Home – Harlan Coben

I’ve been waiting 5 years for this book, granted for most of that time it didn’t exist but i had hoped for another book in the Myron bolitar series. Then new years day this year Harlan posted on his twitter a picture of page one of this novel being typed into his word program. After 5 long years book 11 was on its way, while not the longest wait between books in this series that belongs to to book 8 being 6 years after book 7, it was the hardest.

Book 10 Live wire, really wrapped a lot of story lines up. Myron shut down his Sports Rep company, so his employees  Esperanza and Big Cindy go there own way, and his best friend Win goes into hiding. It really felt like the story was over.

Set only 1 year after the previous book in the series, we find Win still in hiding but on the trail of a kid who went missing 10 years ago and after a disastrous encounter with the kid, Win decides  to call his friend Myron in to help as this case is personal. The kid is one of two who went missing 10 years ago, once of which is Win’s cousins kid, which i guess makes it his second cousin.

After the reunion between these best friends,  Win explains very little to Myron about his time away, however in a change of pace there are a few chapters that are from Wins POV and has him explaining stuff to the reader, something quite different for Harlan. It was through these POV expositions that we find Win was a lot closer to home than we realized. In the intervening year when with the help of his nephew Mickey, Myron final finds his brother long thought dead and in a touching tribute to the strength of their bromance we find Win was close by just in case.

This story was one of Harlan’s best, i loved it! I’m sure part of that love is being reunited with these characters after all this time. So one must wonder if another book was released in this series would i still feel so positive about this book?

While this book does in a sense have closure with the gang back together again, i still feel like there is the potential for another story dealing with Win’s absence and what occurred while he was in hiding and in true Harlan style it could easily be something from his past coming back to grab him, a recurring theme in his books.

A careful reader will also notice the shock revelation about Em’s long elusive father at the wedding.

 

The Woods – Harlan Coben

An oldie yet still a goodie from Harlan. Well only 9 years old but when an author releases a book or 2 a year 9 years is a long time and many books ago. Fortunately Harlan really hit his stride many years ago so this book really holds its own.

Paul’s sister was murdered along with 3 others years ago at a summer camp and his mother ran off not long after. For years his father would go into the woods and dig looking for his daughter, When Paul’s father dies he feels its time to let it all go and move on that. That is until he gets called in to ID a body that body turns out to be that of one of the kids murdered at that camp years ago, but how can that be,  could his sister also be alive. Paul’s attempts to get to the bottom of this really show just how far a family will go to protect its own.

This is another of Harlan’s stand alone novels but it has a recurring character loren muse who appears in several stand alones. A great character that i love reading and i love the fact that it implies all this stories occur in the same literary world. This book has the usual roller coaster of twists and turns before the shocking end.

No Second Chance – Harlan Coben

Found another thriller by Harlan Coben in my to read pile. A man is shot and almost killed, when his wife is gunned down and his kid kidnapped. The ransom letter arrives and says no cops, no second chances but he makes the rookie mistake all people do in movies etc and calls the cops. Naturally an inside man tips them off and boom kidnappers disappear.

A year passes the investigation has pretty much stopped the man has tried to move on with his life when another ransom arrives. Will he make the same mistake as before or follow the instructions.

Great read loved every minute of it, the twists and turns. The heart wrenching conclusion. definitely one of my favorites of his works.

Fool Me Once – Harlan Coben

Been a fan of Coben for a few years now and each time he releases a new book i grab it day one. Here we have another great thriller with twists and turns right up until the end.

Maya is a war veteran who seems to have a bit of PTSD going on. Her world falls apart when her husband is killed. Now a single mum, she is fiercely protective of her daughter and so a friend trying to help buys her a nanny cam so she can watch her daughter when she is with the nanny.

One day reviewing footage she sees something that cant be real, she refuses to accept it, but the evidence is there in front of her. Her dead husband is on the footage…..

What happens next is a rollercoaster ride that leads us to a shocking ending.

This book is great, not just from having a female protagonist but also for dealing with PTSD. Harlan goes on to thank and acknowledge the many veterans he has spoken with in regarding to dealing with PTSD. I thought that was a nice addition

A definite must have for the thriller lovers out there

Miracle Cure – Harlan Coben

This is one of Harlan’s earlier works that i had never got around to reading before now. Sometimes with musicians or authors their early works just aren’t up to the same standard as modern works, it takes an artist awhile to hit their groove. Harlan obviously knows this and has a warning in the front of the book saying. If this is your first book of his put it down and find another.  I was like wow he isn’t a big fan of it.

Because of that little intro of his i was very curious to see what it was like. It actually wasn’t bad, i did enjoy it. A clinic is developing a cure for AIDS, its still secret and not public knowledge but then someone starts killing off the patients that have been cured. Clearly someone doesn’t want it know they have a cure. The story deals a lot with the prejudices faced by those with the disease

I should be better at the picking the endings to his books but this one i completely got wrong. Good to see that some older works still  have the same impact as a modern novel. Great read and it definitely has aged well

Tell No One – Harlan Coben

Harlan master of suspense delivers another cracker here. Its an old one of his that i haven’t gotten around to before. David becks wife died 8 years ago, he has struggled since then not quite letting go nor moving on and then he receives a cryptic email and ignoring all common sense he pursues it as he feels it is from his wife.

