No Second Chance

For my first choice read book this year I am reading No Second Chance by Harlan Coben. I really enjoy the books and genre that Harlan Coben writes. I don't like boring stories with lots of filler, but Coben is able to write exciting and suspenseful novels that you can't put down. The first sentence of the the book is the hook, it starts with the statement, "When the first bullet hit my chest". The beginning of the novel opens with the main character Dr. Marc Seidman being shot in his home. All he can think about is his baby daughter Tara as he bleeds out. When he wakes up he is in the hospital, his memory is fuzzy, and he is dying to find out what has happened. A man who Seidman doesn't know tells him he was shot twice, one bullet grazed his head and the other entered his chest and nicked his heart and is given no more details. The man introduces himself as Detective Reagan and asks him more questions. Marc is irretated and demands to know what happened to his family. The dectective tells him that his wife Monica is dead, his infant daughter has been kidnapped, and she's been missing for twelve days.


While in the hospital Marc has a few visiter including his mother and his best friend Lenny and his wife. Dective Reagan comes back and asks Seidman when was the last time he saw his sister, Stacey. He tells Reagan six months ago when his daughter was born, because she used drugs and he wouldn't let her see Tara until she was clean. Reagan explains to him that they found her prints at his house and she had never been there because Marc had only bought the house four months ago, which makes her a suspect. After he gets out of the hospital he goes to the Portman estate to go to Monica's grave and to visit with Edgar, Monica's father, because he wanted to see him. Edgar shows him a ransom letter that says, "We know the Portmans' are rich, we want two million dollars, for the baby. If you notify the police we disappear". Edgar gives Marc a duffle bag filled with two million dollars and told him to get her back.


After that Marc goes back home, to where his wife was murdered, with the bag. He doesn't know if he should tell the police and talks with Lenny. Marc ends up telling Detective Reagan and undercover police trail Marc to the drop at Garden State Plaza. After being parked for a few hours, Marc gets a call from the kidnappers telling him to drive to a place where they can tell if the cops are with him. He drives and gets to the new spot and gives the money to a shadey guy with a van. The guy sees the detectives coming around and says now we'll disappear. The guy disappears with the money and Marc doesn't have his daughter. Marc becomes very sad now knowing that his daughter is still missing. When Marc gets home Detective Reagan asks him if he can think of anywhere that his sister might be hiding. Marc remebers his late grandfather's cabin in the middle of the woods where him and Stacey would go during the summer, and that she loved to be there. They rush to cabin and find Stacey dead of an overdose on the ground. They also find a play pen and the outfit Tara was wearing the day she was kidnapped.