It’s been five years since fans have seen Myron Bolitar, an ex-NBA player turned sports agent and sometimes-private-detective, the star of Harlan Coben’s bestselling series. Back for another go-around, and joined by a handful of fan-favorite characters from previous books, Myron dives right into a mystery that is a decade in the making.
Ten years ago, two boys vanished without a trace, never to be heard from again. One of the boys, Rhys, the son of Chick and Brooke Baldwin, is a relative of Windsor “Win” Horne Lockwood, III, who happens to be Myron Bolitar’s best friend.
When an anonymous tip after all these years leads Win to London in pursuit of the boys, he quickly finds himself in a situation that requires backup. After a single phone call to the friend he hasn’t spoken to in over a year, Win’s backup is on the way.
Myron Bolitar puts his life, which is flush with excitement over his recent engagement to Terese, on hold to go meet up with his buddy, Win. Win’s whereabouts during the past year are somewhat of a mystery, though there are rumors, which may or may not be true. Regardless, he’s resurfaced now, and so has one of the boys. But it’s not Rhys.
Patrick Moore also went missing that tragic day, and ever since then his parents, Hunter and Nancy, have suffered through a dark decade without him. They, like the Baldwins, more than anything, just wanted closure one way or the other. For them, it would appear that they have their long-awaited happy ending as Patrick is finally brought home.
But, as Harlan Coben’s readers have come to expect, nothing is ever quite what it seems when you’re flipping through the pages of his mind-bending thrillers…
When events stop adding up and they’re left with more questions than answers, Myron and Win dive further into their search for Rhys. Their investigation leads them to multiple countries and includes run-ins with a multitude of shady characters, including Fat Gandhi, an overweight video game prodigy who dabbles in child sex slavery.
While those who are new to the series might struggle a bit to pick up some of the traits and nuances of the characters initially, Coben does a nice job getting readers up to speed on Myron’s past, though most of the backstory takes place more than a hundred pages into the story.
Likewise, dedicated fans are treated to a number of juicy tidbits and inside jokes. And, for the first time ever, several chapters are told in the first-person narrative through Win’s perspective, allowing readers an inside look at the thinking and personality of Myron’s sidekick like never before.
As old theories unravel and new theories lead to one dead-end after another, Myron and Win call on help from past friends and acquaintances to lend them a hand. With a few fun and unexpected cameos, certain parts of Home are sure to leave longtime fans of Coben’s series feeling rather nostalgic. Especially the scenes with Mickey, Esperanza, and my personal favorite, the smart-mouthed Big Cyndi, who is brash but lovable.
That feeling, however, is quickly replaced with hair-raising suspense as the author ramps up the pacing of the plot from breakneck to lightspeed, delivering a chilling final act that will leave readers unable to tell up from down, right from wrong, and happy from sad.
Like a magician who waves his hand to draw your attention in order to distract you from something else that’s happening, Coben continues to be the undisputed king of never-saw-it-coming twists and turns. Just when you think you have it all figured out, he’ll stun you again and again.
Harlan Coben, whose is as much of a sure thing as there is in publishing today, holds nothing back and proves that Home, which seems all but destined to be the author’s tenth consecutive #1 New York Times bestseller (following this year’s standalone story Fool Me Once), is one of his best novels to date.
Book Details
Author: Harlan Coben
Series: Myron Bolitar #11
Pages: 385 (Hardcover)
Publisher: Dutton
ISBN: 0525955100
Release Date: September 20, 2016 (click here to order now!)