends alike seem to have agendas of their own, she must confront the dark corners of her own tragic past to keep her children safe and learn the truth that might bring her husband home.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

Mr. Coben is justly popular; he does a good job of riveting the reader.—Janet Maslin

Publishers Weekly

Coben's latest thriller (after No Second Chance) is a riveting, albeit perplexing, nightmare that finds hapless New Jersey wife and mother Grace Lawson dealing with an assortment of fearful developments, including a missing spouse, a terrifyingly adaptable hit man, deceitful friends, hidden agendas and ghosts from the past. Reader MacDuffie wisely takes her cues from Coben's prose. When he describes a policeman as "patronizing," she lends just the right vocal inflection to his lines, then quickly switches to the sarcastic tones of feisty Grace. And for the novel's most ingratiating character, Charlene Swain, MacDuffie's voice subtly shifts from vague to vital as the Percodan-popping, bored-to-tears housewife rises above her ennui to give Grace a helping hand in combating the wicked hit man Wu. Coben fills his thriller with unoriginal characters (including a murderer on death row, a rock-and-roller in comeback mode and a gentrified mobster with revenge on his mind), but MacDuffie's skillful interpretation brings the characters and action into sharp focus. Simultaneous release with the Dutton hardcover (Forecasts, Mar. 29). (May) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

In Coben's latest (after No Second Chance), a snapshot turns a dedicated wife and mother's suburban fantasy life upside down. While flipping through a set of newly developed photographs, Grace Lawson comes across an old picture of four people, one of whom resembles her husband, Jack. When she shows him the photo, he denies being the person or knowing anyone involved. Later that night, with the photo in his possession, Jack flees the house and promptly vanishes. When Grace uncovers proof that one of the strangers in the picture is now dead, her picture-perfect life starts to unravel. With each thriller, Coben just gets better and better. His latest is terrifying on several levels, offering so many questions with intricate and complex answers. The pages fly until the last piece of the puzzle falls neatly into place. Just one look, and you will be hooked. For all fiction collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/04; a Mystery Guild, Literary Guild, and BOMC main selection.] Jeff Ayers, Seattle P.L. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

AudioFile

Here is yet another example of Corben's gifted storytelling. Carolyn McCormick expertly expresses the wide range of emotions experienced by Grace Lawson as she attempts to figure out how and why a twenty-year-old picture turns up in her recently developed photos, and why her husband has disappeared after recognizing himself in the old photograph. While the production's subtle sound effects neither enhance nor detract from the story, the listener is most definitely engaged by the rising tension of McCormick's delivery. S.K.P. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews