I Will Find You by Harlan Coben

Published by Grand Central Publishing on March 14, 2023

I Will Find You sounds like a line from a movie delivered with threatening force by Liam Neeson or with understated assurance by Daniel Day Lewis. The unfortunate title aside, I Will Find You is a creative marriage of the “missing child” thriller and the “wrongly accused prisoner” story.

David Burroughs didn’t put up much of a defense when he was accused of taking a bat to his three-year-old son’s face and literally beating his brains out. David’s wife Cheryl was working the night shift at a hospital. All David recalls is drinking too much, passing out, and waking up to find Matthew’s unrecognizable body. He has no recollection of committing the crime, but he blames himself for not protecting his son and feels he deserves a life in prison. Nor does he recall burying the bat in his yard, despite his neighbor’s testimony that she saw him do it.

David is five years into his bit when Rachel, his former sister-in-law, visits him for the first time. She shows David a photograph taken at an amusement park. In the background is an eight-year-old kid who has Matthew’s distinctive facial birthmark. Could David have been framed for a murder he didn’t commit and, if so, who is the dead kid in his bedroom?

That’s a reasonably good thriller premise despite the holes that keep the story from being a smooth ride. It’s no less plausible than the average modern thriller, meaning not very plausible at all. Harlen Coben overcomes those problems by keeping the story in motion, leaving the reader with little time to say, “Hey, wait a minute.” Coben makes a valiant and reasonably clever attempt to explain the mystery while tying up most of the loose ends.

Naturally, David needs to bust out of prison, a problem that becomes more urgent after one of the guards tries to kill him. It seems that someone wants David to die before he learns the truth. Fortunately, the break-out isn’t difficult, thanks to the happy coincidence that the warden is David’s godfather. The warden isn’t convinced that Matthew is still alive but he also doesn’t want David to be murdered in prison.

David is assisted in his version of the search for a one-armed man by Rachel, the only other person who believes Matthew is still alive. Rachel has some baggage of her own, having sacrificed her career as a journalist by pushing a rape victim to tell her story, leading to a regrettable result. Cheryl has remarried and doesn’t want to think about Matthew, leading to a confrontation between the two troubled siblings.

Starting with the woman who testified about the buried bat, David and Rachel move from clue to clue. The plot twists nicely when David realizes that finding the person who framed him won’t necessarily help him find the kidnapper.

Harlan Coben’s standalone novels tend to be hit or miss with me. About half are misses. Constant motion, adequate attention to characterization, and clever plotting move I Will Find You into the hit category. David never actually says “I will find you,” making it unnecessary to decide whether Neeson or Lewis should play his part if the book is filmed.

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