"The Innocent"

"The Innocent" is a novel by Harlan Coben and it's in memory of Steven Z. Miller.  That write up was intriguing enough for me to google Steven Z. Miller and the results I found indicate he was Dr. Steven Z.Miller.  Dr. Miller was the director of pediatric emergency medicine at the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University.  He died tragically too young at age 46 in a plane crash leaving behind family and colleagues to mourn his loss.

This novel, however, isn't about Dr. Miller.  It's the love story of two people from completely different backgrounds.  Matt Hunter grew up in an upper-middle-class suburb in northern New Jersey.  Unfortunately, he caused the death of another student when he was in college as he was trying to intervene when his friend was being attacked.  Matt ended up spending time in prison for manslaughter and that changed his life.

While he was in college and on a getaway with friends, he met Olivia.  They felt a connection in the one night they spent talking together but he went home and expected he'd never see her again.  However, when their paths did cross years later after he was out of prison and working in a law firm with his brother, there was still a spark.  Now they're married, expecting their first child, and preparing to move into a suburb in the area where Matt grew up.

Life's course never runs smooth in Coben's books, though, and we have lots of twists and turns along the way.  A nun is dead and the head of the school where she taught has requested a former student, Investigator Loren Muse, to look into the death as she has concerns it might not be from natural causes.  While Loren is working that case, two men are found dead in different situations,  Matt Hunter becomes a person of interest in Loren's investigation due to a phone call the dead nun made to his sister-in-law's home.

In the meantime,Matt receives what appear to be compromising pictures of his wife with another man during a time she is supposed to be out of town on business.  He calls Cingle Shaker, a private eye he uses in the course of his job, to try to discover the true story behind the pictures.  When the FBI shows an interest in what they've uncovered, some feds show up to take the case away from Loren.  Loren is a determined young woman, though, and despite being told to stay away, she thinks there is something fishy going on with what might be a frame-up of Matt.

A showdown in Nevada where Loren, Matt, and Olivia all converge from separate locations leads to more deaths but also unravels the truth.  Will they be able to survive it?  As usual, Coben creates a great story and I rarely can figure out the twists behind them which always makes them a great read for me!

"The Innocent" has a bonus story at the end:  "The Rise and Fall of Super D."  I was concerned the whole short story wasn't there and almost didn't read it but it is complete and is another tale true to Coben -- a surprise twist I didn't see coming!  pazt