Mutli-award-winning author Coben returns to the series that kick-started his red-hot career in his latest novel starring Harvard-educated sports agent/private eye Myron Bolitar (after Promise Me, 2006). Myron hasn’t had contact with Teresa Collins in seven years, so he is taken aback by her early-morning phone call from Paris. Her ex-husband, who begged her to meet him there, is missing, and she needs Myron’s help. Before they can launch a search, however, they are taken into custody by the French police; it seems Teresa’s husband has been murdered, and she is the prime suspect. One other unexpected complication: DNA found at the scene of the crime appears to belong to the couple’s daughter, except their daughter has been dead for years. Just when Myron starts making progress on putting the pieces together, he is kidnapped by a covert organization and subjected to intense torture. Myron wakes up in a hospital back in the U.S. in bad mental and physical shape but is immediately sheltered by his loyal staff, including Win, his blueblooded business partner, and Esperanza, a former wrestling star turned lawyer. Their easygoing, humorous camaraderie as well as Coben’s chilling incorporation of modern medical technology and modern interrogation techniques make this novel hard to put down. Coben puts a wicked topical spin on Children of the Corn in an action-packed thriller with a horrific yet credible premise. --Joanne Wilkinson
Description:
From Publishers Weekly
Myron Bolitar takes on international terrorists in bestseller Coben's fast-paced ninth thriller to feature the sports and entertainment agent (after Promise Me). With his romantic relationship with 9/11 widow Ali Wilder on the rocks, Myron is free at a moment's notice to accept the invitation of his former lover, Terese Collins, a TV newswoman who dropped out of his life years earlier, to join her in Paris. There Terese tells Myron her investigative reporter ex-husband, Rick, whom Myron never knew about, recently got back in touch with her and hinted at an earthshaking revelation. Rick's murder plunges Bolitar into a frenzied, often violent chase across Europe in an effort to learn Rick's secret. Aided by his upper-class sidekick and bodyguard, Win, Bolitar builds up an impressive body count as he attempts to prove he didn't kill Rick—and foil a terrorist plot that's as imaginative as it is preposterous. Bolitar fans will cheer their hero every step of the way. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Mutli-award-winning author Coben returns to the series that kick-started his red-hot career in his latest novel starring Harvard-educated sports agent/private eye Myron Bolitar (after Promise Me, 2006). Myron hasn’t had contact with Teresa Collins in seven years, so he is taken aback by her early-morning phone call from Paris. Her ex-husband, who begged her to meet him there, is missing, and she needs Myron’s help. Before they can launch a search, however, they are taken into custody by the French police; it seems Teresa’s husband has been murdered, and she is the prime suspect. One other unexpected complication: DNA found at the scene of the crime appears to belong to the couple’s daughter, except their daughter has been dead for years. Just when Myron starts making progress on putting the pieces together, he is kidnapped by a covert organization and subjected to intense torture. Myron wakes up in a hospital back in the U.S. in bad mental and physical shape but is immediately sheltered by his loyal staff, including Win, his blueblooded business partner, and Esperanza, a former wrestling star turned lawyer. Their easygoing, humorous camaraderie as well as Coben’s chilling incorporation of modern medical technology and modern interrogation techniques make this novel hard to put down. Coben puts a wicked topical spin on Children of the Corn in an action-packed thriller with a horrific yet credible premise. --Joanne Wilkinson