Never Fear this IS a Good Read! (Darkest Fear - Harlan Coben)

Member Name: English Lady

Product:	Darkest Fear - Harlan Coben
Date:	22/10/04 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fast paced, witty, thrilling

Disadvantages: finishes far too soon for my liking

Well last summer I bought 3 books in a 3 for 2 offer at Waterstones. Unfortunately the two I had read already were mediocre and awful so when I got to my third purchase “Darkest Fear” by Harlan Coben I was not holding out much hope of it being any better.

The cover of the book does make it look promising though. A long road through countryside trees all shrouded in mist. Just below the words “Darkest Fear” is written in stark angular and raised type and below that again is the authors name in White “best selling author of “No Second Chance”

A best selling author eh? Well for £6.99 for the paperback I’d expect to be reading something from a good author that’s for sure! (copies go for around £2.50 on Ebay currently) So with some trepidation and not much anticipation I began to read.

Myron Bolitar is a sports representative and his business is in decline. He visits home one day and receives a call out of the blue from his first love, Emily. Emily was married to Myron’s biggest rival. Greg. Greg and Myron both played college basketball. Greg went on to play professionally but Myron received an injury in a game which halted his professional career.

Now Emily is divorced and bringing up her thirteen year old son alone. What’s more Jeremy has Fanconi Anemia, A deadly infection which can only be cured by a bone marrow transplant. The only match they found has pulled out at the last minute and Emily wants Myron to help find him again.

Why should he? You ask well he has undertaken this kind of work before for Emily, a few years ago when her husband had gone missing plus Emily drops a bomb that shatters Myron’s perception and makes him desperate to take this challenge on.

As if finding the bone marrow donor is not hard enough, Myron manages to get himself involved with an FBI investigation of kidnapper and suspected murderer and ends up investigating this kidnapper too. Is there a connection? You’ll have to read to find out.

This is a thrilling book. Fast paced and well written. Myron is very easy to identify with. He is a bit of a geek at heart and he has a wonderful self depreciating humour that makes you giggle even at the most serious of moments in the action. This humour makes the book more palatable and light. I think without it Coben would have crossed over into the realm of horror instead of fitting snugly into the crime thriller genre.

The narrative is rich and descriptive, in fact you know you’re onto a good thing from the very first line

“An hour before his world exploded like ripe tomato under a stiletto heel, Myron bit into a fresh pastry that tasted suspiciously like a urinal cake.”

Fast paced, witty and poignant the action skips along quickly but not at such a speed that you feel like you can’t keep up. You are absorbed into the story from the very start and believe me this is a book you will not find easy to put down. It is a joy to read and even though I am not normally a fan of this particular genre I would happily read one of his other titles without hesitation.

I have been trying to think of an Author to compare Coben too but it is difficult as really he is such a fresh and innovative author. I see traces of Tom Holts imaginative wit and combined with the wonderful attention to character detail of the likes of Charles Dickens and Roald Dahl. Coben however creates something completely unlike any of the books written by these authors. He really is unique and a very promising talent.

So he writes well, has good believable characters but what I the story line like? Well I was hooked from the beginning to the end. You are pulled into Myron Coben’s world and swept along in the action. It is all very real, there is no point in the story when you think “That would never happen” and you never feel let down by the building tension-it lasts right up until the end of the whole book, no one section is stronger than the others, I think Coben really enjoyed writing this book and his relish is reflected in every paragraph.


Value for money? Definitely. I would even suggest paying full whack if you need to this really is an excellent read and even a cheap skate like me would be tempted to buy this gem at £6.99.


Darkest Fear is published by Orion books.
ISBN: 0-75284-919-0


For more about the Author and his books check out :

http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/author-details.aspx?I D=9496

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