Sunday, May 23, 2010

Caught.... by Harlan Coben

This book contains so many twists that I just kept reading every free bit of time I had. Took me 2 days, made possible cos I spent almost an hour at the gym on Friday! Wouldn't be possible if I had gone swimming. 8) So, it was 30 minutes of solid reading while I worked the treadmill!

I was just doing a count of the books on my Ipod just now. I have 54 books on it now! 54 books would probably take up 2 shelves in a cupboard. Yet technology has enabled us to carry this many.... in a little gadget which fits very snugly into my pocket and I still have room for many more. But at this rate, I'm going to have to delete some. It's hard scrolling down to search for a title even at present.... even though I put mine into collections of 'Read' and 'Not Read' for easy reference.

Caught... a novel of our times; with supporting roles from the web, viral marketing of the worst kind, blogs and emails. The novel centres around a TV reporter Wendy Tynes who got an anonymous email tip to investigate a suspected pedophile who works among kids. Then an enraged parent of a child took the law into his hands and 'kill' the suspected pedophile. Along the way, a 17 year-old goody two shoes teenager went missing. The suspected pedophile is believed have murdered her. The plot is rather well 'engineered'.

All throughout the novel, there seem this theme about the need to let go. Let go so that one can move on, forgive... we get consumed by the things we cannot let go. It matters not how smart, rich or well-educated you may be. The past coming back to haunt as a result of not being able to let go is central in this novel. And also justice be seen at the end... one is also prompted to think about the gray areas... do we compromise or maintain the balance (no matter how 'wrong' it feels sometimes) by making sure the rule of law is maintained.

The novel is captivating enough... for me to be impatient enought to want to know what's next. Else, it would have taken more than 2 days.... No 22 and this is only May. I am still averaging slightly over 4 books a month. Yay!

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