David Burroughs, the protagonist of this disappointing standalone from bestseller Coben (the Myron Bolitar series), has been incarcerated in a Maine penitentiary for five years, convicted of murdering his three-year-old son, Matthew, by beating his head in with a baseball bat. David, who was prone to sleepwalking, has no clear memory of the fatal night. At trial, a neighbor testified that she saw him burying the murder weapon near David's Massachusetts home. The inmate's world is upended when his sister-in-law, Rachel Anderson, a disgraced investigative journalist, visits and shows David a photo taken at a Six Flags amusement park that a coworker of Rachel's ex-husband shared with her. In the background is an eight-year-old boy resembling Matthew. The possibility that his son is alive sparks a successful escape attempt, enabled by the prison warden, who's conveniently a friend of David's father, and a desperate search for the child in the picture. Oddly, David, who wasn't convicted of a federal crime, was incarcerated in a federal prison, though this circumstance allows two FBI agents to join the manhunt. Early on, scenes from the viewpoint of some conspirators lessen most of the suspense. This is far from Coben's best work. Agent: Lisa Vance, Aaron M. Priest Literary. (Mar.)

Coben's latest stand-alone thriller stars a prisoner convicted of murdering his three-year-old son five years previously. Despite overwhelming evidence, the prisoner, Burroughs, is convinced of his own innocence but too deep in grief to do anything about it. That changes when his sister-in-law visits, showing him a photo from a recent corporate event that captures a boy who looks just like Burroughs' son as he'd look at eight. Burroughs is galvanized into action, convincing the warden, the best friend of Burroughs' father (the first of many coincidences in this story), to help him escape. Burroughs' sister-in-law, luckily a former investigative journalist, also helps him once he's out. The plot moves at a furious pace, like an action movie with lots of violent encounters and breathless escapes. But, like many action movies, the thriller part works, but the mystery doesn't, leaving the reader confused on multiple scores. Too many coincidences, too many improbabilities, and too many loose ends to be entirely satisfying, but Coben's devoted fans--and there are many of them--are more interested in adrenalin than subtlety.

Following his chart-topping The Match, the Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony Award-winning Coben tells the story of a father serving life for a murder he didn't commit--that of his own son. Then he learns that his son might still be alive and must find a way to spring himself from prison to discover what's happening. With a 750,000-copy first printing.