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19th out of 21 books
—
129 voters
Darkest Fear (Myron Bolitar #7)
by
Harlan Coben
Myron Bolitar's father's recent heart attack brings Myron smack into a midlife encounter with issues of adulthood and mortality. And if that's not enough to turn his life upside down, the reappearance of his first serious girlfriend is. The basketball star turned sports agent, who does a little detecting when business is slow, is saddened by the news that Emily Downing's 1...more
ebook, 354 pages
Published
November 8th 2008
by Dell
(first published 2000)
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Book number 7 in the Myron Bolitar series by Harlan Coben. Myron is visited by a former college sweetheart, his first real love, Emily Downing. She tells Myron her son is dying from a rare disease that can only be treated with a bone marrow transfusion, but that the only known donor has disappeared. She wants Myron to find him but due to the way their relationship ended Myron declines. Emily then claims that her child was fathered by Myron in an ill advised fling the night before her wedding. My...more
This was not Harlan’s usual quality it was good but not fantastic. Usually his books are like I can’t put them down with lots of twists and turns. This one was just ok. It starts out with Myron’s parents selling the house. Dad’s heart attack has left them desirous of a different lifestyle. Mom is even trying to cook. Bad idea. She can’t cook. The other thing that happens is that Myron finds out he’s the father of a fourteen year old. Emily, I don’t know if you remember her, she is Greg’s wife. G...more
Beginning to exhaust my hunt for the loner, the hunter as a singular and main hero...a new trend seems to be emerging, the disassociation of the hunter and conscientious hero into two separate characters: the main character and his loner side-kick. Several authors embrace this genre motif: Robert Crais's Elvis Cole and his side-kick Joe Pike and of course Harlan Coben's Mylor Bolitar and his elitist side-kick Win.
Of this genre, Coben is probably the most adept at creating complex and winning cha...more
Of this genre, Coben is probably the most adept at creating complex and winning cha...more
This is the seventh book in the Myron Bolitar series, but the second one I have read. I love the cast of characters--1.Myron, a 34 year-old Sports agent who is still a bachelor, still trying to grow up and still trying to find himself after the path to becoming a professional basketball player was abruptly halted when he suffered a career-stopping injury 2. Win, Myron's very wealthy former college roommate who's moral compass is slightly, but justifiably askew 3. Esperanza, Myron's office assis...more
I hereby officially declare Harlan Coben as my favorite writer(among the ones who are still writing). When I pick up one of his books I stay rest assured that come what may I am picking up a book which won’t disappoint me. And he delivers. Be his standalones or his Myron Bolitar series.
Myron is approached by his ex-girlfriend to find a missing bone marrow donor. Emily’s son(of whom Myron is the biological father) is suffering from a disease for which he needs a bone marrow transplant. So, Myron...more
Myron is approached by his ex-girlfriend to find a missing bone marrow donor. Emily’s son(of whom Myron is the biological father) is suffering from a disease for which he needs a bone marrow transplant. So, Myron...more
DARKEST FEAR by Harlan Coben is 319 pages in paperback form. This is #7 in A Myron Bolitor Novel.
Brief Description:
Myron never saw it coming. A surprise visit from an ex-girlfriend is unsettling enough. But Emily Downing's news brings him to his knees. Her son Jeremy is dying and needs a bone-marrow transplant--from a donor who has vanished without a trace. Then comes the real shocker: The boy is Myron's son, conceived the night before her wedding to another man.
Staggered by the news, Myron plun...more
Brief Description:
Myron never saw it coming. A surprise visit from an ex-girlfriend is unsettling enough. But Emily Downing's news brings him to his knees. Her son Jeremy is dying and needs a bone-marrow transplant--from a donor who has vanished without a trace. Then comes the real shocker: The boy is Myron's son, conceived the night before her wedding to another man.
Staggered by the news, Myron plun...more
Family relationships and family secrets are at the heart of thisexciting and page-turning (once you're past the first few chapters) mystery, #7 in the Myron Bolitar series. Myron is first shocked by his parents and their life-changing transitions and then even more shocked that he may have fathered a son 14 years before who is now in need of a bone marrow transplant.
