Hold Tight

Well RAGAMUFFIN is on indefinite hold until I can get it back from the library again. But they did have a quick-turn copy of Harlan Coben's latest New Jersey novel - HOLD TIGHT.

I started reading Coben at the tail end of the Myron Bolitar books. I loved them so much that I gave my copies to my local librarian who loved them so much that she then ran out and bought the set for the library.

I thought Coben was an excellent mystery writer and then I read TELL NO ONE. With this book and GONE FOR GOOD, he moved to a whole new level. It was like watching Tiger Woods go from winning the Masters by 12 strokes to winning all four major golf tournaments sequentially.

Coben has abandoned the Bolitar series for the most part - there was a coda of sorts with PROMISE ME and the tease of a short story included in THE INNOCENT. Now he writes complex thriller-mysteries centered on New Jersey. Each novel features its own protagonists but characters like P.I. Cingle Shaker, criminal attorney Hester Crimstein and county investigator Loren Muse recur and link most of the books together loosely. The stories revolve around a past crime that has ramifications on the present. Coben takes disparate characters and plotlines and weaves them into a cohesive story by the end - usually throwing a major (but perfectly logical) curveball or two in at the end.

HOLD TIGHT keeps this format and is a vastly entertaining read. I picked out some of the clues early on but missed others entirely until they were revealed. If Coben were a magician he would be Johnny Ace Palmer doing his tricks right at your table and never letting you see where it was coming from.

I can't wait for his next trick.