The boy from the woods was a disappointment for me. Coben added so much unnecessary content and several storylines that it left me bored in the middle of the book. My biggest problem was that I never knew where The boy from the woods came from it is as if the author had forgotten and was distracted by writing predictable and unnecessary details to the story.
Harlen Coben is a tremendous author, so even if I didn't like this book, I will probably pick up the next one.
I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I've read other books by Coben, so I thought I knew what to expect, but this wasn't one of my favorites. The mystery was just okay.

I did like Hester. I loved how she hasn't lost touch with her roots, even with all life's thrown at her. I liked Matthew, as well. However, there were a lot of unnecessary details, which slowed things down and really made me wonder why they hadn't been edited out. The profanity was unnecessary, as well. There were some loose ends, but perhaps there will be a sequel.

I love Harlan Coben. I look forward to his new releases every year and be never disappoints. This thriller is fantastic and a must read!

Go to author. A master of the genre that keeps getting better. Page Turing and enjoyable! Hard to believe that Harlan keeps getting better and better

I am Harlan Coben's biggest fan. But this wasn't my favorite. I love that it featured a character that was not in previous books--here is a hint to more coming! And I love how other characters were included. However, on page one it started and didn't stop. It needed a build up. It threw me right into the story that I didn't get a chance to...prepare? Get to know characters and the setting? It was just okay for me.

Time and time again, Coben produces books that are thrilling, suspenseful, humorous, and down-right compelling. TBFTW was no exception. I inhaled the pages in this book like it was air. While Coben’s newest is a stand-alone novel, he inserts characters (𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰, 𝘏𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯) and catch-phrases (𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦!) from past books that readers can enjoy like old friends. Every time I read a Harlan book, I fall in love with the characters - the good, the bad, and the ugly. Their personalities are always so well-developed that I honestly forget that they’re fictional. This is exactly the case in 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐘 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝗪𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐒. Wilde, a man who likes to keep to himself, but won’t shy away from a fellow human in need, and Hester, the fiercest and most fabulous female lead, help to make up a sensational story. The twists are huge and the turns keep on coming. I promise you won’t put this book down once you start.⁣
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Enough gushing, Paige. What’s this book about? Well, it’s multi-faceted just like all of Coben’s novels! Wilde, a man from a NJ town who was found living alone in the woods as a child and Hester, a powerful criminal defense attorney team up to find out what happened to a young girl who seemingly disappeared out of thin air. As the saying goes, things aren’t always as they seem. There are bigger issues at play and there are always more powerful people who will go to any length to keep their secrets private.⁣

✨✨✨✨ 1/2
Thirty years ago,Wilde was found as a little boy living in New Jersey backwoods by himself with no memory of how he got there and no knowledge of who he was. He is now a security expert and prefers living alone. Wilde is contacted by Hester Crimstein, a television criminal attorney to find Naomi Pines, a victim of bullying at school. With very few leads to follow things start escalating fast when another kid goes missing and a severed finger arrives in a box

The Boy from the Woods is a standalone novel by author Harlan Coben. This is another action packed thriller with lots of twists & turns will keep you hooked to the end.I hope this is the start of a new series

I would like to thank Grand Central Publishing & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

The Boy From the Woods was my first read from Harlan Coben and certainly won't be my last, I loved it!

I listened to the audiobook mostly and found myself doing extra chores around the house so I could find out what happens next.

The book starts out with Hester Crimstein, a famous defense attorney, hosting her talk show. Her grandson, Matthew, visits and asks her to look into a missing classmate of his. Little does she know that it starts something so much bigger and she pulls in Matthew's godfather, Wilde.

Wilde had a fascinating story, found as a child who had been living in the woods. Nobody knows where he came from or who he belongs to. Wilde lives a unique life and has a special set of military and investigative skills that Hester puts to use in tracking down Matthew's classmate. When one teen is found, another goes missing and Wile gets pulled into something much darker, creating a thriller I didn't want to put down!

The Boy from the Woods is a fun, fast read, perfect for lounging on the couch or the beach chair. The titular character, Wilde, was found living in the woods as a young boy, with no memory of his past. Now as an adult, he is asked to help investigate the disappearance of a local teenage boy who was last seen going into the same woods. The missing boy's parents are close friends with the frontrunner for the U.S. presidency, and may or may not possess video that would destroy his campaign. The boy may have been kidnapped for ransom, or he may have just run off with a girl from school. Evidence points strongly to neither. Political intrigue and dysfunctional family dynamics cross-cross during very twisty investigation. The plot moves briskly, with more than a few surprises. The characters, are well-fleshed out, and for the most part, likeable.
Subtracted one star for a romance subplot that was unnecessary, and cringey.

Thank You NetGalley, Publisher & Author for this gifted E-Book!

Summary
The man known as Wilde is a mystery to everyone, including himself. Decades ago, he was found as a boy living feral in the woods, with no memory of his past. After the police concluded an exhaustive hunt for the child's family, which was never found, he was turned over to the foster system.

