By the short and curlies
This is one of the best of Harlan Coben's recent books. Like the others, he grabs you by the short and curlies and doesn't let you go till he's had his way with you. This little beauty has a triple ending (something it has in common with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). Like this other best seller, Caught is very conflicted about male identity and is caught in a torrent of misandry.

Coben has always taken a particular line about male/female relationships. Essentially, he is a big, macho man who loves women - they can do no wrong even when they are mass murderers. Men, however heroic, are essentially brutal beasts who deserve a good thrashing/kicking/gauging/shooting/stabbing or whatever. Coben also loves gays of either sex, predatory or hyper aggressive women and is tolerant of just about anything other than heterosexual men. Men let women down - they are nasty, violent, sexually perverse,etc. Women can do no wrong. Is this what he thinks? Does he just suck in the zeitgeist like we breathe oxygen, or is he conscious of this?

Caught answers some of these questions. For once, his hero is a woman. However, she is a woman who has made a mistake, a TV reporter who specializes in capturing predatory pedophile men (there are no women like this, of course)on camera and hauls them off to jail. Only this time, she takes down an innocent man who winds up dead. Throughout the book, no one gives the man the benefit of the doubt - despite his obvious saint-like helping of poor young people - and the heroine, NEVER pays the price for framing and ultimately, setting up the murder of an innocent man.

Caught is full of gripping scenes, twists and turns, and is hugely satisfying throughout. But it is a misandric work through and through, despite the way it wriggles around some of the questions it poses. Either Coben doesn't realize what he is doing, or he himself is Caught -in a web of delusion about the nature of men and women. If you skirt around this core, the book is a hell of a thriller. If you don't, it's a web of male identity confusion that is beyond compare. Except for the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - an even more misandric book.

Over-rated
i am not quite sure why everyone gave this so many stars, but this is a shallow story with a few predictable twists and a soppy happy ending.

Excellent
This was bought as a gift for a friend who is a huge fan of Harlan Coben and I have been told it is a really good read. Highly recommended if you like any of his other books.

Disappointing

I love Harlan Coben books, especially his Myron Bolitar books, but 'Caught' was a big disappointment. The most grating thing for me was having a female as the main character, as her style of speech (can't think of how else to describe it) was just 'off'. Sorry Harlan, but that just didn't work for me and I think you should stick to writing as a man and not try to sound like a woman! The book was too long with a ridiculously convoluted plot and I got to the point where I just didn't care how the book ended. If you haven't read a Harlan Coben book before, please don't start with this one as you probably won't read another and that would be a shame.

Caught
Having read "Dropshot" and "Gone for good" had determined to read everything else Harlen Coben has written.
"Caught" I found to be "unputdownable", just wanting to know what happens next-a great read.

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