Rating: ***
Tags: Fiction, General, Mystery & Detective, Suspense, Thrillers, Mystery fiction, Private investigators, Bolitar; Myron (Fictitious character), Women tennis players, Runaway husbands, Lang:en
Summary
Starred Review. Edgar-winner Coben's 10th Myron Bolitar
novel (after Long Lost) is a perfect 10: providing readers with
new information about the past of the former athlete turned
agent and owner of MB Reps; a satisfyingly complex mystery; and
the always entertaining, sometimes shocking exploits of
Bolitar's partner and friend, Windsor Horne Lockwood III (aka
Win). Suzze Tervantino, a former tennis prodigy and one of
Bolitar's first clients, visits his New York office and shows
him a Facebook posting that suggests that her husband, rock
star Lex Ryder, isn't the father of the child she's carrying.
When Ryder, also a client of MB Reps, disappears, Suzze begs
Bolitar to find him. In the process, Bolitar catches a glimpse
of his sister-in-law, Kitty, at a crowded nightclub, and begins
a search for her and his estranged younger brother, Brad, whom
he hasn't seen for 16 years. This explosively fast thriller
will leave fans clamoring for more. (Mar.)
Coben, who has perfected the techno-thriller, in which
social media tools are used in ingeniously devious ways (Hold
Tight, 2008), has won the trifecta of mystery awards: the
Edgar, the Shamus, and the Anthony�and is the only
writer to have such a clutch at his command. Here, he returns
to his humble roots and resurrects his sports agent and sleuth
Myron Bolitar, who appeared in Coben�s debut, Deal
Breaker, in 1995, and has starred in nine other novels. Coben
may be a little too fond of Bolitar; over the years, he has
transformed him from a struggling New Jersey sports agent to a
wildly successful superagent who handles all forms of
entertainment and, bad news for the reader, is now given to
self-indulgent introspection, rumination, and endless dialogue
with his sidekick, Win. This overwriting changes the Bolitar
novel from spare and lively to a flabby 350-plus pager. A prime
example of this work�s need for a less-indulgent author
(or editor) is the cringe-inducing scene in which Win appears
with two Asian beauties, named Mee and Yu. Bolitar and Win
carry on with sophomoric puns and a forecast of sexual activity
that is supposed to be hilarious but reads as incredibly
insensitive. The plot is fairly standard, involving a client
whose husband disappears, with a link to Bolitar�s
sister-in-law and estranged brother. Bracing action, a Coben
staple, is bogged down by bloated writing. HIGH-DEMAND
BACKSTORY: Coben takes a literary misstep with his return to
series character Myron Bolitar, but his name-brand status
ensures an audience. --Connie FletcherFrom Publishers Weekly
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