As the reader i’m left to try and unravel this mystery. Is it really his wife. Why did she email right after two bodies were dug up near where she was murdered. Coincidence? What is the connection

This is what i love about Harlan’s works we are trying to unravel the mystery faster than the protagonist. What really happened 8 years ago on that fateful night. Didn’t quite see that ending coming but i do like how it all wrapped up.

Gone for good – Harlan Coben

Felt the need for another crime/thriller after all my Sci-Fi and Action lately. So i went to my favorite for this genre Harlan Coben. This story is about Will. 11 years ago his ex was brutally murdered and his brother was accused of doing it and went into hiding. Now his current girlfriend has gone missing and is later found murdered, are the 2 connected?.and why does his brother choose this time to resurface after 11 years on the run. Harlan takes us on a suspenseful ride with many twists and turns as we try and figure out who really killed his ex. The truth isn’t quite what he expected and what he uncovers on the way is nothing short of shocking.

Harlan delivers his usual twists and turns along the way and for once i didn’t pick the ending in fact how i was thinking it would pan out was far from it. And i think that’s what makes a great thriller. Another one of Harlan’s great reads.

The Stranger – Harlan Coben

Harlan’s latest stand alone is something a bit different. An organization goes around confronting or sometimes blackmailing  people about secrets from their past, sometimes even threatening to reveal them and ruin their lives.

How do they find out these secrets and what is their end goal. These key questions are not revealed till halfway through which leaves the reader guessing about what is going on.

After confronting Adam about the secret  from his wife’s past. His wife disappears. Are the two related or is it all just a big coincidence then his wife who is still missing is accused of stealing from local sporting club. Then people start getting murder, it all leaves the reader scrambling to try and figure out what is going on

Harlan has a tendency to throw a big twist into his stories. So as i was reading and waiting for the twist to hit i began to suspect what was really going on. I didnt  want to stop reading as i wanted to follow it through but then i also didnt want to continue as i guessed how it was going to end. Ahh the dilema.

Needless to say it was a great ride and i think thats what marks a good story. If at some point you just cant put the book down you have to continue reading and find out whats going on. It means you have a great book

While not his best work that doesnt mean it wasnt great

Found by Harlan Coben

I was never really a big crime/mystery novel fan, I don’t really like watching the crime TV shows either. but a good mate of mine raved about this author (Harlan Coben) and she kept at. Eventually i cracked and started asking her about the author and then Google told me he has a serious of books (Myron Bolitar) and does  stand alone novels. I hate starting in the middle of a series, and i didn’t want to commit to reading the first novel in the series. I might hate the author but still feel compelled to finish the series (i’m weird like that) so i told her to pick me her favorite stand alone novel. She chose for me the novel The Innocent.

The story follows Matt Hunter, when he was young he made some mistakes and a fight landed him in jail for 4 years once out tries to put his life back together gets engaged, but then something from his past stirs. He is being followed and threatened. Soon the life he worked hard to build starts to unravel and he realizes he cant trust anyone even the ones he love. Not sure whether it was the fact it was  her suggestion, the novel itself or the fact the protagonist had the same name as me but i really liked it. So i started buying his books.

I started with a few more stand alones, then started on his myron series. I flew through that series quite quickly and was quite sad to read the final book. The book really tied up loose ends and broke up the group and everyone went their separate ways. Reading that you come to realize that it was sadly the end of the series there probably wont be anymore. But then at the same time i saw that he (harlan) was releasing a new series of books based around the son of the main character from the series i liked.

At first i was excited having a chance to revisit the character i really liked but then i found out it was young adult book. Which basically means double spaced writing, pretty much ten lines per page and a simple story over in a few chapters – i exaggerate of course but since i am not the target audience this type of novel might not satisfy my attention and hunger. The first novel in the new young adult series (mickey bolitar) was called shelter The story and characters were great but sadly it was over far too soon. The second novel was Seconds away and while it was over just as quick as its previous volume, i did still really enjoy the story. I think mainly because the character from the previous series appears so regularly. So even though i hate the style (young adult novel) i still bought this third book.

Found, pretty much continues with the story line from the previous 2 books as the main character mickey searches for his father. Its a great story that has many turns along the way which kind of has become a calling card of this author. While this story does go on to tie up loose ends from the previous two it does of course unravel some new threads to pursue as well. So i’m sure he will be writing a fourth book. I have over 25 of his books now and will continue to follow this author and buy his new works.

To be honest this author and more precisely this series of young adult novels has made me change my opinion of the young adult genre. In the past i normally would of just written off anything in the genre as too simple and brief to be worth my time and not even consider buying it. However while the fact the stories are too brief and over too soon. The stories themselves can be quite good at capturing my attention. While i will still be hesitant to buy a young adult novel (mainly because i am not a young adult) i wont just completely write them off anymore. I pretty much will buy the fourth book in this series. If he ever writes one.

Sometimes its funny how we first come across our favorite authors. Have to definitely thank my mate Rachel for introducing me to the works of Harlan. He is definitely in my top 5 Favorite Authors. His other works all of which are not Young adult novels, are fantastic reads filed with twists and turns and just when you think you have it figured out he throws a spanner in the works and throws you off track. i simply love these stories and am always pre-ordering his new releases. After reading this series i think i might have to change a time old quote. perhaps it should be,  Dont judge a book by its genre?