What Does a Thriller Mean to You? Harlan Coben Provides One Answer in Nobody’s Fool

By

Scott D. Parker

I’m relatively late in reading anything by Harlan Coben, having read the first Myron Bolitar novel just last fall. I’ve since read three Bolitar books but never a standalone entry in Coben’s 37-novel career. When Nobody’s Fool was published, I checked out the audiobook from the library and settled into what is billed as a thriller.

What Does “Thriller” Mean To You?

“A stunningly twisty thriller” are the opening words to the book description so my mind conjured up an idea of what that meant. “Stunningly twisty” told me that I was going to get what Coben is famous for: a story that turned on itself, subverting expectations while truths were uncovered by the characters before that final moment and last page. “Thriller” to me has consistently meant something different than other genres words like mystery or suspense. Thriller is what the Mission Impossible movies are, or novels from Dan Brown or Gregg Hurwitz: fast-paced action filled with fights and gunplay.

Maybe I need to expand my definition of the word thriller because what Coben delivered didn’t align with what I thought I was getting. Were I to tag a genre word to this novel, I’d be more likely to use “mystery” because the tale Coben weaves is excellent, but much of it occurred in the mind and experience of the protagonist.

What is Nobody’s Fool about?

 

Years ago, Sami Kierce is in Spain after graduating from college. He picks up a girl in a club and they spend a week together. Until the morning he wakes up, covered in blood, a knife in his hand, and the girl, Anna, dead. Panicking, he does what he thinks is the best thing: he flees back to American, but the experience haunts him.

 

Cut to Kierce now. He’s a PI after getting himself kicked out of the NYPD. He’s married and has a young son. He also teaches night school for people who fancy themselves as detectives. His life is decent and predictable even if he is staring at a mountain of debt and few good prospects. 

 

Until Anna walks into his classroom. She flees. He pursues, and keeps going until he has discovered the answer to every question he’s had for twenty-two years and the new ones he consistently encounters.

 

How it plays out

 

The setup is splendid. In fact, the opening scene shows the events in Spain so you get a first-hand look at Sami’s trauma and fear. Within the span of one chapter, we’re already in the present day and the action goes on from there.

 

But, like I said, what I expected based on the word ‘thriller”—chases, gun fire, actiony stuff—isn’t what this book is about. It’s a suspense book, with a well-crafted, interweaved story that Sami must get through. I was thoroughly engaged from page 1 and eagerly finished the book—I snagged both the audio (for commutes) and ebook (for evening reading) from library—in a week.

 

What I found most fascinating and most rewarding is the relentless nature of Sami’s quest for the truth. Yeah, this is how books like this are supposed to go, but I sometimes found myself asking “Would I keep going?” Characters always do.

 

And let’s not forget the sub-plot, where a case Sami worked on as a police detective comes into play and interrupts everything. Well done.

 

The Side Characters

 

Templates exist for side characters in mysteries (or any genre, really) and when you start reading a book, depending on the skill of the author, some of those tropes come into play. In this book, Coben delivers some fine side characters that find them not only integral to the plot but actual real people you believe in.

 

Molly, Sami’s wife, has her husband’s back. Period. And narrator Vikas Adam voices her very well and with a spark of humor and gumption. But it is the group of people in Sami’s class that really felt like a breath of fresh air. They are misfits, a conglomeration of people from all walks of life. When we first meet them—in the scene where Sami sees Anna—I reckoned them as background characters. Little did I know Coben was going to keep them in on stage, enabling Sami’s investigation all the way to the end. And that we’d come to care for them. At one point during a stakeout, one character gives his backstory to Sami. As a story-within-a-story, I was all in and transfixed by the tale. Loved this.

 

This is only the fourth Coben book I’ve read and the first not involving Myron Bolitar* and I didn’t realize that this was a story that had a previous book and Netflix miniseries. So I can only imagine, perhaps, there will be future books featuring Sami Kierce. If so, then his band of “irregulars” has to be involved. 

 

Nobody’s Fool is brand new and only two months in the bookstores, and I highly recommend you add it to your summer reading list.

An Introduction to Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar in Deal Breaker

by

Scott D. Parker

Where has this book been all my life? 

On the bookshelf of your local store, just waiting to be read. 

We’ve Only Just Met After All This Time

Harlan Coben has been writing professionally since 1990 but he really became famous for the Myron Bolitar series, starting in 1995. I’ve known about Coben for a long time. Multiple best-sellers every time he publishes a book. Multiple adaptations of his stories on TV. And, recently, the professor of a BBC Maestro online class that helps writers craft thrillers. I’m always game to learn—especially from an acknowledged veteran of the genre—so I bought the class.

While listening to Coben talk in the class’s introduction, it dawned on me that I might want to see how he actually writes by actually reading one of his books. Why not start at the beginning?

Myron Bolitar: Not Your Typical Detective

For the uninitiated, Bolitar is a sports agent who could have made it big in the NBA were it not for a severe injury. He returned to college, earned a law degree, and spent time working as an investigator before becoming a sports agent. 

