One of my goals this year is to read every title on our state high school awards lists, the Lincoln List and the Read for a Lifetime list. I’ve read a healthy number, but certainly not all, so I set in to listen to one on audio I thought I’d have a hard time digging into in print form: Harlan Coben’s Hold Tight. Coben is a very popular author of thriller-mysteries, which is exactly what this title was. And if you know anything about me, it’s not really my genre. But thanks to a fantastic audiobook, I quite enjoyed it and would certainly go back for more.
After the suicide of his friend, Spencer Hill, Adam Baye has become more and more distant. Rather than handle it idly and face the potential same consequences as Spencer’s parents, Mike and Tia Baye — Adam’s parents — choose to install spying software on their son’s computer. They never thought of themselves as the type to distrust their son, but they didn’t want to take any chances here, either. A suspicious message appears a few days after the software is installed that worries his parents and prompts them to take action.
Oh, and Adam has now gone missing.
As any parent trying to put together the pieces in the death of her son, Betsy begins to seek an answer through Spencer’s networks. In browsing online, she stumbles into an online memorial set up by his friends; it is here she finds a photo taken the day Spencer killed himself. Adam may be in the photo, too, but it’s a little hazy and she knows she needs to talk with Adam to find out more. It is clear he had something to do with this.
Hold Tight weaves together many family lives into a fast paced story that never once left me a bored listener. I felt for the Hill family, but at the same time, the actions of Betsy left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I was at once able to sympathize and understand the Baye family’s spying decisions, but when things really get rolling and the mystery began to unravel, I got angry with them. It was too little too late and a clear violation of privacy.
What Coben does in his book that just worked so well for me was building characters you both love and hate at the same time. As a listener, I was able to hold contradictory thoughts about these characters and even with the story was over, I still feel the same way. Not only that, but Coben’s magic is developing a large number of plot lines and keep consistently interesting characters; he manages, of course, to make them work together in the end, but throughout the experience, I kept trying to anticipate how things would merge and it was never as expected. A true thriller.
Listening to this book was the right way go to. Scott Brick narrates much like you’d imagine a 40s radio broadcaster to read — there is mystery, a little jazz lilt, and a feeling like you’re in that smoky bar getting the facts first hand. He gives a semi-voiced reading, though the semi is very true: only a couple female characters have a different sound to their narration. It never feels weird nor do the transitions ever get confusing. I quite preferred this stripped down audio production, as it let the story tell itself. Brick didn’t need to make the story; he just delivered it. The sound and editing were consistent and seamless.
Hold Tight definitely will appeal to fans of thrillers and mysteries, but I think people who aren’t connoisseurs of those genres will find a lot to like here. There’s great writing, strong and interesting characters, and a lot of ethical issues with which to grapple. I never felt this got overly dramatic or stretched on too long. Quite frankly, when I got to disc 9 of 10, I really was concerned the story wouldn’t wrap up and I’d need to quickly seek out the second book in the series. Luckily, I was proven wrong. This is a standalone, powerhouse of a story.
As far as being on the state list for teens, I think this will be a big boy hit. But it might be a hard sell to many readers. I’d find it difficult to recommend this title to a teen I didn’t know well because there is a lot of violence, a lot of adult situations, and more that wouldn’t make me too comfortable to blindly recommend. For the older teen boys, though, those might be the exact reasons this will be an easy sell (not to mention Adam and Spencer are 16 or 17) and the bonus is that Coben’s written quite a few more books in the genre. Love one, look for more, right?