The master of the plot twist, Harlan Coben, has done it again in his newest thriller. The Woods tells the story of Paul Copeland, a man whose life hasn’t been the same since he was a teenage camp counselor and his sister and three others disappeared in the woods. One body was found; the other three, including Paul’s sister, were never found but presumed dead.

Years later, Paul is a successful prosecutor with a young daughter. Though his beloved wife has died of cancer, Paul is still relatively happy in his life—until his past comes back to haunt him. A homicide victim is found, and connections to Paul are made. When he goes to see the body, he can’t believe his eyes. The victim is one of the boys who disappeared in the woods with his sister, now an adult. As Paul begins to investigate, he starts turning up more secrets from his past—and comes across the possibility that his sister may not have died in the woods all those years ago.

With page-turning novels such as The Innocent, Just One Look and Promise Me under his belt, as well as the popular Myron Bolitar mysteries, Harlan Coben is one of the most widely respected thriller writers working today. The Woods will do nothing but add to that reputation. Like all of his books, his newest novel is nearly impossible to put down. Every chapter contains a new twist that keeps you feverishly reading to figure out what happens, and very rarely does Coben disappoint with loose ends or cop-out endings. The only real drawback to Coben’s books are his less-than-engaging main characters. The protagonists from each book all seem to be interchangeable with each other and never really make an impact. Though his plots are certainly good enough to keep readers coming back without having a well-drawn main character, it would certainly help the readers to become emotionally invested in his books if there were.

If you’ve got a free day, you should pick up one of Coben’s thrillers as you’ll likely want to read it from cover to cover with no interruptions. Though his Bolitar novels are decent, his stand-alone books are much more satisfying. The Woods is one of his best yet.