Harlan Coben

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Harlan Coben, 2006

Harlan Coben (born January 4, 1962) is an American, Jewish author of mystery novels.

Coben, originally named Chaim Cohen^{[citation needed]}, was born in Newark, New Jersey but was raised and schooled in Livingston, New Jersey. After graduating from Amherst College a political science major, he worked in the travel industry, in a company owned by his grandfather. He now lives in New Jersey with his wife, Anne Armstrong-Coben MD, a pediatrician, and their four children^[1].

Coben was in his senior year at college when he realized he wanted to write. His first book was accepted when he was twenty-six but after publishing two stand-alone thrillers in his twenties (Play Dead in 1990 and Miracle Cure in 1991) he decided on a change of direction and began a series of thrillers featuring his character Myron Bolitar^[2]. The novels of the popular series follow the tales of a former basketball player turned sports agent (Bolitar), who often finds himself investigating murders involving his clients.

Coben has won an Edgar Award, a Shamus Award and an Anthony Award, and is the first writer to have received all three. He is also the first writer in more than a decade to be invited to write fiction for the New York Times op-ed page. He wrote a short story entitled "The Key to my Father", which appeared June 15, 2003.

In 2001 he released his first stand-alone thriller since the creation of the Myron Bolitar series in 1995, Tell No One, which was followed by four more stand-alone novels. For his most recent work he returned to his character of Myron Bolitar to create the eighth installment of the series, Promise Me, released May 17, 2006 in the United Kingdom^[1]. His next novel is another stand-alone story titled The Woods, due to be released April 17th 2007 in the USA.

1 Trivia
2 Novels
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Trivia

The plots of Coben's novels often involve the resurfacing of unresolved or misinterpreted events in the past (Such as murders, fatal accidents, etc.) and often have multiple plot twists.

Both series of Coben's books are set in and around New York and New Jersey, and some of the supporting characters in two series of novels have appeared in both.

Harlan Coben is a friend of The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown.

In 2006, Tell No One was made into a film Ne le dis à personne by French actor / director Guillaume Canet.

His novels are most popular in the United States and France.

Born as Haim Cohen.

[edit] Novels

Year	Title	ISBN	Comments
1990	Play Dead	ISBN 0-945167-28-8	Currently out of print
1991	Miracle Cure	ISBN 0-945167-39-3	Currently out of print
1995	Deal Breaker	ISBN 0-440-22044-0	First Myron Bolitar novel. Movie announced
1996	Drop Shot	ISBN 0-440-22045-9	Second Myron Bolitar novel.
1996	Fade Away	ISBN 0-440-22268-0	Third Myron Bolitar novel.
1997	Back Spin	ISBN 0-7528-4916-6	Fourth Myron Bolitar novel.
1998	One False Move	ISBN 0-385-32369-7	Fifth Myron Bolitar novel.
1999	The Final Detail	ISBN 0-385-32371-9	Sixth Myron Bolitar novel.
2000	Darkest Fear	ISBN 0-385-33433-8	Seventh Myron Bolitar novel.
2001	Tell No One	ISBN 0-440-23670-3	Made into a french movie
2002	Gone For Good	ISBN 0-440-23673-8
2003	No Second Chance	ISBN 0-525-94729-9
2004	Just One Look	ISBN 0-525-94791-4
2005	The Innocent	ISBN 0-525-94874-0
2006	Promise Me	ISBN 0-525-94949-6	Eighth Myron Bolitar novel.
2007	The Woods	ISBN 0-7528-7441-1