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YOU'RE NEXT
by Greg Hurwitz
Ballantine, August 2011
416 pages
$24.99
ISBN: 0312534914


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

In his latest book, YOU'RE NEXT, Greg Hurwitz has written the kind of thriller that really is one, that in many ways defines the genre. From start to finish, the writing, the plot, the characters and the suspense all work together to create a tale that intrigues and does not disappoint.

Mike Wingate is a successful builder, a happily married family man with a great wife and daughter. Although he had been abandoned as a small child and raised in a difficult foster home, all is now good for him. Then something goes terribly wrong with his ecologically green construction project. He is forced to lie and to accept an award that he knows he does not deserve. Soon after this, he and his family become targets. Some nefarious characters begin stalking him and threatening the people he loves. He is sure that this is related to what he has done with his business, but how could it be? Everyone is at risk, and Mike is forced to reopen painful chapters of his life that he had thought were closed forever.

Mike must convince the authorities of the reality of this threat, but the police seem to be against him. He finds out that he is on some sort of wanted list. There is no one in his present life he can trust. For help, he must go back to his murky past and contact Shep, a man Mike thought he would never see again, a foster brother from his youth who has become a hardened criminal. Mike must protect his family and in order to do this he must search for the truth about who he really is, something he cannot do alone. In order to figure out what is happening to him, he must find out what happened to his parents, who they really were, and why his father abandoned him.

As with many thrillers, there are parts of the action and associated violence that seem over the top. There are some feats of agility or strength or, as the book says, stamina, that seem beyond a person's capabilities. But the reader can accept them and move on. Many chapters end with cliffhangers, which add to the suspense. This is the kind of book where all of the worst case scenarios seem to occur, and the writer is always upping the ante in terms of what is at risk and who may be involved, giving us a steady stream of emotional jolts. It is a satisfying book to curl up with intellectually as well, with a plausible resolution to the mystery of what occurred both in the past and the present.

Anne Corey is a writer, poet, teacher and botanical artist in New York's Hudson Valley.

Reviewed by Anne Corey, August 2011

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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