What's better than a gripping book on a rainy afternoon, or just before bed time, and the detective novel is just the ticket, if it's well crafted. The style has evolved quite a lot since the first crime mystery story written in 1868 by Wilkie Collins (Moonstone). At the end of an esteemed line of great sleuths, say hello to Myron Bolitar, the central character of the Harlan Coben Bolitar series.
Myron, a old professional basketball star pushed out of the sport through injury, is the charismatic character of this series of novels from Coben. Often unravelling mysteries for regular clients, he is efficiently (and often bizarrely) assisted by a strange menagerie of friends, like the huge cross-dressing wrestler plus her partner, a old mercenary soldier who doesn't take prisoners, and his good buddy Win, a rich yuppie who has honed his body into a superb lethal weapon.
It's quite rare that an author succeeds in coming up with that particular mixture of plot, characters and movement that makes the reader turn those pages, but Coben gets the job done incredibly well. If you want your detective stories a bit off the wall, the Bolitar series will be right up your street ...
Although faced with the obligatory gruesome homicide, and the equally foreseeable cover up, Myron's life is also dogged by ordinary events and conerns, which makes him like everyone else out there - he's just like on of us, but he always bags the bad guy. Just like in reality, often right is mixed up with wrong, and the mess that results is the effect of a quick cover up that is supposed to protect people or institutions.
In Coben's novels, the underlying motives are well covered, with just enough visible to keep the reader hungry for more and repeatedly flicking the pages. Actually, one of the rare criticisms that might be thrown at these books, is that they could be a little longer. A talented author has a few important characteristics, but certainly one of the most important is the ability to get us to identify with the favorite, and Harlen Coben books succeed in doing superbly well. Myron and his pals may seem a bit eccentric, but then who isn't, when it all boils down? One thing they all have in common is an intense loyalty towards each other, but particularly to Bolitar.
Of the intriguing personages populating the series of novels, the enigmatic figure of Windsor "Win" Horne Lockwood, III is hands down the most fascinating and troubling. Havng a sixth degree black belt in martial arts, he meditates daily and examines the world with distaste. He also has a really chauvinistic attitude with the femail of the species, who he treats like objects to be used and enjoyed. Sometimes being described as a 'psycho', he is fiercely devoted to his close friends. When writing your Harlan Coben book list, make sure you include the Bolitar series.
