The second story is about Haley McWaid, a seemingly near-perfect teenager who is not in her bedroom when her mother checks on her one morning. Haley goes missing for three months.

Wendy Tynes,  whose reality show is called "Caught in the Act," presents evidence in court that Mercer is a pedophile. The judge will not allow the evidence to be introduced as it resulted from Wendy entering Mercer's house illegally. When the charges are subsequently dropped and Mercer is released, Ed Grayson, a former federal marshal who is the father of another of the children Mercer allegedly molested, is enraged and approaches Wendy for help in finding Mercer who has also gone missing.

Grayson would like to bring his own brand of justice. Mercer subsequently contacts Wendy to inform her that he was set up and they arrange to meet. At the meeting, Mercer is shot by a masked man whose overall physical appearance and watchband are similar to Grayson's. When Sheriff Mickey Walker arrives, the body is missing and only small amounts of evidence are left behind, which are not enough to pursue implicating an ex-federal agent who may have murdered a pedophile.  

Meanwhile, Frank Tremont, a Columbo-like character nearing retirement, is assigned to Haley's missing person case. When he joins forces with Sheriff Walker and they discover key evidence, apparently the two cases have been solved. Remember, though, this is Harlan Coben.

When you read a Harlan Coben book, you expect the dialogue to be crisp and witty and the characters to be very well developed. With the exception of minor characters Pops and Ten A Fly, this was not the case in Caught. Wendy Tynes actually starts off as the villain and it was hard for this reader to switch allegiances. There are also a considerable number of sub-plots including the strange assortment of men known as The Father's Club.

Caught is filled with Cobenesque twists and turns and includes several cameo appearances by Win Lockwood, Myron Bolitar's colleague in the series which made Harlan Coben famous. When Win appears, I was hoping Myron would also make an appearance and/or that Win would play a much more significant role in the novel.

While it contains an underlying message about keeping our children safe, overall, Caught is not vintage Coben.

--Jerry Solot