Having read several books by Harlan Coben, I stumbled on his book "Promise Me". "Promise me" is the most recent of his series of books about Myron Bolitar. I enjoyed this book immensely, and that bothered me because I knew it would cause me to start down the path of reading yet another book series. I'm currently engrossed in the adventures of Dirk Pitt so the idea of starting another series is daunting.

But the idea of not reading the stories of a character and his group I found so fascinating bothered me. So I hunted down the first book in the series "Deal Breaker".

"Deal Breaker" introduces the Character of Myron Bolitar, a semi successful sports agent. Having been a promising athlete himself before blowing out his knee he was versed in the arena and consequently went in that direction after a degree program at Rutgers. Where he met his good friend and psychotic sidekick Windsor Horne Lockwood III. Windsor shortened to Win is a great character that is a paradox. He looks the part of a waspy preppy pretty boy but is street smart, ruthless and probably psychotic. He's killed at least one person in every story I've read with him in it. He is absolutely faithful to Myron.

The supporting cast is a bunch of colorful characters in their own right. From Esperanza (formerly the female wrestling star known as "Little Pocahontas") the secretary, to Jessica (the on again, off again girlfriend and sister of the books victim), to the sitcom parents of Myron, the cast is funny and oddly enough believable.

The story centers on one of Myron's clients, Christian Steele. A year prior his fiance Kathy went missing. She was listed as missing and presumed dead. Christian was devastated but moved on, as most people eventually do. So when he receives a copy of a magazine called "Nips" that has Kathy pictured in an add in the back, the bottom falls out of his world. Combined with the fact that Jessica and Kathy's father has just died under somewhat suspicious circumstances Myron is inadvertently drawn into the fray trying to find out if Kathy is still alive and what really happened to their father.

From the opening line "Otto Burke, the Wizard of Schmooze, raised his game to another level." the tone of the story is set as irreverent and funny,but further reading leads you into the grittiness of the story. There is a lot of comedy in the dialog, and as such this book lends itself to becoming a  movie easily. Given though it would be a longish complicated movie its a classic whodunit that keeps you guessing and turning pages until the end where Coben deftly pulls the rug out from under the feet of your assumptions and shows you what really happened.

All in all skillful writing.

I'm not normally a fan of crime thrillers and truth be told this isn't one as other than a token character there aren't any police involved in the story. Plenty of good versus bad with a smattering of gray, but no real cops. Being a fan of the adventure genre though, the high stakes game and the mystery combined with the comedic phrases make this a thoroughly enjoyable book. Harlan Coben has a good writing style that is different from book to book. I've read other books of his not related to the Myron Bolitar series and the narration is consistent with the characters point of view he's writing from. Whether the character is a wife with a missing husband, a husband with a secretive deceptive wife, or a goofy good looking Sports Agent with a knack for getting into other peoples trouble, the narrative styles are distinct as are the tones of the story.

All in all a very good read and the beginning of a new series of books for me. So far I've read the last, the first and I think there are 5 more to go. It shouldn't take long to get through as I find his books to be the type I can't put down and usually finish within a day or so. The biggest roadblock for me to finishing them quickly however is trying to find them in order.

For more information on Harlan Coben and his books check out his website. Tell them recklessphilosophers.com sent you.

http://www.harlancoben.com/