Harlan Coben is one of my favorite mystery writers and might I say prolific. His recurring character, Myron Bolitar finds himself in a race against time when he is asked by an ex-girlfriend to track down a reluctant donor for very sick child. She drops a bomb on Bolitar to give him the ultimate incentive to help her. The trail twists and turns as the rush to find the person heats up.
“Simon’s eyes stayed locked on the panhandling girl mangling John Lennon’s legacy. Her hair was matted clumps. Her cheekbones were sunken. The girl was rail-thin, raggedy, dirty, damaged, homeless, lost. She was also Simon’s daughter Paige.”
Harlan Coben is one prolific writer. In Run Away we meet a family full of heart ache. A family with a daughter, while not dead, is a much as dead with her addiction and abusive boyfriend. We see this family face the question about how far would you go to save your child…would you commit murder?
“No, I didn’t think about the dog. It hadn’t hit me yet that taking on a big dog like Ruby was a major, life-changing responsibility. I still felt grateful to my old buddy Frank for remembering what a good friend I’d always been. When I murdered Frank, I never dreamed he’d leave Ruby to me. Who’d believe he’d help me out by making me look like such a good guy? I mean, you don’t leave your precious dog to the guy who murdered you – do you?”
“Six years. That was how long it had been since Myron had played superhero. In six years he hadn’t thrown a punch. He hadn’t held, much less fired, a gun. He hadn’t threatened or been threatened. He hadn’t cracked wise with steroid-inflated pituitary glands. He hadn’t called Win, still the scariest man he knew, to back him up or get him out of trouble. In the past six years, none of his clients had been murdered – a real positive in his business. None had been shot or wounded – well, except for that prostitution beef out in Las Vegas, but Myron still claimed that was entrapment. None of his clients or friends or loved ones had gone missing…”
In my opinion, Harlan Coben is one of the better thriller writers out there today. In Stay Close
In Fool Me Once,
County prosecutor Paul Copeland is involved with a trial “ripped from the headlines” as he puts a couple of rich college students on trial for allegedly raping a young black woman. The wealthy parents are not happy with Copeland’s prosecution and are determined to thwart him by ANY means necessary. When some local police show up in relation to a murder victim his world is turned upside down and he has remember a tragedy from the past involving his family and a lost love. The Woods
I went back to the past to read an early Myron Bolitar novel by author Harlan Coben
Sometimes when you shop for books in the bargain section of HalfPrice Books the selection may be a little old though the quality can still be there. Harlan Coben 
While Deal Breaker 
I am not sure what the title of Harlan’s book has to do with the story, but his titles are perhaps the greatest in the suspense genre. In Just One Look , housewife Grace Lawson’s life is turned upside down by a photograph that was slipped to her. Her husband disappears, strange characters return from her tragic past, and she feels threatened for her and her children’s safety. Oh and the police don’t seem to want to help. And there is an oriental super villain thrown in for good measure.
