Book Review - Live Wire by Harlan Coben
Category Book Review Harlan Coben Live Wire
It was good news when I finally made it to the top of the library hold list for Harlan Coben's return of Myron Bolitar in Live Wire. It's been a favorite series in the past, and I looked forward to some fast-paced adventures with Bolitar and his sidekick, Win (Windsor Horne Lockwood III). But this novel ended up being more introspective than I expected, and it didn't have quite the same drive as previous works. As a fan of Coben and the Bolitar character, it was worth reading. It just wasn't worth staying up late over...
In Live Wire, Bolitar is drawn into an investigation by Suzze Trevantino, a young tennis star he represented in her short but successful career. She's been clean from drugs (or so she says), happy, and pregnant, but an anonymous comment on Facebook suggests that the baby doesn't belong to her husband. The hubby has run off and hid, and she wants Bolitar to find him. But the more he digs into the mystery, the more he's forced to confront his own past. His drug-addicted sister-in-law, his brother, his father, and a nephew he doesn't know much about all figure into the mix, and he's forced to confront the effects of a rash and harsh choice he made many years ago. Meanwhile, no one is really who they appear to be, and each uncovered mystery spawns new threads to be pulled.
Live Wire does show off the great dialogue of past Bolitar novels, but it doesn't seem to have much room to navigate here. While the main plot involves murder and mystery, it shares equal space with Bolitar's past and introspection of his current life. New readers of the Bolitar series would be lost on many of the important twists, and I was even a bit confused as it's been awhile since I last "visited" Bolitar. I also missed the constant Bolitar/Win interactions, as Win plays a much smaller role in Live Wire.
If the Bolitar series continues (as there's some question about that at the end), then taking a novel to reveal some character history is occasionally needed. I just wish that there had been more of the magic that made these novels so much fun to read.
Disclosure:
Obtained From: Library
Payment: Borrowed
It was good news when I finally made it to the top of the library hold list for Harlan Coben's return of Myron Bolitar in Live Wire. It's been a favorite series in the past, and I looked forward to some fast-paced adventures with Bolitar and his sidekick, Win (Windsor Horne Lockwood III). But this novel ended up being more introspective than I expected, and it didn't have quite the same drive as previous works. As a fan of Coben and the Bolitar character, it was worth reading. It just wasn't worth staying up late over...
In Live Wire, Bolitar is drawn into an investigation by Suzze Trevantino, a young tennis star he represented in her short but successful career. She's been clean from drugs (or so she says), happy, and pregnant, but an anonymous comment on Facebook suggests that the baby doesn't belong to her husband. The hubby has run off and hid, and she wants Bolitar to find him. But the more he digs into the mystery, the more he's forced to confront his own past. His drug-addicted sister-in-law, his brother, his father, and a nephew he doesn't know much about all figure into the mix, and he's forced to confront the effects of a rash and harsh choice he made many years ago. Meanwhile, no one is really who they appear to be, and each uncovered mystery spawns new threads to be pulled.
Live Wire does show off the great dialogue of past Bolitar novels, but it doesn't seem to have much room to navigate here. While the main plot involves murder and mystery, it shares equal space with Bolitar's past and introspection of his current life. New readers of the Bolitar series would be lost on many of the important twists, and I was even a bit confused as it's been awhile since I last "visited" Bolitar. I also missed the constant Bolitar/Win interactions, as Win plays a much smaller role in Live Wire.
If the Bolitar series continues (as there's some question about that at the end), then taking a novel to reveal some character history is occasionally needed. I just wish that there had been more of the magic that made these novels so much fun to read.
Disclosure:
Obtained From: Library
Payment: Borrowed
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