Gone Before Goodbye by Harlan Coben and Reese Witherspoon
Harlan Coben's newest book, co-written by Reese Witherspoon, came out in October of 2025. I got it as a present the following Christmas. It has become a New York Times Bestseller and one of Amazon's Best Books of the Year for 2025. It deals with bullying, death, gun violence, medical content, grief, car accident, murder, war, and injury.
If you had asked Maggie ten, or even five years ago, she would not in a million years have been able to guess what her life looks like in this moment. Back then, she was married to a wonderful man who shared her passion for operating on people who need it the most, and had been working with him and their best friend to start a ground-breaking, cutting-edge, top of the line non profit organization that would work to change the world of organ transplantation. But things did not go to plan and she has experienced tragedy after tragedy, leading to her medical license getting revoked and becoming a pariah among those who once were her peers. But she is thrown a lifeline just as her life looks bleakest, in the form of a high paying, anonymous client who wants the best when it comes to his plastic surgeon - even if the best no longer has a medical license. Swathed in secrecy, Maggie is plunged into a world of excess, just for her client to suddenly go missing.
This is my first Harlan Coben book, and it very well may be my last. It was not what I would call confusing, but convoluted. None of the characters were likeable, the plot kept moving but in completely unlikely ways that didn't make much sense, characters and plot points were introduced just to never be seen again, and the writing at times actually made me cringe. And there was a character named Porkchop. Which, in and of itself is fine, but they seemed to want to say his name as much as possible - which you can't miss.
I'm giving Gone Before Goodbye by Harlan Coben 2.25 stars out of 5. You could say I didn't love it. I'll leave it at that.
For more from Harlan Coben, see his website https://www.harlancoben.com/
Pairs well with a Florentine omelette and saying the word 'Bugatti' as many times you can in one paragraph.
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