Now, thirty years later, Wilde still doesn't know where he comes from, and he's back living in the woods on the outskirts of town, content to be an outcast, comfortable only outdoors, preferably alone, and with few deep connections to other people.

Review
I really love Coben's books. As always this was a fun, fast paced, exciting thriller.
This was full of twist and turns. I just loved it.
The characters were amazing, the plot enjoyable, the ending was fabulous.
And I look forward to another book written by him..
Rating- 4/5

The story was not what I expected based on the title and description of the book. That said, this was a typical Harlan Coben mystery, full of interesting characters, storylines, and twists. It even has some political drama. If we weren’t already living with Trumpism, the politics of this book would seem too far-fetched.

“The boy from the woods’ is now a grown man named Wilde. When Wilde was a boy he was left in the woods by someone. He has no memory of his family or how he ended up in the woods. Fast forward thirty years later. Two teenagers go missing from the same area Wilde was found. Wilde and a criminal defense attorney named Hester help investigate the disappearance at the request of Hester’s grandson, Matthew, who happens to be classmates of the missing teenagers. Wilde and Hester have been close for years, and the author does a good job of providing the complicated history of their relationship.

All of the storylines and characters come together near the end of the book. As with any mystery, there is some level of predictability, but this book also has a few surprises. I was disappointed that a central question remained unanswered. I was equally disappointed by the final chapter of the book. Perhaps the unanswered question and the final chapter are indicative of sequel. If so, the sequel would be another Harlan Coben book I’d like to read. Overall, this was a good book. Not great in the way I’ve come to expect from Coben, but good.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and to NetGalley for affording me this free ARC. This book was captivating. I had a hard time putting it down. Each time I thought I might have figured the storyline out,, the plot twisted and I was on a new trail. I was especially captivated by Wilde and can’t wait to read the next book in this (I hope) series.
#NetGalley
#GrandCentralPublishing
#HarlenCoben

This was a quick, thrilling read. I liked how Wilde's backstory was woven throughout the current mystery. The "hidden tapes" detail is a good story line. I did find the ending was a tad unbelievable and convenient, but the overall book was great. Recommended.

I love Harlan Coben. He knows how to write and this book was written to perfection! I read it in one sitting because I couldn't put it down. He is my absolute favorite & I devour every word he has ever written. This book was amazing!!

I have read several Harlan Coben books and I usually enjoy his stories. He has the ability to write stories that are full of action with great twists and plots that keep me on the edge of my seat. That was not the case with this one. First of all, there were just so many plots here: Wilde being left in the woods as a child, the death of Hester's son, second chance at love, US politics, missing kids . . . and I have to say that I didn't really care for any of them. There was so much happening and the author just went from story to story without fully developing any of them, so I didn't really care. It was the same with the characters. None of them were developed at all, so I didn't feel connected to ANY of them. The title came from the fact that Wilde had been discovered in the woods when he was younger. I fully expected something to be done with that and maybe some mystery around his identity would be connected to the kids somehow. No such luck though. I will say that the end had a few twists that I didn't see coming and another one that was fairly predictable. I had to force myself to finish this one and I probably wouldn't have bothered, if not for the fact that it was an ARC.

Thank you to Grand Central and Netgalley for the eARC of this Harlan Coben thriller.

There are a lot of plots and subplots lurking throughout The Boy from the Woods. There are so many that I'm not quite sure what even is the main plot.

Surely it's something to do with the titular "boy from the woods," who is named, yes, Wilde, after having been found in the forest of far northern New Jersey near the New York border, and who is also ex-military and a private investigator?

Or is it a missing girl, a classmate of the grandson of defense attorney Hester Crimstein? Or is it the also-missing son of a reality-tv producer who just happens to work with a Trump-like figure who is running for president and may have a few skeletons in his past?

I'm not sure it even matters. I was only satisfied with perhaps the way that two of these threads resolved, and I still thought it was a decent ride, even if I could do without the final chapter entirely.

3.5 stars

This was an engaging read with lots going on to keep the pace moving. I really liked the character of Wilde and hope that there are future books about him so we can learn more about his past.

Loved this suspenseful book! I will be recommending it as a summer vaca read for anyone looking for something suspenseful and engaging to read.

Even when the plot is a bit wambly, reading Harlen Coben is always entertaining.
His interesting characters work together to solve the disappearance of a high school student and uncover old crimes and issues.
The boy from the woods still has murky antecedents, that is still interesting to me.

Not one of the best, a lot of extraneous stuff going on, but still a good, fun read.

There was a lot of talk around this book and author which is what drew my interest. The plot also seemed interesting and I wanted to know more about this ‘boy from the woods’. I liked the first twist in the book and was so ready to follow it for the remainder of the book, but that didn’t happen.

I felt there were many unnecessary twists and turns, side-plots and characters. It was too much to focus on. I also felt like the book was pretty unrealistic - every adult just seemed to say ‘okay’ without asking any questions. I’m confused how these adults became involved in the first place. It just seemed stretched.

I didn’t mind the book and enjoyed the writing style but couldn’t get over my dislike of the many plots and character flaws.