Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Boy from the Woods: Wilde, Book 1

Top positive review

Great characters, great story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 23, 2023

This riveting thriller has a lot of moving parts. There are criminals, cover ups, rich kids acting out, and a man who was found as a boy alone in the woods with no memory of who he is or how he got there. The man, Wilde, is a Jack Reacher type of guy, and he is phenomenal. It isn't subtle, either, how the author is lecturing us about the existential dangers of following " leaders" who want nothing more than to destroy our democracy and will use deception to instill fear and distrust. I could not put it down!

2 people found this helpful

Top critical review

All critical reviews›

Not at at like the description!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 24, 2020

It pains me to write this as I’m a huge Harlan Coben fan but this book was a disappointment. I’ve read all the author’s books and my favorites of his have always been his stand alone novels. I love the mysteries in these novels about missing people and all the twists and turns I know are coming. As a voracious reader he’s always been one of the few writers who manages to stump me no matter how hard I try to stay ahead of him. That being said this novel is not what I love about those novels. At its heart this is not really a missing person novel or about the characters listed in the description. This novel is largely overshadowed by a political story that involves money and power and all that goes along with politics. I will say Coben does it better than other authors I’ve read lately have done. I’ve been annoyed to find some of my favorite mystery writers lately ruining their books with their political obsessions. I don’t think many mystery fans want to debate the merits of the president in what should be a mystery novel. To his credit the political candidate in this book that I took to be a stand in for the president turns out to be more than a caricature. Coben actually makes an excellent point about the obsessions that come with hating a political figure and what happens when the ends justify the means. I do think he wrote himself into a problem trying to make a point by allowing certain things to happen but again this is not a one sided rant as I’ve seen in other books. But unfortunately I could not find myself caring about this large part of the novel so it fell flat for me.

I really liked a lot of the characters in this book but it just didn’t have a good enough story. The novel is from the POV of Wilde, the man with the mysterious path found in the woods as a boy or Hester, the famous criminal defense attorney, and Coben uses brilliantly to showcase her role in his last book Run Away. If you’re wondering about the case mentioned at the beginning and end of the book that’s where to find out what happened with the punch that went viral. Both characters are sympathetic and interesting but unfortunately they just weren’t enough to make this novel interesting when so much of the story is overshadowed by the political element. Again this novel is not really about Naomi or Wilde’s attempt to find her. For that reason it was a disappointment and not at all what I was expecting or would have wanted to read.

346 people found this helpful

Sort by

Filter by

24,787 total ratings, 1,784 with reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From the United States

Kids RN

Great characters, great story

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 23, 2023

Verified Purchase

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Mike

Great book, great ending with one disapointing exception

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 2, 2023

Verified Purchase

This was an excellent book with one of the better endings I can ever remember.... with one exception, the ultimate person responible for an innocent person pay a huge price got away without paying any price at all (unless there is a sequel). Also, even the good guys could have righted a huge wrong, but for each for their own selfish reasons choose not to right a mysterious wrong. Sometimes the greater good needs to be sacrificed for a just outcome. Each of the primary characters choose their own greater good instead of righting a terrible wrong. Unless a sequel comes along that rights that wrong. I am very disappointed that one of the best writers today could not figure out how to right the biggest apparent wrong of the whole story.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Kindle Customer

Reminds me of a Dylan song

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 19, 2022

Verified Purchase

NJ definitely takes it on the chin in the US. Harlan Coben for some reason chose to locate Myron Bolitar there, but until this novel, he never painted a picture about why it might be better to live in New Jersey than NYC.
A few NJ rockers' lyrics bounce up in this novel, making me Google one reference to see which song it was from because I didn't remember it, and I'm not a big fan of NJ rockers. I had however, heard the song many times, and probably never understood the lyrics. Maybe there's actually a poet's heart under those words.
At the end of the novel, however, it was these lyrics from Dylan that pulled into mine:
"One more cup of coffee for the road
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
.....to the valley below."

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Kindle Customer

Awesome

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 28, 2023

Verified Purchase

I loved the moral dilemmas presented in this book. Fun to imagine how you might respond. The characters, a few familiar and some new were interesting. My only disappointment was in the reminder of how even in real life the innocent often suffer for the sins of the evil.

Helpful

Luc Charles

Quite captivating.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 22, 2023

Verified Purchase

The read keeps you interested yet not enough to
not let it down. Interesting enough to buy more of his work.
.

Helpful

Suezay51

Interesting Plot

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 12, 2023

Verified Purchase

There were lots of twists and turns in the plot, but the end didn't reveal the question always in the back of your mind. Who is this boy and where did he come from?

Helpful

Carol Lynch

Couldn’t put it down!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 21, 2022

Verified Purchase

The only words I can think of to describe this book is fascinating. There is a little bit of every emotion you could have. So many twists and turns. Lots of bad people, no one is perfect. The whole time I was reading this my thought was: I hope this becomes a series. The main characters have such personality. Much like the characters in the Myron and Win series, which is where we first meet Hester. I would love it if Wilde, who reminds me of a cross between Myron and Win, became a regular in more Harlan Coben books.

Helpful

Anita Kemp

The Best

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 15, 2023

Verified Purchase

Harlan Coben’s tales are vividly detailed action and graphic characters. However , “The Boy from the Woods” excels in every way. The weaving of our present 2022 political and social elements was brilliant. All I can say is, “more please”.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Npignatjr1951

Cohen. Always good

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 10, 2023

Verified Purchase

I have never been disappointed by Coben. This like every other book I've read is memorable, the story, the characters.

Helpful

Constance White

Fantastic

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 12, 2023

Verified Purchase

I've never left a review before, but this book deserves one, great story, memorable characters, this writer has a real way with words that keep you captivated, can't wait to read more of his books, I'm hooked.

Helpful

Questions? Get fast answers from reviewers

Need customer service? Click here

‹ See all details for The Boy from the Woods: Wilde, Book 1

5 star		60%
4 star		26%
3 star		9%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

The Boy from the Woods: Wilde, Book 1

›

Customer reviews

Customer reviews

The Boy from the Woods: Wilde, Book 1

Top positive review

Top critical review

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From the United States

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

Questions? Get fast answers from reviewers

The Boy from the Woods: Wilde, Book 1 › Customer reviews

Customer reviews

The Boy from the Woods: Wilde, Book 1

Top positive review

Top critical review

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From the United States

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

Questions? Get fast answers from reviewers

The Boy from the Woods: Wilde, Book 1

›

Customer reviews