The Final Detail

Media:	Mass Market Paperback
Author:	Harlan Coben
Publisher:	Island Books
Release date:	08 February, 2000
Our price:	$7.99

The Final Detail

Average rating: Stars

Never Saw it Coming ...

After reading most of his more recent works, I have become a BIG Harlan Coben fan. Gone For Good, Tell No One, Just One Look are three of the best books I have read in a long time. Hungry for more Coben, I went back to read some of his earlier work, picking up The Final Detail.

While I found the book enjoyable to read, it is not as satisfying as his more recent books. The protagonist, sports agent Myron Bolitar, is a well-developed, sypmathetic character, and it is fun to follow him on his rather improbable adventures. But I found many of the other characters in the book to be more cartoonish and less believable. The biggest disappointment for me was the conclusion which smacked a bit of pulling a rabbit out of a hat. While it was a tidy conclusion, it was unsatisfying because the reader had no hints of what the outcome would be. Rather than "Oh my! Of course that's what happened! Why didn't I see it!" the reader is left scratching his head and wondering why Coben wrote a conclusion that did not flow logically from what had gone before.

I am eagerly looking forward to reading Coben's next book (The Innocent), but doubt that I'll be reading any more of the Myron Bolitar books.

The Final Detail - Harlan Coben

Too confusing

Despite the glowing reviews of other reviewers who are obviously fans of his hero, Myron Bolitar, as a first time reader of this series, I found that it was all too confusing, with frequent references to characters who have appeared in other books but who have been given no roles in this one, with suggestions made that their parts in Myrons' life have been major. A formerly well known sports star who is making a come back, is found, apparently murdered, with clues found leading to the arrest of Myrons' partner. Add some scenes with murderous transvestites creating havoc for Myron and his friends and the plot gets even more confusing. I'm sure that if you knew who the author was writing about, it would have been much more interesting so consequently can't give this book more than 3 stars.

Harlan Coben - The Final Detail

More, more marvellous Mryon

There are worse things a guy can do when his life and business are falling apart around him. Alone in the Caribbean with a luscious brunette, sports promoter Myron Bolitar is however relieved to be dragged away from his island escapade and delivered back into the real world. His best buddy Win believes there's a lot of music Myron has to face - clients leaving in droves, upset family and friends, the usual array of thugs wanting to rearrange his pretty face and the news that his business partner and other best friend, Esperanza Diaz, has been charged with the murder. The deceased happens to be a client too, so hey, double bad news.

What Myron can't understand is why Esperanza is shutting him out. She's not allowing Myron or anyone connected with him to help find whoever it is that killed Clu Haid, recovering sports star and all round schmuck. Those who know Esperanza well - yes they know she's capable but know that she wouldn't have done it. One of MB Sportsrep's biggest clients had trusted Myron to take care of their newest recruit and said recruit winding up dead is not the best start to a business relationship. Adding to the murk and chaos that is Myron's life is one missing girl. Someone is anonymously pushing Myron to investigate, and it can't be a co-incidence that all roads are leading squarely back to number one, Mr Bolitar himself.

It just isn't possible to read a book of this series and not stock up on your witty one liners, coming away with the feeling that if you ever needed someone smart to hit the bars with, Harlan Coben and his snappy dialogue would be first choice. Every page is full of the delicious smart aleck lines that Myron and Win effortlessly deliver, and all secondary characters are pretty quick on the delivery too. "The Final Detail" is not the awesomely moving novel it has been described as, but it is a very good read in an excellent series. There is so much going on in Myron's life that you could isolate any sub plot and build a story around it; Coben manages to serve it all up at once. Myron Bolitar is a classic character no crime collection should be without, and if some of his arrested development begins to annoy, there are plenty of other unique characters in Bolitar world that will capture and hold your fascination.

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