★★★★½
Harlan Coben has built his career on the foundation of jaw-dropping twists and propulsive plotting, but “Lazarus” feels like something more—a meditation on identity, grief, and the impossibility of escaping your past wrapped inside a heart-pounding thriller.
The premise hooks you immediately: a man believed dead for twenty years suddenly reappears, throwing the lives of those who mourned him into chaos. Coben uses this resurrection not just as a plot device but as a lens to examine how we construct our lives around loss and what happens when the ground beneath those constructions crumbles. The emotional stakes feel genuinely high, which isn’t always the case in thrillers that prioritize plot mechanics over character depth.
What sets “Lazarus” apart from Coben’s extensive backlist is the restraint he exercises. Yes, there are still his signature twists—and when they land, they land with devastating precision—but he allows scenes to breathe, lets characters sit with their confusion and pain. The pacing is deliberate without ever feeling slow, building tension through psychological pressure rather than just external danger.
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The mystery itself is elegantly constructed, with clues that feel fair in retrospect but never obvious in the moment. Coben plays with expectations, setting up what appears to be one type of story before revealing the deeper, darker currents running underneath. The final act delivers the emotional and narrative payoff the setup promises.
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If there’s a weakness, it’s that some secondary characters feel slightly underwritten compared to the main players, existing more to serve the plot than as fully realized individuals. But this is a minor quibble in a novel that otherwise fires on all cylinders.
“Lazarus” reminds us why Coben remains one of the most reliable names in suspense fiction. He’s taken a familiar thriller trope—the person who wasn’t really dead—and crafted something that feels fresh, emotionally resonant, and impossible to put down. For longtime fans and newcomers alike, this is Coben at his most assured.