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  • The Woods

  • Written by: Harlan Coben
  • Narrated by: Scott Brick
  • Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (201 ratings)

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The Woods cover art

The Woods

Written by: Harlan Coben
Narrated by: Scott Brick
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Publisher's Summary

NOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES!

The bestselling author and creator of the hit Netflix drama The Stranger takes listeners into the heart of family loyalty in this twisty thriller that proves that the darkest secrets are often closest to home.

Paul Copeland, a New Jersey county prosecutor, is still grieving the loss of his sister twenty years ago - the night she walked into the woods, never to be seen again. But now, a homicide victim is found with evidence linking him to the disappearance. The victim could be the boy who vanished along with Paul's sister. And, as hope rises that his sister could still be alive, dangerous secrets from his family's past threaten to tear apart everything Paul has been trying to hold together....

©2007 Harlan Coben (P)2007 Brilliance Audio

What the critics say

“[The Woods] might just be the best thing Coben has written...A gripping story, filled with fine characters and dark secrets.” - Chicago Sun Times

“A lively, fast-moving entertainment, jam packed with the bizarre plot twists that are his stock in trade.” - The Washington Post

“Another surprising and emotional story that will remain with the reader long after the last page is finished. One of Coben’s best.” - Library Journal 

What listeners say about The Woods

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Performance
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Story
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Quality of recording not what I have come to expect

I agree with reviews which enjoyed the story but found it to be implausible. The beginning of the book was captivating. Overall, my review is about the poor sound quality. While I enjoyed the change for any phone call dialogue, there was a tinniness to the sound which is unusual in Audible books.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The Woods

Narrator sometimes sounded like a man in drag with the women's characters. Overall an enjoyable story.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Distracted by the author

The performer was fine.
This was my first Harlan Coben and the pervasive misogyny, homophobia, racism was not part of the plot, just part of the author/narrator's world view. This book is offensive and seems oblivious to that, which makes it unpalatable. Saying stuff like, "I know you can't just say _(stereotype)________, but in this case __(example of stereotype in a character)_____" does not make the offensive idea ok. I was looking for a new thriller author to overwinter with but this will be my last HC.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • cj
  • 2021-04-26

Pulls you in quickly.

Easy to read, well performed, the voices suited the character, less so for those with accents but those are never easy to carry off. I appreciated the multifaceted story line, it wasn’t one dimensional, displayed depth of character quickly. Not your run of the mill murder mystery though ending isn’t a total surprise. Will be looking more of this authors books.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Horrible

I cannot get by the Frasier Crane sounding narrator and the poor quality audio recording. Not my experience with this author in the past or any audible recording. Very disappointed.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Nice Combination Of Courtroom Drama & Suspense

This book simultaneously follows two crime plotlines: the prosecution of a pair of entitled frat-boy rapists and a twisty-turny tale involving long-thought-dead victims showing up alive, duplicity, and jaw-dropping family secrets. Harlan Coben does a very nice job plotting a pair of keep-you-guessing mysteries.. but has difficulty melding the two plotlines smoothly and introduces some straight-up silly action elements around the climax.
Fortunately, the feeling that some plot threads & events are "shoehorned" into the narrative isn't overwhelming. Rather, Coben's storytelling ingenuity makes it remarkably easy to set aside reservations and simply enjoy this entertaining - if imperfect - "beach-read".

Likewise fortuitous, the narration from Scott Brick is "more than capable". He exhibits his typical spot-on diction and tone - and a cadence & timbre characteristically improved by setting playback speed at 1.15X  - but his voice-acting is particularly noteworthy on this project (distinctive, emotive, and largely avoiding injudicious accents).
Where the recording falls apart is in the annoying overuse of voice modulation for dialogue over the telephone (a *lot* in this book) and inadequate sound editing from Brilliance Audio (allowing uncomfortably loud segments to remain untouched).
Altogether, the performance is well above-average.. but the production is unspectacular in terms of quality.

Taken in toto, I very much enjoyed this 8.5/10 star recording of 'The Woods'. Can recommend.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

RIVETING!!!

So glad I stumbled across this gem of a novel. It had my attention right from the beginning, strangle-hold straight through the middle and left me gasping at the end. The twists, turns and ride will leave your head spinning. Scott Brick never fails to pull together the characters and this author has one more huge fan!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great

Loved the whole story, characters were very interesting. Harlan Coben is a terrific writer and I enjoy all his books.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good story

Story is well done. Narrator sounds like he's doing the presentation inside of a tin can with a stage mic. He does a good job, just could've had better audio equipment

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great listen!!

