Think Twice by Harlan Coben

 

When the FBI approaches Myron Bolitar enquiring about the whereabouts of one of his clients he doesn’t even have to think about the answer. His client, Greg Downing, has been dead for three years. The FBI thinks differently and wants to speak to him about a recent double murder.

The Myron Bolitar series was my introduction to Harlan Coben’s writing almost thirty years ago and since then I’ve followed the ins and outs of the sports representative and general "fixer" with great enjoyment. My only real complaint about the series is that there aren’t more books, maybe the scarcity of books is one of the reasons I love the series so much. Needless to say, I was pleased to get my hands on book 12, Think Twice.

 All of the familiar characters feature in Think Twice, along with some of the minor ones who’ve been part of Myron’s life for the previous eleven books.

Having returned to representing clients, Myron is shocked when the FBI claims one of his clients who has been dead for three years is wanted for a recent murder and has connections to a five-year-old murder. That client is Myron’s old nemesis, Greg Downing. The history between Myron and Greg is long and chequered. They were competitors in basketball until Greg ended Myron’s career before it had barely started. Greg went on to marry Myron’s college girlfriend, Emily. Unbeknownst to Greg, Myron and Emily slept together the night before the wedding and conceived a child, a child Greg raised as his own for thirteen years before he found out the truth. Despite all this Myron is convinced that Greg wouldn’t be involved in murder but he is puzzled as to why he’d want people to think he’s dead.

Supported by his best friend, Win, he tracks down people who have connections to Greg. This leads to a very tense scene with mafia-style criminals and I did wonder if Myron had met his match. As Myron keeps digging, the closer he seems to be getting to the truth, but there is that constant nagging feeling that people are holding back.

Thankfully, whenever danger lurks Win is around to help. Win is my favourite character. He comes across as not really caring but fans know he’s hyper-vigilant, highly skilled and usually a couple of steps ahead of everyone else. He does seem to have mellowed a little bit over the years, is age creeping up on him? He’s even taken note of the #MeToo movement. It’s the banter between the pair though that makes the story.

The narrative keeps you intrigued. The author has done an excellent job of keeping the identity of the lurking killer until the end, but even then there are still shocks in store for the reader. I felt so emotional as I was reading, really not sure how the book was going to end. I even got to the point where I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read on and find out. Bravo to Harlan Coben for the suspense (but please can we have more).

Think Twice by Harlan Coben will be published on 23^rd May 2024 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Century Publishing for the review copy.

Author Details

Harlan Coben is a no. 1 New York Times bestselling author and one of the world's leading storytellers. His suspense novels are published in forty-six languages and have been number one bestsellers in more than a dozen countries, with eighty million books in print worldwide. His Myron Bolitar series has earned the Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony Awards, and several of his books have been developed into Netflix original series, including the no. 1 global hit Fool Me Once, The Stranger, The Innocent, Gone for Good, The Woods, Stay Close, and Hold Tight, as well as the Amazon Prime Video series adaptation of Shelter. He lives in New Jersey.