The blazing talent of rookie quarterback Christian Steele has both him and his sports agent Myron Bolitar poised on the very edge of the big time. All that fame and glory prepares to vanish when Steele gets a phone call from a former girlfriend everyone believed to be dead. In order to save a kid's career and his own, Bolitar finds himself up against the dark side of his business, trying to unravel tragedy, secrets, and lies.
You can't read crime fiction for as long as I have and not run into the name of Harlan Coben. What you can do is ignore your favorite authors and all your friends who share the same reading tastes and not read any of his books. Fortunately, I eventually wise up, and I'm glad I did. After devouring Deal Breaker, I now know that Myron Bolitar is my kind of character, and Harlan Coben is my kind of writer.
Coben took me right into the heart of a business that I knew very little about. Representing athletes and negotiating contracts can be cutthroat, and Coben makes this very clear. His main character is a testosterone-filled delight with a very interesting past that I refuse to tell you. If you want to know what it is, you're going to have to read the books yourself, just like me. The only thing that I will divulge is that Myron Bolitar is a man who will do the right thing-- even at great cost to himself. His secretary Esperanza tries to keep him out of trouble, but sometimes help is required, and that help comes in the form of his friend Win Lockwood, a man someone aptly describes as Myron's "psychotic Tonto." (The only thing that would make Lockwood scarier is if he were a bad guy.)
Coben has crafted a multi-layered mystery filled with lots of suspects and plenty of motives, and while I was falling under Myron's spell and trying to figure out whodunit, I was laughing out loud at all the wit. If you love absorbing mysteries with wonderful characters and a brilliant use of humor, do what I finally did: start reading Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar series.
Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben
ISBN: 9780440220442
Bantam Dell © 1995
Mass Market Paperback, 350 pages
Private Investigator, #1 Myron Bolitar mystery
Rating: A+
Source: Paperback Swap