Fantastic story! I enjoyed it and it made me look for more titles by this author

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Barry S. Sharpnack
  • 2008-05-27

Coben's worst I've read

Unfortunately, for those who have read this book as their first Harlan Coben book, I highly recommend reading any of his other standalone thriller, like "Hold Tight", "No Second Chance", "Gone for Good", and "Tell No One". These are all some of the best thrillers I have read.
However, this book, "The Woods", tends to spin in place. It's an attempt at a legal thriller, but without the excitement of Coben's other books. It is SLOW and tedious, and repetitive. The narration is ok, but even Scott Brick couldnt save this one.
It isnt a bad book, but it is not even close to the excitement and interest of Coben's other novels.
If you a re new to Harlan Coben, I would highly recommend any of the books I listed above, especially "Hold Tight".
Avoid "The Woods".

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103 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Ed
  • 2008-05-31

Good, but not Coben's best

This book suffered on two fronts. First, it ranked low on the plausibility scale. There were too many dots that needed connecting and miraculously became connected. Second, the penultimate climax to the book was delivered in a mundane and non-dramatic style. It was akin to Coben simply providing a listing of tied-up loose ends. The actual conclusion to the book rescued some of this. Despite these failings, the book still entertained. Coben is a gifted storyteller and even something less than his best can still keep you listeneing. Scott Brick did his usual excellent job of reading and the sound engineers gave us a new wrinkle: the other end of phone conversations were modified to sound just like that -- the other end of phone conversations. The electronic manipulation did not detract from the clarity of the spoken word and removed any doubt as to who was speaking. Brick is good enough to read without this aid and I think the jury will remain out on this new technique. If you are a fan of Coben you will probably enjoy this book. If this is the first Coben book you listen to, then you might not be persuaded to try another. Do so.

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81 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Ted
  • 2013-02-24

WHOA! This was totally good!

Disguised as a mystery/thriller/courtroom drama, damn if this isn't a full bodied novel... LITERATURE! Hey, that's sneaky. But Coben has such power to plot and develop characters that he's created a vehicle to investigate both the cultural glue of family and the fragility of hope in the face of fear.

Gotta admit that Scott Brick, who I've criticized in the past for the portentention of his presentations – has burst through that single dimension and justified for me the esteem which many of his fans express.

This is both an entertaining and THOUGHTFUL read. I'm a Coben fan, but this is one of his best (so far... I started with his earliest and now I'm off to read more).

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70 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Daniel McAfee
  • 2008-08-25

Pleasant Surprise

I didn't really have this one on my hit list, but when I saw it was on sale, I thought I'd give it a shot because it had good reviews.

This a real good book!

I thought there might be a few more twists and turns than there actually were, but I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Sometimes authors lose hold and ruin a story by twisting it to the point of being absurd - that didn't happen here.

The only knock I can think of is the narrator, Scott Brick. I find him sappy and overly melodramatic when he shouldn't be. He wasn't as bad in this one as he sometimes is, and he didn't really detract too much from a good listen.

Overall, big thumbs up!

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62 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Anne F.
  • 2009-07-14

How did this one become an Essential??

I hadn't planned to review this but when I saw it on the Essentials list I had to. If I'd heard the words "I said nothing" one more time I would have vomited. The book is long and I didn't like any of the characters - they are all jerks or sad sacks, no one to really root for. Coben is a decent but not great mystery writer and this was only mediocre. Too many twists and turns and then I guessed the "surprise" ending long before it was revealed. I kept at it just to get to the end, but it was torture at times and I could hardly wait to get on to another story.

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49 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Puppyluver
  • 2008-10-29

Great listen

Well read, as always, by Scott Brick, this is a story of heartbreaking loss and strength of spirit in the midst of tragedy beyond belief for this young man. The many twists and turns, and the court drama that is also intertwined bring us to a very satisfying ending as it leaves nothing open-ended. While it took some time to get my mind around all the sadness, I still found myself unable to stop listening to find out what "really happened 20 years ago?" Recommend highly.

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29 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
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  • R. Pontiflet
  • 2015-02-04

Suspend Disbelief and Enjoy

The Audible description of this novel is good. I thought the story had good suspense. Overall, I think the storyline will certainly appeal to some and but to not others. Primarily because I think the focus and suspenseful parts of the story are cloaked in cultural practices and therefore more readily understood by some and not by others. It took me a minute to "get over it" and just suspend disbelief. While I had to suspend my disbelief way beyond the "outer limits" and into "twilight zone" somewhere, the story was entertaining albeit sometimes slow, churning and monotonous.

Scott Brick performs this novel at his usual best.

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Rob
  • 2008-06-01

You can't loose with this one!

What a great story!. I couldn't wait to get back to listening to it. I ususally just listen in my car during my commute, but this time I was listening to it when I got home. Great characters and an excellent 2nd story line(kind of Law&Order like). Just when you think you figured it out, they give another twist. You can't loose with this one. And last but not least, it's Scott Brick doing the reading and he just makes it even better.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Johnnie Walker
  • 2008-06-24

80% Believable

I gave this 4 out of 5 stars because the first 80% of the book was interesting. The last 20% was just too bizarre.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Chris
  • 2008-05-17

melodrama to the max

This is a pretty good story. However, the authors style is very melodramatic - too much so for my taste. i did not hate this book, however, I will not download another by this author soon.

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12 people found this helpful