One of the hundred books a year I read:

Book 5 on my “March to 100 for 2019″—Harlan Coben: The Innocent—An ex-con rebuilding his life is dragged into a mystery threatening everything dear.

Nine years earlier, Matt Hunter tried to break-up a fight involving one of his friends but ended up killing a man. Now out of prison, he is rebuilding his life and looking forward to life as a happily married man. He has a lovely wife he adores, a child on the way, and the pending purchase of their first home.

But his happiness is shattered when he receives unexpected and shocking images from his wife’s cell phone. He tries to call her to understand what is going on, but can’t reach her and begins to suspect that she is not where she claims. Trying to understand what is happening, Matt uncovers her unrevealed past and a current series of connected deaths.

The police and FBI become interested because one of the victims, a murdered nun who turns out not to be who everyone thought, had placed a phone call to Matt’s sister-in-law shortly before her death. Was she actually calling Matt during one of his many visits to the house? Or perhaps to his wife? Or is it all just a coincidence?

The suspicion around Matt grows and his criminal past makes him a likely suspect. Will he return to prison? Or will he flee before his options are gone?

The book is a great ride with lots of twists and turns. In fairness, I think it takes one or two turns too many which makes the ending and all its revelations a bit convoluted, but the story is still a lot of fun and worth the ride.