Dr. David Beck and his wife Elizabeth are the kind of couple that is so perfect that most of us would hate them. They met when they were little kids and they've been in love ever since. They've got cute little code phrases like 'kiss time' that marks their first smooch, which they know to the minute, of course. 
 So when a super happy couple like this has an anniversary to celebrate, they wouldn't think of doing anything as pedestrian as maybe going out for a nice dinner with a couple of cocktails and then returning home to sit on the couch in their sweat pants and watch The Big Bang Theory. Instead, they drive out to the lakeside cabin to the spot of their first kiss which they commemorate by reenacting the event and then marking another notch into the tree they carved their initials into the first time they swapped saliva. 
 If this isn't enough, then they go down to the lake for a little moonlight skinny dipping and bow-chick-a-bow-wow. At this point, even the marketing people who come up with those romantic commercials that try to convince people to buy blood diamonds to celebrate their love are gagging and saying, "Oh, come on! That's too much!" 
 Apparently a serial killer observed these proceedings and was so sickened by their public displays of affection that he kidnapped and killed Elizabeth after bonking David on the head. 8 years later and David is still in mourning for the lost love of his life. As the police make a grisly discovery near the scene of Elizabeth's abduction that calls the official version of events into question, David gets a mysterious email that prompts him to an on-line video feed in which he sees something shocking. David finds himself wrapped up in a dangerous conspiracy as he tries to learn what really happened to his wife. 
 This is OK as far as thrillers go. It's got a nice hook to it, but like a lot of these types of story, the plot twists eventually take a turn into pure outlandishness. Plus, I read Coben's newer book Six Years recently, and that one also involves a man trying to unravel a mystery regarding his lost love so even though this one came first, it seemed more than a little repetitive to me. 
 This book works very, very hard to convince you that the two lovebirds were truly soul mates. I guess Coben has to really sell that idea so that you'd believe that anyone would risk their lives to find the truth so I get why he writes it like that. It still makes them unbelievable characters because they're just too perfect as a couple, and that prevented me from fully buying in to the story. 
 So far I prefer his Myron Bolitor series a lot more than the stand-alone thrillers of his I've read.