Gone Before Goodbye ©2025 by Harlan Coben and Reese Witherspoon is a creative, engaging novel which intrigued me enough that I stayed up until 2:30 am one night to finish it. I was not familiar with Coben and this is Witherspoon's first novel, so my choice to read this was not author driven. The book starts out relaying the actions of three surgeons — Maggie, her husband Marc, and Trace — friends throughout med school and internship, who work in combat zones, neutrally attending to the injuries of whoever needs it, whatever side of the combat and whatever age. According to a loose quote from the novel, they aim to save all lives, good or evil, and let God sort it out in the end.
Maggie is approached to perform surgeries on undisclosed but extremely wealthy clients, for which she is promised to be handsomely rewarded. There is a strong emphasis on being discreet to a point that borders on cloak and dagger. Maggie is a well developed character; Marc and Trace not so much. Maggie's father-in-law, amusingly named Porkchop, leads a motorcycle gang and owns a restaurant for bikers. Belying the stereotypical biker persona, he is very level headed and capable and loves his daughter-in-law Maggie to the nth degree, being very protective of her as well.
The settings of the story are exotic and extreme from desolate war zones to luxurious towering skyscrapers. Here is the plot per the front flap
Maggie McCabe is teetering on the brink. A highly skilled and renowned Army combat surgeon, she has always lived life at the edge, where she could make the most impact. And it was all going to plan ... until it wasn’t. Upside down after a devastating series of tragedies leads to her medical license being revoked, Maggie has lost her purpose, but not her nerve or her passion. At her lowest point, she is thrown a lifeline by a former colleague, an elite plastic surgeon whose anonymous clientele demand the best care money can buy, as well as absolute discretion.I felt the ending of this book was abrupt and did not tie up a few loose ends I would have liked addressed. Maybe I rushed the dénouement, missing a few details I could go back and seek. Or perhaps, I was enjoying the read enough I wanted it to keep going. A reviewer on Amazon voiced this same concern that I did, so I think the claim of loose ends is valid. The approach may be intentional, keeping the reader wanting more. For this minor shortfall I rate Gone Before Goodbye four stars instead of five but still would encourage it as a worthy read.
Halfway across the globe, sequestered in the lap of luxury and cutting-edge technology, one of the world’s most mysterious men requires unconventional medical assistance. Desperate, and one of the few surgeons in the world skilled enough to take this job, Maggie enters his realm of unspeakable opulence and fulfills her end of the agreement. But when the patient suddenly disappears while still under her care, Maggie must become a fugitive herself—or she will be the next one who is ... Gone Before Goodbye.
★★★★☆ Really good; maybe only one weak aspect or limited audience