I love the humor in this series and the inside view of a non-typical (I'm guessing) sports agent and his almost unbelievable cohort...more
I love the humor in this series and the inside view of a non-typical (I'm guessing) sports agent and his almost unbelievable cohort...more
This seventh book in the Myron Bolitar series continues with the dark turns the previous two books have taken. However, this novel also examines the relationship between fathers and sons. Myron must face the fact that he and his parents are getting older and that the father and son roles may possibly soon be reversing. Myron must also wrestle with the possibility that he too is a father... of a teenager. Familiar faces make their return in this novel including Greg and Emily Downing, "Aunt" Clar...more
Will start the review by thanking Harlan Coben for giving me the gargantuan joy of reading.
I am thinking of simply writing one review and copy pasting it each time for all his books. Because after a while even I think I am getting repetitive with the praises :)
Amazing book, amazing plot, 'Darkest Fear' is indeed dark. Spooky and creepy at times, but a laughfest nonetheless, this book is like watching a TV show. The events are so well-explained, you feel you are right there!
Myron, the sports agen...more
I am thinking of simply writing one review and copy pasting it each time for all his books. Because after a while even I think I am getting repetitive with the praises :)
Amazing book, amazing plot, 'Darkest Fear' is indeed dark. Spooky and creepy at times, but a laughfest nonetheless, this book is like watching a TV show. The events are so well-explained, you feel you are right there!
Myron, the sports agen...more
This effort was MUCH more interesting than its predecessor. After a massive disappointment in "The Final Detail," Coben comes back to form. This book really moves. Obviously it's a departure from the common theme of the series (and I'll address that in a moment), but coming from a reader who lost his father recently enough for the experience to still be fresh, it not only moves with the speed of a bullet train, but it moves the heart as well. There were still minor issues involving the "Ocean's...more
I'm a big fan of Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar Series, but this one just didn't hold my interest like the others I've read so far. Usually there is a sharp contrast between Myron and Win. Myron stands for justice and that which is morally right. Win is fine with the ends justifying the means. But in Darkest Fear, the line separating the two is quite blurred.
One of my favorite things about the mystery/thriller genre is the protagonist's ability to overcome a series of obstacles. In most cases, th...more
One of my favorite things about the mystery/thriller genre is the protagonist's ability to overcome a series of obstacles. In most cases, th...more
Mon avis: Me voilà repartit dans le genre thriller avec un maître du genre Harlan Coben. Ici, il met en scène Myron Bolitar un de ses personnages récurrents.
Malgré quelques lenteurs en début de roman, l'intrigue prend très vite de l'ampleur, nous entraînant dans un rythme effréné dans l'enquête de Myron. Parfois un peu complexe, l'histoire m'a tenu en haleine jusqu'aux dernières pages.
Le personnage principal, Myron Bolitar, est en décalage avec les personnages de gros flics que l'on peut trouver...more
Malgré quelques lenteurs en début de roman, l'intrigue prend très vite de l'ampleur, nous entraînant dans un rythme effréné dans l'enquête de Myron. Parfois un peu complexe, l'histoire m'a tenu en haleine jusqu'aux dernières pages.
Le personnage principal, Myron Bolitar, est en décalage avec les personnages de gros flics que l'on peut trouver...more
Aug 13, 2011
Elisabeth
added it
I love Myron Bolitar, this softie who also knows how to be a bad boy. And Win... What a pair! Not to mention Esperanza or Big Mama!
In this new episode, Myron is to help his ex-university girlfriend, Emily, with whom he had a last night stand the day before she got married to Myron's nemesis (on the basket-ball court) some 14 years ago, with the consequences we know (cf. One False Move).
He has to find the bone marrow donor for her son, donor who seems to have disppeared, or never really existed....more
In this new episode, Myron is to help his ex-university girlfriend, Emily, with whom he had a last night stand the day before she got married to Myron's nemesis (on the basket-ball court) some 14 years ago, with the consequences we know (cf. One False Move).
