The 'Undisciplined' Ambition of Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben describes himself as "not a particularly disciplined person."

That's probably not the self-description you'd expect from someone who's written more than a book a year over the past quarter-century—including such bestsellers as Tell No One, Hold Tight, and Fool Me Once—and created the TV series The Five and Safe. But Coben, 57, confesses that he's only human.

"I'm forgetful, I'm disorganized, if you want me to serve on a board I'm the guy who forgets to show up," he says in an interview from his home in northern New Jersey.

Writing, however, is different.

"I love to tell the story. I love to have that communication with the reader. And the only way I can have that is to actually do the work," he says.

Coben's latest work, Run Away, is a prime example of his craft. The book features a wealthy Manhattanite named Simon Greene whose daughter tumbles into a world of drugs. One day he spots her in Central Park, she flees, and the battle is joined, with Simon exploring some of the darkest corners of modern life in an effort to bring her back. Along the way, he discovers that there are secrets about his family he never suspected.


For Coben, the book's release is the best part.

"I love this moment. Run Away, to me, is not a book yet. Run Away, to me, is a book now, when people start to read it, when [its characters] Simon and Ash and Dee Dee and Elena come to life in people's heads, and we have that one-on-one communication. That's when I become a writer."

Coben spoke with Goodreads contributor Todd Leopold about the origins of Run Away, his TV projects, and his ability to write in the back of an Uber. The interview has been edited and condensed.

Goodreads: Where did the idea for Run Away come from?

Harlan Coben: This was three or four different ideas I ended up putting together into one book. I wanted to do something involving these popular ancestry/DNA websites, I wanted to do something with a cult, and I wanted to do something with drugs.

But where it all came together was, I often sit in Central Park on that very bench where [the book] opens. I was listening to a street musician mangle John Lennon, and I did what I do for all my books: I keep asking "What if?" What if that street musician was my child? What if I hadn't seen her in a while, and when I approach everything goes wrong? That was really what started it all.



GR: I've read that you know the beginning and the ending of your books, but not the middle. Was the same true with Run Away?

HC: I knew the final twist. The hard part in this one is there are three or four major revelations.

While I hope this ending is a surprise, I wanted to make it linger and haunt a little bit. It's one of my favorite books. I'm loving the early reaction.

GR: How much research do you do?

HC: I'm not a big researcher, because I think for a book that's written in the modern era, sometimes research is a danger. You get caught up in doing the research and not writing the book. So most of the stuff pops up in my daily life. I have a lot of characters who are doctors in my books, perhaps because my wife is a physician. I walk through Central Park all the time. And sometimes I stumble across information that I just save, and sometimes it's just talking to someone in the actual industry who does what I'm writing about.

Most of my research comes from speaking to people. One, it's faster; two, sometimes it's more accurate; but three, it gives you a bit of color. Whenever I speak to someone directly, they always give me some kind of factoid that gives me a bit of insight.

GR: Run Away and your other books have an amazing energy. It reminds me of Elmore Leonard's famous advice to not use frilly words, just "he said, she said," and drive things with dialogue. Do you have similar rules?

HC: I loved Dutch—he was the coolest guy in every room. And there's not a time, whenever I think I'm going to use something besides "said" or an adverb, I don't hear his voice in my head and reminds me "uh, uh, uh." I still break some of those rules. But the favorite I often quote is I try to cut all the parts you'd normally skip, which in my opinion is the single greatest piece of writing advice.

GR: Not only are you writing books, you're doing TV series now. How do you juggle all that?

HC: The first time I did TV was maybe two or three years ago. I had two shows out—The Five in England and No Second Chance in France. My publisher was a little bit nervous, so to prove them wrong, I wrote two books that year instead of one.

I think I'm what you would call a socially adept introvert. So I really love [getting out] for a little while, and after I've done it for a while, all I want to do is go back in my room and write. So right now they're feeding each other rather than taking away from each other.

I'll be doing a lot with Netflix. They own the next five books, including Run Away. We did a five-year deal where they pretty much own all of my non-series books. The plan is to make them in various languages.

GR: Who were some of your favorite writers growing up?

HC: My favorite writer is Philip Roth. His life and framework is around where I grew up. I just reread American Pastoral. I'm not sure there's a better novel I've ever read.

Growing up, I was really into C.S. Lewis' Narnia series, [Madeleine L'Engle's] A Wrinkle in Time, [Roald Dahl's] Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Then when I was 15 or 16, Marathon Man by William Goldman was a major influence.

My parents were big readers, and books were revered in my house. Though we didn't necessarily have money to buy every toy we wanted, we could always get any book we wanted. My mom's side of the bed was always overflowing with books.

GR: What are you reading now?

HC: I'm reading Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan now. And I usually have something else going. I'm a big short story fan.

GR: In an interview several years ago, when your kids were younger, you said that you don't write at home. Is it still true?

HC: I can write anyplace if you give me some quiet. I write on airplanes, trains, in the back of cars, wherever I can. A few books ago, I took an Uber into Manhattan one day, and I felt guilty about spending the money on an Uber. So when I was sitting in the back I wrote, and I wrote really, really well, so for the next three weeks, I took Ubers every day. Whatever works. When it stops working, I move.