Matt Hunter made a mistake when he was 20 years old, and paid for it with a four-year stint in prison and that left him with a determination never to be locked up again. Finally, his life is back on the promising track he was taking before he accidentally killed a man; he has a good job, a newly pregnant wife he adores, and is about to close on the home of their dreams. Then he gets a couple of bizarre photos on his cellphone that seem to show his wife in a compromising position with a black-haired stranger. But before he can sort out who sent the anonymous pictures and why, he's running from the law--especially from the cop who was his best friend in grade school, and a sharp young detective who's stepped right into the middle of an FBI investigation spurred by the discovery that a dead nun who wasn't who she claimed to be is somehow mixed up in Matt and Olivia Hunter's life. Coben deftly wields a complicated plot involving a missing stripper, a dead gangster, an incriminating videotape, and a couple of agents who aren't quite who they seem to be, while Hunter manages to hold onto his faith in Olivia despite her clouded past and uncertain future. Like all Coben's protagonists, (including the hero of his popular series starring sports agent turned detective Myron Bolitar) Hunter is a nice, middle-class New Jersey boy who's still the innocent of the title, despite the miscarriage of justice that sent him to prison. Or was it? That's the moral question at the heart of this tightly constructed thriller, which will no doubt shoot directly to the top of the bestseller list, and deservedly so. --Jane Adams

Amazon.com Exclusive Content A Bit of Bolitar: An Exclusive Essay by Harlan Coben
Beloved series character Myron Bolitar appears in a new short story included with Harlan Coben's latest thriller, The Innocent. In this Amazon.com exclusive essay, Coben shares his thoughts on Bolitar's return.

From Publishers Weekly
Coben seems to delight in making bad things happen to good people (Tell No One; Gone for Good; etc.), and he does it again in this, his best book to date. A paralegal, devoted husband and soon-to-be father, Matt Hunter has a not-so-secret past: when he was 20, in an attempt to break up a fistfight, he killed a man and served four years in prison for it. He's been out five years, living in his New Jersey hometown, and life is pretty good. But when his beloved wife, Olivia, goes away on a business trip, he receives 15 seconds of digital video on his camera phone showing her in a hotel room with another man. Meanwhile, Loren Muse, Essex County homicide investigator, is working on an unusual case: an autopsy of a nun reveals breast implants, which hint at a previous, not so holy life. After the FBI is called in, evidence links Matt to the nun killing. Like all of Coben's stand-alone thrillers, this is a long, extremely complex tale with plenty of gunfire, betrayals, late-night chases and good people forced to go on the lam. All the characters have extensive, interesting histories, which makes their actions believable under the extreme circumstances that engulf them. Some readers have felt that Coben has been treading water with his last two outings, but this one should re-establish his credentials. Major ad/promo. (Apr. 26) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Thriller writer Coben (who has won the Edgar, the Shamus, and the Anthony Awards, the trifecta of mystery writing) specializes in adapting technology to new and terrifying uses. What Hitchcock did for the shower, Coben does for the cell phone. In his latest, a newly pregnant wife convinces her husband, Matt Hunter, who has severe though irrational misgivings, that they should buy a camera phone so they don't miss a minute of parenthood. She leaves on a business trip, and quicker than you can think, "Photo incoming," the husband receives an image of his wife with another man in a hotel room. Someone starts tailing the husband. A nun is murdered. The suspect is the devastated husband, Matt Hunter, because he accidentally killed another college student in a street brawl nine years before. Coben's prologue, which traces young Matt Hunter from childhood through the moment on spring break when his life broke, sending him into prison for four years, succeeds in getting you to care deeply about his main character--and fast. The shadow of Matt's past lends richness to his desperation to clear himself and to his agony that his newly reconstructed life may be ripped away. As usual with Coben, an intriguing start, hinging on one out-of-whack technological trick, hurtles into a fast-paced hunter-and-hunted drama. First-rate. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
Some mistakes can change your life forever…. The horror of one night is forever etched in Matt Hunter’s memory: the night he innocently tried to break up a fight—and ended up a killer. Now, nine years after his release from prison, his innocence long forgotten, he’s an ex-con who takes nothing for granted. With his wife, Olivia, pregnant and the two of them closing on a house in his home town, things are looking up. Until the day Matt gets a shocking, inexplicable video call from Olivia’s phone. And in an instant, the unraveling begins. A mysterious man who begins tailing Matt turns up dead. A beloved nun is murdered. And local and federal authorities--including homicide investigator, Loren Muse, a childhood schoolmate of Matt’s with a troubled past of her own-- see all signs pointing to a former criminal with one murder already under his belt: Matt Hunter. Unwilling to lose everything for a second time, Matt and Olivia are forced outside the law in a desperate attempt to save their future together. An electrifying thrill-ride of a novel that peeks behind the white picket fences of suburbia, THE INNOCENT is at once a twisting, turning, emotionally-charged story, and a compelling tale of the choices we make and the repercussions that never leave us. Includes the exclusive short story Rise and Fall of SuperD Featuring Myron Bolitar

About the Author
Winner of the Edgar Award, the Shamus Award, and the Anthony Award, Harlan Coben is the author of eleven previous novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Just One Look, No Second Chance, Gone for Good, and Tell No One, and the popular Myron Bolitar series.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Get ready for a wild ride in award-winning suspense author Harlan Coben's The Innocent, a powerful story of unexpected connections￯﾿ﾽand consequences.

Everybody makes mistakes. But, whether these missteps result from poor judgment, good intentions, or circumstances completely beyond our control, they can change lives￯﾿ﾽour own and other people's. When Matt Hunter tries to break up a fight at a college party, he unintentionally causes the death of another student and finds his future derailed by a four-year prison term. After his release, he's got a lifetime ahead of him as an ex-con￯﾿ﾽbut his real trials are just beginning. And when his past mistake makes him the prime suspect in the murder of a nun, Matt's desperate desire to prove his innocence leads him into deadly danger.

Fans will especially enjoy the bonus short story appearing in the hardcover edition of The Innocent -- "The Rise and Fall of Super D" is the first new outing in five years for Coben's delightfully unpredictable protagonist, sports agent Myron Bolitar. Sue Stone

ANNOTATION

The hardcover edition of The Innocent includes an original Myron Bolitar short story entitled "The Rise and Fall of Super D."

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Coben seems to delight in making bad things happen to good people (Tell No One; Gone for Good; etc.), and he does it again in this, his best book to date. A paralegal, devoted husband and soon-to-be father, Matt Hunter has a not-so-secret past: when he was 20, in an attempt to break up a fistfight, he killed a man and served four years in prison for it. He's been out five years, living in his New Jersey hometown, and life is pretty good. But when his beloved wife, Olivia, goes away on a business trip, he receives 15 seconds of digital video on his camera phone showing her in a hotel room with another man. Meanwhile, Loren Muse, Essex County homicide investigator, is working on an unusual case: an autopsy of a nun reveals breast implants, which hint at a previous, not so holy life. After the FBI is called in, evidence links Matt to the nun killing. Like all of Coben's stand-alone thrillers, this is a long, extremely complex tale with plenty of gunfire, betrayals, late-night chases and good people forced to go on the lam. All the characters have extensive, interesting histories, which makes their actions believable under the extreme circumstances that engulf them. Some readers have felt that Coben has been treading water with his last two outings, but this one should re-establish his credentials. Major ad/promo. (Apr. 26) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Out of jail after a conviction for manslaughter (he was just trying to stop a fight), Matt Hunter suddenly finds himself suspected of multiple murders. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews