Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring Fool Me Once, the latest book by bestselling author Harlan Coben, which I borrowed from the library.  It's one of his stand-alone novels. 

 

 

 

Chapter 1

 

They buried Joe three days after his murder.  Maya wore black, as befitted a grieving widow.  The sun pounded down with an unflagging fury that reminded her of her months in the desert.  The family pastor spouted the cliches, but Maya wasn't listening.  Her eyes drifted to the schoolyard across the street.

 

Yes, the cemetery overlooked an elementary school.

 

  

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Page 56:  "First thought when Maya woke up: Check out the nanny cam video."

 

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My thoughts:  Coben's stand-alone novels are automatic reads for me.  They hook the reader on the first page and keep you turning pages at a frantic pace.

 

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 From Goodreads:  In the course of eight consecutive #1 New York Times bestsellers, millions of readers have discovered Harlan Coben’s page-turning thrillers, filled with his trademark edge-of-your-seat suspense and gut-wrenching emotion. In Fool Me Once, Coben once again outdoes himself.

Former special ops pilot Maya, home from the war, sees an unthinkable image captured by her nanny cam while she is at work: her two-year-old daughter playing with Maya’s husband, Joe—who had been brutally murdered two weeks earlier. The provocative question at the heart of the mystery: Can you believe everything you see with your own eyes, even when you desperately want to? To find the answer, Maya must finally come to terms with deep secrets and deceit in her own past before she can face the unbelievable truth about her husband—and herself.

 

 

Which book are you reading now or about to start?

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution.  Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are appreciated.