Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben

Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben
Mystery

Myron Bolitar is an ex-pro basketball player, ex-FBI agent, and now a sports agent. His partner Win is the muscle and money behind the operation. Bolitar signs Christian Steele, and up and coming quarterback, and is trying to get him the best deal he can when Steele gets an anonymous letter in the mail with a magazine containing the picture of his girlfriend who had disappeared a few years ago. Bolitar doesn't want this to affect his client, so he starts to investigate but he has some history with the disappearance as well. Bolifar was dating her sister. Though you wouldn't expect a sports agent to make a good investigator, Bolitar is able to figure things out and start piecing together the puzzle.

Bolitar and Win are interesting characters with a dry sense of humor that makes for some entertaining banter. It's not a typical mystery but was fun and kept my attention. There was just one thing that didn't make much sense. How is it possible for a person to go from sports to the FBI back to sports? This seems impossible and not much is explained about Bolitar's FBI background, making it seem like a detail that Coben wanted to prove that Bolitar could investigate, but hadn't put any thought in to how it came to be. This bothered me throughout the book. I think it would have been better to just say he went from sports, back to school for law, and then became an agent.

First Line: "Otto Burke, the Wizard of Schmooze, raised his game another level."

Rating:
(4/5)

Gone for Good

Gone for Good by Harlan Coben
Mystery

Will Klein's older brother Ken was suspected of killing his girlfriend and then disappearing 12 years ago. His family always believed that he was murdered also.

When Will's mother on her deathbed reveals that Ken is still alive, Will starts to delve into what really happened. He starts investigating Ken and all of Ken's high school gang at the time. Then Will's girlfriend disappears and the FBI come calling, telling him that her fingerprints are at the scene of a double murder in Santa Fe. That is when things keep on getting more 'darker' and more macabre.

This is one of the books with the most twists I have ever read. As suggested by the previous reviewer the writing is choppy but so consistent with my own curt style that it just seemed to fit this mystery.

First Line: "Three days before her death, my mother told me - these weren't her last words, but they were pretty close - that my brother was still alive."

Rating:

(4.0/5)

Tell No One

Tell No One by Harlan Coben
Mystery

David Beck lost the love of his life 8 years ago in a kidnapping and murder. He can not move on from that horrifying night. Two murdered men are found near the lake where his wife was abducted. Then Beck gets an e-mail to watch a webcam. He sees his wife. What is going on?

The FBI are trying to pin her murder on David. The facts of her case just don't add up. There are so many twists and turns. Just when you feel you have it figured out another turn in the story occurs. The bodies start piling up and the facts get murkier and murkier.

A great mystery but I felt the final twist was a bit too much!!!

This book was read for the Numbers Challenge

Rating:

(4.0/5)