He has to find the bone marrow donor for her son, donor who seems to have disppeared, or never really existed....more
I like Coben's character Myron Bolitar. He's humorous and has a buddy named Win who will do anything for him. His parents are witty and he's basically a good guy. However, I found myself becoming annoyed with yet another plot about saving a boy through medical means. Having just read one with almost the same plot, it made you wonder what's going on in Coben's life that he needs to push the issue. In this novel, there are way too many loose ends and a red herring that pops up at the last minute t...more
Another home run by Coben, the Myron Bolitar series is right up with my favorites like Dirk Pitt and Spenser. In Darkest Fear, Myron is asked to find a bone marrow donor for his exes son. The same ex who married Myron's rival in college. What seems like an easy request is anything but. Myron is swept into a complex intrigue, a family who does anything to keep their secrets private, a disgruntled journalist trying to recover his mojo, and the uneasiness of working with others he doesn't trust. Th...more
First off, and this is not a detriment to the book or series, this book has nothing to do with a sports agent, the sports world or sports in general. Sure, the main character is a sports agent, but he could just as easily been a florist and the book would not have changed. That being said, this book is a mystery-thriller. And a very good one at that.
I am/was very impressed that Coben was able to keep the series alive after so many books. I mean, I didn't expect to be this many books into a serie...more
I am/was very impressed that Coben was able to keep the series alive after so many books. I mean, I didn't expect to be this many books into a serie...more
Myron Bolitar is going through a rough time. His business is in a slump, his father has had a heart attack and his parents have decided to sell the family home and move out of the city. Without warning his college girlfriend, Emily, appears and informs Myron that he is the father of her 13 year old son, Jeremy. Jeremy is ill and in need of a bone marrow transplant and the only donor who is a match has disappeared. She asks Myron to try to track down the donor before time runs out. Myron agrees t...more
You just can't help getting sucked into a Harlan Coben book. And again, as usual, it has happened with this book. From the very beginning it was suspenseful. Halfway through the book, when the Sow the Seeds killer was introduced, I found my heart pounding. In the end, you find out who the killer is. Or do you? It doesn't stop there though. Darkest Fear also gives Myron to find forgiveness for the one who helped destroy his basketball career, as well as have empathy for the father who raised him....more
Aug 12, 2012
Linda
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mystery-suspense-thriller
Darkest Fear is an entertaining story of suspense and a great read. The story deals with a missing child, organ donation and the relationship between fathers and sons. This is only the second Coben book I have read and the first with Myron Bolitar. I totally enjoyed this character as well as his cast of quirky sidekicks. The amount of humor in the book was a pleasant surprise and definitely added to the fun. Because I jumped in to the middle of a series it took a bit to figure the background ou...more
Picked this up off the shelf at work. Two day read for me, with a decent plot, and a cast of funky characters. First Coben book I've read. He's so bad that it actually became fun reading. The first paragraph, I'm sure, was actually written as an entry into the Bulwer-Lyton bad writing contest. As a bonus, Coben drops into a 2nd person voice, addressing the reader as an author. He's clearly a fan of Douglas Adams, but lacks his wit.
Not impossible to follow as a standalone novel, but probably one...more
Not impossible to follow as a standalone novel, but probably one...more
I like Myron and Win. I read the books out of sequence, as I find them, which I find makes things more interesting, putting the threads together.
This filled in the Myron-Jeremy link that I'd come across in later books. There was less Win in this book, a shame as I like Win (he wouldn't like me!).
The plotting was classic Coben, with a couple of extra twists and unanswered questions that hung about like bad smells until inspiration struck Myron. Coben captured the savoir faire of today's teenagers...more
This filled in the Myron-Jeremy link that I'd come across in later books. There was less Win in this book, a shame as I like Win (he wouldn't like me!).
The plotting was classic Coben, with a couple of extra twists and unanswered questions that hung about like bad smells until inspiration struck Myron. Coben captured the savoir faire of today's teenagers...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Myron - faces some hard choices and feelings.
His college sweetheart, who dumped him for his basketball nemesis (who paid for the other bb player to hurt Myron, ending up ending Myron’s career), who had sex with him the night before her wedding, drops a bombshell. Her 13 year old son has a cancer that will kill him unless he gets a bone marrow transplant, and the potential donor is gone... and Myron is the kid’s biological father, and she wants his help to locate the donor.
Myron, still in a tails...more
His college sweetheart, who dumped him for his basketball nemesis (who paid for the other bb player to hurt Myron, ending up ending Myron’s career), who had sex with him the night before her wedding, drops a bombshell. Her 13 year old son has a cancer that will kill him unless he gets a bone marrow transplant, and the potential donor is gone... and Myron is the kid’s biological father, and she wants his help to locate the donor.
