A surprise visit
from an ex-girlfriend is unsettling enough. But Emily Downing’s
news brings Myron 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: Jeremy is Myron’s son, conceived the
night before Emily’s wedding to another man. Myron is determined to
help him. But finding the missing donor means cracking open a dark
mystery that involves a broken family, a brutal kidnapping spree, and
the FBI. And as doubts emerge about Jeremy’s true paternity, a
child vanishes, igniting a chain reaction of heartbreaking truth and
chilling revelation.
My Rating: *****
Harlan
Coben is one of my favorite authors, and I especially enjoy his Myron
Bolitar series. One thing I will note about this series is that I've
read it out of order, and there are still a few books in it that I
haven't tracked down to read yet. The Myron Bolitar books actually
work as standalone stories. There are progressions with the
characters and their lives throughout the series, but a new reader
could pick up a book that takes place in the middle of the series and
understand what's going on without much trouble.
Darkest Fear is
book seven in this eleven book series, so it's sort of around the end
of the middle of the series (at least of how it stands today). It's a
thrilling mystery, filled with twists and turns that leave you trying
to guess what will happen next.
As
it is part of the series, Darkest Fear also
features the typical Myron Bolitar characters. Myron himself, Win,
Esperanza, etc. It also brings in other characters that have had
roles to play in Myron's past or that are in some way connected with
the big mystery at hand. It was interesting piecing together
everyone's goals and motivations as the story progressed to see what
role they had in the mystery.
As
I said before, the Myron books can work as standalone stories, and
Darkest Fear is no
exception. The overall mystery is completely wrapped up by the end of
the novel. There are no hanging threads (at least none that I could
see) that would require the reader to find another book to get a
complete resolution. Of
course this is still part of a series, and if you want to see what
happens next with Myron, you will have to pick up the next book to
see what's going on in his life and what mystery he discovers next
time around.
Overall,
if you're looking for a mystery-thriller, I highly recommend reading
Darkest Fear (and some
of Harlan Coben's other works as well).