A sports agent? How might he be involved in a mystery? Well, it’s not that hard, really.

The Twisty Setup

When we meet Bolitar, he is in the middle of negotiations with the New York “Giants” (Titans in the book, ironic since the Tennessee Oilers (formerly from my hometown of Houston) would change their name to the Titans in 1999) on behalf of phenom Christian Steele. He’s a rookie quarterback and he sought out Bolitar for representation, but the not-quite-gangsters running the football team want to reduce the kid’s asking price.

Complicating everything is a phone call Christian received. It’s from his girlfriend, Kathy Culver. That would be his missing girlfriend whom everyone presumes is dead. Know who’s also dead? Kathy’s dad, a medical examiner, who was killed during a mugging. 

If that wasn’t enough, there’s one more thing. Christian received a manila envelope. Inside is a porn magazine (how quaint, huh?) but that’s not what gets Christian’s attention. No, that would be the advertisements in the back for a 1-900 number. One in particular has a photo of none other than Kathy Culver.

An Entertaining Detective

Now, I don’t know about you, but I was hooked pretty fast with this set of circumstances. Plus there’s football talk, so that’s just gravy. But if the person with whom you are experiencing this tale of mystery isn’t fun to be with, the reading will be a slog.

Of course it wasn’t. Myron Bolitar comes from a long line of wise-cracking detectives going back a century. He gives as good as he gets. He’s 31 at the publication date of 1995, so he’s just slightly older than I was at the time. I thoroughly enjoyed all the references that I got here in 2024—and probably wouldn’t have even thought twice about in 1995. 

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Jonathan Marosz, did a fantastic job. He got Bolitar’s snark down pat, and when he narrated scenes with actual criminals and miscreants from the New York area, those characters practically jumped out in front of me.

An Even More Entertaining Co-Star

Ironically, it was his reading of a co-star where he knocked it out of the park. Windsor Horne Lockwood III is Bolitar’s old college roommate, friend, and “partner.” Bolitar’s office is in a rented space in Lockwood’s office building, but Win, as he is commonly known, pretty much helps Bolitar throughout the entire case. 

In the novel, Coben writes the following when we first meet Win:

People often said that Myron looked nothing like his name—an observation Myron took as high praise; Windsor Horne Lockwood III, however, looked exactly like his name. Blond hair, perfect length, parted on the right side. His features were classical patrician, almost too handsome, like something crafted in porcelain. [...] Win even had that creepy accent, the one that did not originate from any particular geographical location as much as from certain prep school like Andover and Exeter. (Win had gone to Exeter.)

Now, with that name and that description, you *know* how Win sounds. And Marosz does exACTly that kind of line reading for Win’s dialogue. Pitch perfect.

The Mystery Itself

The one thing I knew about Coben before reading this book is that his stories include twists upon twists. That’s evident from the TV shows I’ve seen. But was that baked into his first major book?

Yup. Deliciously so. I honestly didn’t see the ending coming…which makes for a wonderful reading experience. 

I haven’t enjoyed a book this much in a long time, and by “a long time,” I mean since last week’s book. Seriously, Myron Bolitar is quite an engaging character, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this book. How much do you ask? I’ve already downloaded the second book in the series, Drop Shot.

I know I’m late to the Myron Bolitar party, so what are some of your favorite books in the series? And let me know your favorite standalone Coben books. 

Ro's Jambalaya is Delicious

By Holly West

Just yesterday, as we said goodbye in the hotel lobby, Scott Adlerberg and I lamented about what we'd write for our Do Some Damage posts this week. He came up with a good one, so if you missed yesterday's post, here it is. What he said, although in my case, I'm reading Ro Cuzon's UNDER THE DIXIE MOON, which is also set in New Orleans. It's noir at its sweaty, gritty best and Ro's writing chops are top notch, particularly for this type of fiction.

Note: Having eaten some of his fine jambalaya this past week in New Orleans, I suspect his pork chops probably are pretty good, too.

I'm not too big on conference wrap-ups, I'm not sure why. Let's just say Bouchercon 2016 was a great conference where I strengthened many friendships and cultivated some new ones. This, for me, is what it's all about.

Beyond that, I want to mention a couple of things that stood out to me while I was at the conference, both of which occurred during Harlan Coben's interview with Michael Connelly. Harlan told us his breakout book--Tell No One, if I'm not mistaken--was the tenth novel he'd written. Furthermore, his advance for the first Myron Bolitar book was $5000. His advance for the fourth? $6000.

Clearly, the path to becoming a best selling author can be a long and arduous one and most of us probably won't make it at all. Which is a little depressing to think about, right? But the information Harlan shared actually inspires me and makes me feel better about where I'm at in my career. My first two books did not sell very well and sometimes this gets me down but I need to remember that there will be other books (provided I stop f*cking around and finish the one I've been talking about for two years).

Other than that, I'm exhausted and happy and ready to work. So let's do it.