Costco Connection - April 2009

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The plot’s the thing
Harlan Coben finds success again in Long Lost
By Shana McNally

IN A SENSE, Harlan Coben’s books follow a pattern. Most crime fiction, mystery novels and thrillers feature a regular-guy protagonist who is close to his family and friends but finds himself in a spot of trouble.

How he gets out of it is where Coben differentiates himself and excels.

“I love to write books that you would take on vacation but make you want to stay in your room and read instead of going out,” the Costco member told The Connection in a recent phone interview from his Newark, New Jersey, home.

“I write novels of immersion, page-turners that send a chill up your spine in the middle, fool you at the end and make you want to stay up too late,” he says.

The first writer to have won an Edgar Award, a Shamus Award and an Anthony Award—all honor excellence in mystery and detective writing—certainly accomplishes that as he visits old friend Myron Bolitar for the first time in three years in his latest, Long Lost.

The series, which debuted in 1995, features Bolitar, a former basketball player turned sports agent who finds himself investigating murders involving his clients. Supporting characters include Esperanza, Big Cindi and Windsor “Win” Horne Lockwood III.

“No matter how great the plot is, the reader

needs to care about the characters,” says Coben, who also is sold on plotting twists and turns.

Coben says the idea for this book came about because he knew he wanted to revisit

another character, TV anchorwoman Terese Collins, and had thought of a good ending.

“Then it kept nagging me, marinating in the

brain fridge,” says Coben, w the Bolitar series because it ^ho ^likesuses the “same muscle, but a slightly different tune. In my other books I use more regular guys with no knowledge of how to handle the situations Myron does.”

BÉATRICE LE GRAND

Because Coben often sets his stories in his native New York–New Jersey area, he says, “I also wanted to expand from something small to international implications, which is something new.”

Despite 18 bestselling novels published in more than 38 languages, including nine featuring Bolitar,

Harlan Coben

Coben still has the occasional worry about his future as a writer.

Maybe that’s because of his rocky start. An Amherst College political science graduate, he originally worked in his family’s travel business and felt the “calling” after a trip to Spain’s Costa del Sol in the early 1980s that inspired him to write about the experience.

His first two books were not bestsellers, and between working full time and writing while starting a family, he had his moments of doubt.

“I have no other marketable skills, but I do have the big three—inspiration (I’m often inspired), perspiration (I work hard) and desperation (I’m not meant to do anything else),” the 47-year-old author wisecracks.

He also has a system that works for him. He starts with an idea taken from real life and then takes it to the next level by asking himself, “What if?”

This system has led to a routine that revolves around writing in the morning, taking a break at lunch and then working for a few hours in the afternoon, ultimately producing up to 50 pages a day and one book per year.

The little spare time he has is spent with his four children, ages 7 to 14, and his pediatrician wife, Anne; answering reader e-mails; and trying to play golf.

“I want each book to be better than the one before and to blow you away,” Coben concludes, noting that he puts a lot of pressure on himself, but that his goal is to always write better and better books.

Mission accomplished. C

Pennie Clark
Ianniciello
Costco Book Buyer

Signed book giveaway

COSTCO HAS 50 copies of Harlan Coben’s Long Lost with signed bookplates to give away. To enter, print your name, membership number, address and daytime phone number on a postcard or letter and send it to: Harlan Coben, The Costco Connection, P.O. Box 34088, Seattle, WA 98124-1088. Or send an e-mail to giveaway@costco.com, with “Harlan Coben” in the subject line.

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THIS SWEEPSTAKES. Purchase will not improve odds of winning. Open to legal residents of the U.S. (except Puerto Rico) who are age 18 or older at the time of entry and who are current Costco members. One entry per household. Entries must be received or postmarked by May 1, 2009. Winners will be randomly selected and notified by mail on or before June 1, 2009. The value of the prize is $26.95. Void where prohibited. Winners are responsible for all applicable federal, state and local taxes. Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received. Employees of Costco or Penguin Group and their families are not eligible.

FRANCE FREEMAN

OF THE MANY things I could say about Harlan Coben and his string of bestsellers, what I most want to say is: He’s an awfully nice guy. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that an author who makes a living writing mysteries and detective fiction is that nice. But he is, and I am secretly, pleasantly surprised. To top if off, he’s also a great writer. His newest novel, and this month’s Book Buyer’s Pick, Long Lost, is no exception.

Recurring character Myron Bolitar travels to France to help an old lover. An unexpected piece of evidence turns the case upside down, and soon the two are racing to stay ahead of Homeland Security, Interpol and the Mossad.