Spoilers!
Somehow, as a long time devotee of Harlan Coben books, I’ve only now officially read my first book in the Myron Bolitar series. I’ve always stuck to Coben’s standalone books, so as not to get sucked into another series, but welp, here we are! I read the 11th book in the series, 2016’s Home. As tends to happen, incidentally, Coben is out with the first new book in the series since then this year. Something to look forward to!
Myron is a former star basketball player, who made it to the big leagues, only to have his dreams crushed by a career-ending injury. So, he became a sports agent representing sports stars and celebrities. He has a law degree, and his partner is Esperanza Diaz, who also moonlights as a professional wrestler, much to my delight. His best friend from his Duke University days is Win, an eccentric billionaire psychopath. At 6 feet, 4 inches tall, Myron is a formidable presence, but he’s a softy for his parents, modest, and sarcastic. He’s prone to crying with affection for his nephew, Mickey, who Coben used as the main character in a spin-off young adult series, and the aforementioned parents he loves very much. As I was reading Home, still getting bits and pieces of Bolitar’s backstory — I don’t read the synopsis and I didn’t research Bolitar at all, so as to go in blind — I kept wondering, what is he, exactly? Is he a private detective? A lawyer? Just a guy? Yes, he’s formidable, and can clearly fight, if need be. If anything, it seems like the most apt description comes from his Wikipedia entry (yes, now I’m researching!): he’s an “accidental detective.”
In Home, Patrick and Rhys are six-year-old boys who are seemingly kidnapped from the home of Rhys’ mother, Brooke, who is also Win’s cousin. 10 years later, Patrick seems to have resurfaced in London, of all places. When Win tries to rescue him, Win (and then Myron, who is called to London by Win) end up dealing with a street mob boss of sorts named Fat Gandhi. At this juncture, I figured this all was a red herring. To steal Myron’s self-deprecating phrase, it’s not as if I’m some Master of Deduction, but given the book is called Home, my thinking was, whatever happened to Patrick and Rhys, started, and will be finished, at home — back in the United States. Myron and Win come to realize this, too, starting back at the original crime scene, and even tackling the premise of whether the Patrick they ultimately rescued is actually the real Patrick. What if this Patrick is an imposter for … reasons? It’s not so far-fetched! Coben, the sly suspense master, even references the real-life case, which made for a stunning documentary, 2012’s The Imposter. (That’s one of the most disturbing documentaries I’ve ever seen.)
Nope, Coben didn’t go for that twist; this is the real Patrick, but something still seems amiss. A very realistic thing that happens in criminal cases is that those involved have certain knowledge they either a.) don’t realize is pertinent knowledge, or b.) perhaps are deluding themselves into thinking it can’t possibly be pertinent knowledge. In this case, Brooke’s husband, Chick, doesn’t want to believe that his almost-affair with Nancy, Patrick’s mother, has anything to do with the boys’ kidnapping. In fact, it has everything to do with being the catalyst for what occurred. Hunter, Nancy’s husband, found out about the almost-affair and threatened her with a gun. Patrick’s older sister witnessed this and later hid the gun. Patrick found the gun, and while playing with Rhys, shot and killed him. They were both 6 years old. Nancy, coming upon the scene, decided to fake a kidnapping and get Patrick out of the country rather than deal with any potential fallout (whether that was self-preservation or a mother’s protective instinct, or some mixture of both, is up to interpretation). The worst part, of course, is that Nancy literally dumped Rhys body like trash into a nearby ravine, and then her actions to cover it all up had a deleterious ripple effect on everyone involved for the next 10 years. It’s contemptible, to say the least. After 10 years, Nancy instigated the “rescue” of Patrick so they could be a family again without people asking questions. Of course, Win and Myron started asking those questions. Womp, womp for her.
All of which leads to Patrick preparing to kill himself in front of his mother as part “revenge” against her for what she did, and part his own sadness over his role in it all (despite being just a child). Brooke is the one who prevents the suicide attempt, saves Patrick, and comforts him. The book ends on the happy ending of (depending on your POV) Myron’s marriage and Brooke killing Nancy and her and Win faking Nancy’s disappearance.
Once Coben moved us past the Fat Gandhi red herring, I was completely hooked by Home and Myron. He’s a lovable guy this Myron, with the way he adores his parents, dotes on Mickey, and jumps into “haystacks” looking for the needles to uncover the mystery as an “accidental detective.” It’s also quite believable. If anything, as I was reading, Myron struck me as Coben writing himself if he was the protagonist of a book series and an accidental detective, too. Coben’s books are always sarcastic, goofy, almost old man yells at cloud out-of-touch, and referential. That’s Myron! I don’t know if Coben can also handle himself in any physical altercation, but that’s why fiction exists!
It looks like I’m going to buying a lot more Coben books in the future to catch up on this long overlooked series on my part.
Milam's Musings 