‘Home’ by Harlan Coben

Published by Dutton,
20 September 2016.
ISBN 978-0-5255510-8 (HB)

From the publisher:  A decade ago, kidnappers grabbed two boys from wealthy families and demanded ransom, then went silent.  No trace of the boys ever surfaced.  For ten years, their families have been left with nothing but painful memories and a quiet desperation for the day that has finally, miraculously arrived:  Myron Bolitar and his friend Win believe that they have located one of the boys, now a teenager.  Where has he been for ten years, and what does he know about the day, more than half a life ago, when he was taken?  And most critically:  What can he tell Myron and Win about the fate of his missing friend? 

After a hiatus of about five years, this novel marks the return of Myron Bolitar and Win Lockwood (nee Windsor Horne Lockwood III), his best friend since their freshman year at Duke University. The big change in Myron’s personal life is that he is engaged to be married to Terese, an anchorwoman on an all-news channel, with Win as his best man.  The aforementioned still missing friend was the son of Win’s cousin, Brooke, so the matter becomes a much more serious and personal one for Win, and thus for Myron.  Myron had been a standout, if not “legendary,” basketball star until a serious injury ended his career, after which he went to Harvard Law School and then opened his own sports agency, with his friend Esperanza Diaz as his “receptionist/assistant/confidante/assorted other hats.”  (A subplot of sorts deals with Esperanza, known in the wrestling world as Little Pocahontas along with her tag team partner, Big Cyndi, a/k/a Big Chief Mama.)

In this newest novel from Mr. Coben, and in his inimitable style, he explores every nuance of that simple word “Home.”  It is that in the most literal sense for Myron when he buys the home he grew up in from his folks when they decide to retire to Florida.  The tale of “two boys who had grown up in the lap of luxury and been snatched away” when 16 years of age takes our protags to London, Rome, the Netherlands and back in the author’s trademark suspenseful fashion, with p.o.v. alternating between Myron and Win, before a totally unexpected ending.   

Well deserving of its place atop the Bestseller List, Home is recommended.

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Reviewer: Gloria Feit

Harlan Coben was born  4 January 1962 in Newark, New Jersey. He was the first ever author to win all three major crime awards in the US. He is now global bestseller with his mix of powerful stand-alone thrillers and Myron Bolitar crime novels. He has appeared in the bestseller lists of The Times, the New York Times, Le Monde, Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and four children.

www.harlancoben.com

Ted and Gloria Feit live in Long Beach, NY, a few miles outside New York City.  For 26 years, Gloria was the manager of a medium-sized litigation firm in lower Manhattan. Her husband, Ted, is an attorney and former stock analyst, publicist and writer/editor for, over the years, several daily, weekly and monthly publications.  Having always been avid mystery readers, and since they're now retired, they're able to indulge that passion.  Their reviews appear online as well as in three print publications in the UK and US.  On a more personal note: both having been widowed, Gloria and Ted have five children and nine grandchildren between them.