Tell No One: A Novel

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars | 23,726 ratings

Price: 1.99

Last update: 01-30-2025


About this item

For Dr. David Beck, the loss was shattering. And every day for the past eight years, he has relived the horror of what happened. The gleaming lake. The pale moonlight. The piercing screams. The night his wife was taken. The last night he saw her alive.

Everyone tells him it's time to move on, to forget the past once and for all. But for David Beck, there can be no closure. A message has appeared on his computer, a phrase only he and his dead wife know. Suddenly Beck is taunted with the impossible—that somewhere, somehow, Elizabeth is alive.

Beck has been warned to tell no one. And he doesn't. Instead, he runs from the people he trusts the most, plunging headlong into a search for the shadowy figure whose messages hold out a desperate hope.

But already Beck is being hunted down. He's headed straight into the heart of a dark and deadly secret—and someone intends to stop him before he gets there.

From the Publisher

Jeffrey Deaver says, “Suspense at its finest.”

Lisa Scottoline says, “A can’t-put-it-down-page-turner.”

Iris Johansen says, “A thriller of runaway tension.”


Top reviews from the United States

  • Elizabeth du Fresne
    5.0 out of 5 stars You Should Tell Everyone to Read Tell No One
    Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2024
    Harlan Cohen is always good. This is one of his best. I cannot imagine a reader who would not compulsively read it to the end as fast as possible. A great convoluted plot. Characters you care about gradually the more intensely increasing tension and momentum. Any hint of the plot would.need spoilers which I hate in a review. So simply -- read it! Now!
  • AJ Holmes
    4.0 out of 5 stars Great read!
    Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2024
    This was a nice mystery/thriller with a steady pace that held my attention throughout. Dr. Beck, after losing his wife, and eight years later, receiving an email that could have only been sent by her, is on a mission to prove she's alive, and find out what happened eight years ago when she was murdered.
  • Elizabeth Horton-Newton, Author
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read Roller Coaster of Suspense
    Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2019
    Harlan Coben is easily one of my favorite mystery writers. He has a knack for building suspense from the beginning of his books and building the tension until it’s almost unbearable. Tell No One is a perfect example of this skill. From the first page the reader knows something bad is going to happen. Even as Coben weaves a strand of romance through his introduction of Dr. David Beck and his wife Elizabeth as they go for an anniversary drive, there is an underlying note of danger that will make you hold your breath.
    As David remembers their thirteenth anniversary, glimmers of warning shift into the memories. By the end of the first chapter the foundation of the tale. I already felt as though I knew the happy couple. The story picks up eight years later as Dr. Beck cares for his patients in a low-income neighborhood. He’s everyone’s dream of a good guy, a doctor who cares more about his patients than making big bucks. He’s the kind of character you root for from the beginning. And when he is thrust into situations where painful memories are rejuvenated you ache for him.
    The good doctor starts receiving mysterious e-mails and they send him into a tail spin. Although warned to tell no one, he is desperate to talk about the bizarre occurrences. Is his beloved wife Elizabeth alive or is someone playing a terrible and cruel joke on him? And who can he trust?
    This is a brilliantly woven tale of dark secrets, deadly misunderstandings, and a love that won’t die. Even when things seem most bleak, David hangs on by a thread, desperate to believe Elizabeth has survived. But why has she been hiding for eight years and why won’t she come out now?
    Most people have favorite characters in the books they read. While all the characters in this book have solid personalities, my favorite is Tyrese Barton. The only thing I’ll say about him is he reminds me a lot of guys I knew growing up in New York City. I think Coben must know the people in the neighborhood where I was raised, and I thank him for representing Tyrese with a raw honesty that gives a genuine picture of New York “gangstas”.
    There is a delightful twist at the end of the book that I confess took me completely by surprise. There was a secret hinted at throughout the book and I believed I had figured it out. But Coben tricked me again and I’m grateful.
    Mystery lovers, readers who need suspense with the flavor of reality, and the kind of tension that makes you clench your teeth and stay awake all night reading, need to grab a copy of this book and settle in for a ride down a dark and dirty road.
  • Wendy Bowman
    5.0 out of 5 stars Oh goodness!!!
    Reviewed in the United States on July 18, 2024
    I shouldn't be surprised at all! Harlan Cohen always gets me.
    This story grabs you from the get go. I usually have to stick around through some chapters before I can connect dots but by chapter five those dots start connecting.
    The absolute love and dedication Dr. Beck has for his dead wife is a great love story! One that holds him over for 8 years, until he finds out the truth on that fateful night, and can move forward with his life.
    At the end of every chapter feels like a commercial break before turning g the page for the next chapter.
    WONDERFUL!!!!!
  • L. Quido
    4.0 out of 5 stars Be careful with Harlan Coben...
    Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2001
    If you are a fan of his prior series' featuring the sports hero Myron Bolitar, you will probably like this book, but be a little wistful at some of the missing elements as he changes genre. Bolitar is the hero of 7 prior novels that fall in the "Comic Mystery Thriller" category populated by Lawrence Sanders, Lawrence Block and Janet Evanovich. Characterizations in the Bolitar books are so over the top that they make you giggle, even as you are consumed in a pace so fast that you finish the book without taking time to get a snack. Conversation is witty and cynical and you wonder if the author was a stand up comedian in a prior life. When looking for a beach book or just a great read to get over the rest of the stress, Coben is a hero to most.
    So, "Tell No One" is a big departure, and only Shauna, Tyrese & Eric Wu, supporting characters in the story, will remind you that this is Coben. If you loved "Tell No One", be prepared that you may find Coben's earlier books too light for your taste, if you believe a thriller is a thriller and any comic touches are just wasted words.
    Only 2 things hold "Tell No One" back from a five star rating. Coben's hero, his weaving of a tale of romance and familial loyalty, his pace and his ability to leave you guessing as his plot twists and turns are terrific! His cops are believable and admirable and his hero spins in every direction when discovering how easily he has been duped about the murder of his wife and how he has incredibly passed 8 years since her murder in absolute ignorance.
    The 2 things: The final unveiling of the murderer was one twist too many...we could have left the tale much more enthusiastically without it. And, the dust jacket is horrific and looks as though a middle school child covered his English text in something his mom brought home. Small things. Tell No One might be the most exciting book you read this year!

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