Myron, still in a tails...more
7th in the Myron Bolitar series.[return][return]Coben continues in this installment to deal with more serious issues other than a witty approach to the mystery genre. [return][return]Aging parents� particularly his increasingly fragile father� and the sale of the only home he has ever known have sobered Bolitar.[return][return]Then lightning strikes in the form of his former lover Emily Downing and, we discovered in the last book, the mother of his 13 year old son. Jeremy is dying and needs a bo...more
Harlan Coben- Darkest Fear (Dell Publishing 2001) 4 Stars
Myron Bolitar is shocked when an ex-girlfriend pays him a visit, only to announce that he is a father and has been for many years. Now his son is in need of a bone marrow transplant and the donor has suddenly disappeared. Is he really a father or is she just telling him that in the hopes that he will investigate and save her son? Either way he intends to find out the truth behind the donor’s disappearance. Suddenly he finds himself in the...more
Myron Bolitar is shocked when an ex-girlfriend pays him a visit, only to announce that he is a father and has been for many years. Now his son is in need of a bone marrow transplant and the donor has suddenly disappeared. Is he really a father or is she just telling him that in the hopes that he will investigate and save her son? Either way he intends to find out the truth behind the donor’s disappearance. Suddenly he finds himself in the...more
This book is a cross between a private investigator and the movie Jerry Maguire (involving a sports agent). A really slow start with chapters that don't appear to flow together. Seems kinda disjointed until around page 140 when it picks up and start making sense.
Myron Bolitar is an ex-basketball star who gets injured and becomes a sports agent. In the slow times, he has been tapped by friends to investigate crimes and such is what happens here. Myron's high school sweetheart calls out of the blu...more
Myron Bolitar is an ex-basketball star who gets injured and becomes a sports agent. In the slow times, he has been tapped by friends to investigate crimes and such is what happens here. Myron's high school sweetheart calls out of the blu...more
Don't ya just love it when you find a "new" author? Harlan Coben is FANTASTIC. This novel, 'Darkest Fear' is his 8th in his "Myron Bolitar" series. I intend to back-track and pick up the others I haven't yet read.
From back cover:
"Edgar Award-winner Harlan Coben brings us his most astonishing-and deeply personal-novel yet. And it all begins when Myron Bolitar's ex tells him he's a father...of a dying thirteen-year-old boy.
Myron never saw it coming. A surprise visit from an ex-girlfriend is unsett...more
From back cover:
"Edgar Award-winner Harlan Coben brings us his most astonishing-and deeply personal-novel yet. And it all begins when Myron Bolitar's ex tells him he's a father...of a dying thirteen-year-old boy.
Myron never saw it coming. A surprise visit from an ex-girlfriend is unsett...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I think Harlan Coben is a great mystery writer and I particularly enjoy the Myron Bolitar series.
Book seven in Coben's series which features sports agent Myron Bolitar, former basketball player and totally believable human being, is all about fathers, sons and the intricate and often painful chains that link them together. Myron, who has just moved out of his parents' house at the age of 34, is worried about his father's health after a heart attack, but it's hard for either of them to talk about...more
Book seven in Coben's series which features sports agent Myron Bolitar, former basketball player and totally believable human being, is all about fathers, sons and the intricate and often painful chains that link them together. Myron, who has just moved out of his parents' house at the age of 34, is worried about his father's health after a heart attack, but it's hard for either of them to talk about...more
Darkest Fear is the seventh novel to feature sports agent and amateur detective Myron Bolitar. Myron is a sad-sack ex-basketball pro who’s a magnet for trouble and for troubled women. In the finest hard-boiled tradition, he’s also a confirmed smart-ass. Myron runs MB SportReps. His best friend is Win, a.k.a. Windsor Horne Lockwood III, wealthy eastern socialite, loyal friend and amoral killer. His assistant and now partner in MB SportReps is Esperanza Diaz, who worked her way through law school...more
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With over 50 million books in print worldwide, Harlan Coben’s last six consecutive novels, SIX YEARS, STAY CLOSE, LIVE WIRE, CAUGHT, LONG LOST and HOLD TIGHT all debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and lists around the world. His first Young Adult novel SHELTER was just released in paperback, and the second in the Mickey Bolitar series, SECONDS AWAY, was released on September 18th....more
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“An hour before his world exploded like a ripe tomato under a stiletto heel, Myron bit into a fresh pastry that tasted suspiciously like urinal cake.”
—
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