Jerry Maguire with attitude (The Final Detail - Harlan Coben)

Member Name: Slim Lee

Product:	The Final Detail - Harlan Coben
Date:	16/04/01 (161 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A refreshingly funny read for a crime novel

Disadvantages: None (really!)

What makes a book worth reading?

Good plot? Well, yes of course that goes without saying. Detailed and descriptive scenes? Technical expertise?

For me the thing that HAS to be there is good characters. Without it the plot is irrelevant. This is one thing that Harlan Coben does very well. His characters are wonderfully real and lifelike They’re as fragile and flawed as the rest of us.


• The Author


Harlan Coben has previously published five novels, only one previously ahs been released here in the UK, and has received glowing reviews and critical acclaim, this one, his sixth offering, is his second to be distributed in the UK (in 2000 by Hodder & Stoughton). He has won all of the three major American Crime awards (Shamus, Anthony and Edgar awards) for his previous work.


• “The Final Detail”


This novel again centres on his fast-talking, wisecracking New Yorker Myron Bolitar, Previously a sports star in his own right; Myron is now a sports agent (think Jerry Maguire with loads of attitude and wit).

Myron is the kind of guy that pushes his luck at every turn but he always seems to come up smelling of roses. He is an emotionally flawed man (keeps putting his foot squarely in his mouth all the time), and has decided to take a break from it all and disappear on holiday to the Caribbean. His exploits (and mistakes) from his last outing in “One False Move” have obviously taken their toll on him. He can’t forgive himself for failing a friend and has taken solace in the simple pleasures of alcohol, sex and small bikinis to help him forget.

His company “MB Sportreps” is as usual managing to scrape by with the few clients he can be bothered to spend the time promoting. Myron’s oddball staff (two ex-female wrestlers) add to the chaos forming around him (Esperanza “Little Pocahontas” and “Big Cyndi”). N
othing in the office is too serious to joke about.

Until now that is … one of his closest friends is in serious trouble. Murder trouble, and the case against her looks water tight. Myron of course wants to help, but she doesn’t want it. In fact she won’t even talk to him at all. Oh, and someone is trying to kill Myron too ….

Whisked away from his Caribbean paradise by his trusted friend (and quite psychotic at times) Windsor Lockwood III, Myron is in a race against time to prove his friend innocent.

“The Final Detail” is a detective thriller of sorts but played from a slightly different angle, as no police are involved in the search for clues. Just a sports agent and his wealthy banker! It gives it a more amateurish and more genuine/realistic feel to the book. The plot is solid enough and there aren’t any points where you’ll be frustrated with it. Even the oddball character of Lockwood is believable (in the extreme).

The dialogue, as in “One False Move” is superbly written, with yet more cutting remarks coming from Myron and Lockwood with the obvious bad guys they bump into along the way. The run-ins with the mafia who are running a rival sports agency are hilarious.

The best thing about this novel, and the previous ones I’ve read by Harlan Coben is the humour. I’ve honestly never found someone who can write crime/thrillers that are this entertaining and so tongue in cheek.

To end this review I’d like to finish with a quote from the Los Angeles Times, it’s very apt in its description of the book (but in far less words than I could ever do!)

“I couldn't imagine a more appealing sports agent than Tom Cruise's Jerry Maguire until I read Harlan Coben's THE FINAL DETAIL, which features the endearingly neurotic Myron Bolitar. Coben (who gets craftier and funnier with each outing) has written the most personabl
e and involving whodunit I've read all year."


• Where to get it


Although the hardback retailed at £16.99 when I originally purchased it, I’m sure that this will now be available for under ten pounds in most bookstores such as Waterstones and WHSmiths.

ISBN: 0 340 75140 1
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
RRP: £16.99

The paperback version is out now and is retailing at £5.99 from a good bookstore near you … or alternatively check out somewhere online like amazon.co.uk where it’s going for £4.79 at the moment.

ISBN: 0 340 75141 X
Publisher: New English Library
RRP: £5.99


• Author’s site


There is also a website now, at the imaginatively titled www.harlancoben.com which is one of the better author sites I’ve come across so far. You can sign up for a newsletter, read his biography, reviews of the books and read the latest news on forthcoming releases. Not a bad effort at all.

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