Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings

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 a book I just finished reading, Run Away by Harlan Coben.  The excerpts shared are from a hardcover version borrowed from the library.

  

Beginning:  Chapter One

Simon sat on a bench in Central Park--in Strawberry Fields, to be more precise--and felt his heart shatter.  No one could tell, of course, at least not at first, ot until the punches started flying and two tourists from Finland of all places started screaming while nine other park visitors from a wide variety of countries caught the whole horrible incident on smart-phone video.

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Page 56:  "Stop."  She held up her palm.  "You're embarrassing yourself.  We all know how my client knows Aaron Corval.  Let's pretend you've already lulled Mr. Greene and myself into a state of relaxation with your insightful albeit obvious interrogation techniques.  We are putty in your hand, Detective, so let's cut to it, okay?"

 

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My thoughts:  When their drug-addicted daughter Paige goes missing, the Greenes will stop at nothing to find her.  But their search will uncover deep secrets and desperate actions that, when revealed, will either bring the family closer together or tear them apart.

This latest stand-alone from Harlan Coben is gritty and fast-paced.

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From Goodreads:  A perfect family is shattered in RUN AWAY, the new thriller from the master of domestic suspense, Harlan Coben.

You've lost your daughter.

She's addicted to drugs and to an abusive boyfriend. And she's made it clear that she doesn't want to be found.

Then, by chance, you see her playing guitar in Central Park. But she's not the girl you remember. This woman is living on the edge, frightened, and clearly in trouble.

You don't stop to think. You approach her, beg her to come home.

She runs.

And you do the only thing a parent can do: you follow her into a dark and dangerous world you never knew existed. Before you know it, both your family and your life are on the line. And in order to protect your daughter from the evils of that world, you must face them head on.

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This Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the blog, bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution. Sharing this original post on Twitter with appropriate recognition is appreciated.