Reese Witherspoon And Harlan Coben Joke Their New Thriller Will Have You Cursing Them Out At 4 A.m.

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PSA if you've got your hands on Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben's thriller "Gone Before Goodbye" alongside October 2025's celebrity book club picks, because, to the authors' own admission, you'll probably find yourself cursing their names in the early hours. Women.com attended Witherspoon's Shine Away 2025 event on October 11 in Los Angeles, where the Reese's Book Club owner and the "I Will Find You" author sat down for a chat moderated by Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Radhika Jones. This is what you need to know about the collab we can't get enough of, and why you probably won't get much sleep after you turn page one.

Coben revealed that he and Witherspoon are both "completely obsessed" with storytelling, which means "Gone Before Goodbye"'s storyline isn't thin on the ground. In fact, the novel is so gripping that Coben joked he envisioned when attendees took it home, "[It's] four in the morning and you're cursing us out." Witherspoon described the book in similar terms, admitting, "The first chapter is a knockout." The media mogul then shared some high praise from a friend, who told her, "'[It] reads like a movie.'"

But don't just take the co-authors' word for it, because the reviews also suggest this isn't a book you'll be able to say goodbye to easily. "This was so good! it was suspenseful and kept me guessing until the very end!" one reader wrote in their GoodReads review. Another said, "From the start, I struggled to predict where the story would go, since Reese and Harlan were determined not to give anything away. That uncertainty kept me hooked right to the end."

"Gone Before Goodbye" tells the story of Maggie McCabe, an army combat surgeon who finds herself caught up in what Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben described at Shine Away as "[the] crazy world of private wealth and private surgery." Maggie is a tough cookie, but after tragically losing a patient during surgery, she falls into a downward spiral she can't seem to escape. She's offered the chance to provide medical services for very wealthy clients — but that's where things take a deeply intriguing turn. Witherspoon explained Maggie finds herself struck in an internal battle of sticking to her morals or making questionable decisions for a life of luxury, and things only get worse when one of Maggie's wealthy clients goes missing under mysterious circumstances.

While the novel is a fictional book, Witherspoon (whose Reese's Book Club has its own podcast) has a personal connection to the concept that gives it extra bite. She described the novel as a "love letter" to her parents, who worked as a doctor and a nurse. Witherspoon, whose book club has made some iconic recommendations over the years, even spent time in Germany with her dad when she was young while he was stationed there as a military surgeon.

Coben and Witherspoon's writing talents, a personal connection to the narrative, AND a captivating plot? We wouldn't be surprised if readers were still turning the pages long after 4 a.m. Don't say we didn't warn you.