Review of "I Will Find You: A Thriller" by Harlan Coben

David Burroughs, who's been in Briggs Penitentiary in Maine for five years, has lost all interest in life.

Five years ago Burroughs was convicted of killing his three-year-old son Matthew in his Boston home, and though David didn't do it, he believes his neglectfulness was connected with the homicide. Having lost his beloved son, David doesn't care about anything, and hasn't permitted any visitors during his incarceration.



So David is surprised when a guard called Curly snaps, "Burroughs, let's go. You have a visitor."



It seems David forgot to renew his 'no visitors' paperwork, and Curly isn't about to deal with extra red tape for this child-killer. So David is cuffed and taken to the visiting area, where he sees his former sister-in-law Rachel.



During their conversation Rachel tells Burroughs her sister (his ex-wife) Cheryl has remarried and is pregnant, but this isn't the purpose of Rachel's visit. Rachel takes out a photo - taken at a Six Flags amusement park in Springfield, Massachusetts - of her friends posing with Loony Tunes characters.



In the background is a boy, about eight-years-old, holding the hand of man who's out of the frame. The figure is blurry, but the boy looks like Matthew, and has a distinctive port-stain birthmark on the right side of his face....just like Matthew had.

David and Rachel are convinced this is Matthew, which means Burroughs didn't kill his son and was framed. This galvanizes David, who's determined to get out of prison and find Matthew.

David goes to the warden, Phillip Mackenzie, who happens to be his godfather (I know, not too realistic. From here on, the reader has to suspend a good amount of disbelief).



David begs Mackenzie to help him break out of Briggs, but the warden says it's impossible, and in any case, the cops would find David and gun down the convicted 'baby-killer.'

As it turns out, there's all kinds of skullduggery going on at Briggs, and someone is bribing the guards to spy on Burroughs and report everything that goes on with him. Thus Rachel's visit is communicated to interested parties and measures are taken. In a roundabout way this ends up with David escaping from the prison, and he - with Rachel's help - embarks on a quest to find his son.



The FBI is brought in to investigate the getaway, and agents Max and Sarah have a unique interrogation method that involves non-stop quips and wisecracks.



The agents provide the humor in the story, which is needed to relieve the ongoing edge-of-your-seat action, danger, violence, etc.

Of course there are surprises and twists as the story hurtles toward its climax, which is appropriately exciting.

You know you're going to get a good tale from Harlan Coben, and I enjoyed the book, which is fine escapist literature.

Thanks to Netgalley, Harlen Coben, and Grand Central Publishing for a copy of the manuscript.

Rating: 3.5 stars