No Second Chance Hardcover - 2003

by Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben returns with a thriller of explosive tension and breathless psychological suspense. No Second Chance is a breakneck ride where nothing is what it seems-and where hope and fear collide in the most surprising ways.

When the first bullet hit my chest, I thought of my daughter...

Marc Seidman awakens to find himself in an ICU, hooked up to an IV, his head swathed in bandages. Twelve days earlier, he had an enviable life as a successful surgeon, living in a peaceful suburban neighborhood with his beautiful wife and a baby he adored. Now he lies in a hospital bed, shot by an unseen assailant. His wife has been killed, and his six-month-old daughter, Tara, has vanished. But just when his world seems forever shattered, something arrives to give Marc new hope: a ransom note.

If you contact the authorities, we disappear. We will be watching. We want two million dollars. There will be no second chance.

The note is chilling, but Marc sees only one thing-he has the chance to save his daughter. He can't talk to the police or the FBI. He doesn't know who he can trust. And now the authorities are closing in on a new suspect: Marc himself. Mired in a deepening quicksand of violence and deadly secrets-about his wife, about an old love he's never forgotten, and about his own past-he clings to one, unwavering vow: to bring Tara home, at any cost.