Think Twice by Harlan Coben
Harlan Coben’s latest thriller, Think Twice (Grand Central Publishing), is proof that yes, you can always come home.
For him — and for millions of fans — that home is beloved character Myron Bolitar, the former basketball star and sports agent Coben introduced to readers 11 books and almost 30 years ago. It’s been a minute, eight years in fact, since we’ve had an installment in the series, but Coben says, for a variety of reasons, Myron’s return to the page is timely.
“We live in times of turmoil and even though the book is, hopefully, emotional at the end, I thought being with Myron and the rest of the series characters would be comforting,” he says, in an interview with BookTrib. “To be honest, I really wanted to see him again.”
The feeling is mutual.
In this latest book — the 12th in the series — Myron and his crew are faced with an unusual circumstance: the client he thought was dead, is not only alive, but may also be involved in several murder cases. Could the former NBA-player-turned-coach be a serial killer?
“I sort of pride myself on saying I don’t write serial killer books,” Coben says, with a laugh. “But I’d read an article about how there weren’t as many serial killers anymore because it’s harder to get away with it. We have CCTV cameras, we have phones that track us … but I started to think, how would you get away with it?”
The answer led to this novel’s hook — what if a dead man was killing people?
Of course, the story doesn’t quite unfold like that. Coben, who has more than 35 #1 New York Times bestselling thrillers to his credit, is known for the twists and turns his novels take — and Think Twice is no exception. Taking a break in the series hasn’t slowed down the pacing, and this book moves at relentless speed.
Think Twice‘s breakneck pace doesn’t mean Coben has sacrificed any of the other hallmarks of his writing. The banter between Myron and long-time friend and partner Windsor provides humor, and the relationships between all of the characters underscore the emotional resonance that emerges in all of Coben’s work, but in this book in particular.
“The novels have very much been about friendship,” Coben says. “I never wanted Myron to be alone — he doesn’t like being alone. And in this book, there’s a lot of personal stuff being thrown at Myron he has to navigate. You can’t have an up without a down, you can’t have a left without a right, and you really can’t have dark without light.”
That light is brilliant in Think Twice, which offers not only nostalgic comfort for long-time fans, but a fresh launching point to the series if you’re unfamiliar with this parcel of Coben’s work. He says he’s already heard from fans of his standalones that they didn’t even know Think Twice was part of a series — and that is a testament to Coben’s ability to craft a story that is both familiar and new, and perhaps most importantly, propulsive. It’s near impossible not to finish Think Twice in a single sitting.
As to whether there will be a lucky 13th book for Myron, Coben isn’t sure.
“As Myron likes to say, ‘man plans, God laughs.’ Nothing in my career has ever been planned. I guess we’ll find out.”
In the meantime, Coben hopes new readers will revisit the previous books in the series. If you’re all caught up, not to worry, more standalone books are on the way — Coben will just have to decide whose story they are to tell.
Harlan Coben is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and one of the world’s leading storytellers. His suspense novels are published in forty-six languages and have been number one bestsellers in more than a dozen countries, with eighty million books in print worldwide. His Myron Bolitar series has earned the Edgar, Shamus and Anthony Awards, and several of his books have been developed into Netflix original series, including the #1 global hit Fool Me Once, The Stranger, The Innocent, Gone for Good, The Woods, Stay Close and Hold Tight, as well as the Amazon Prime series adaptation of Shelter. He lives in New Jersey.
