The Summer of Myron Bolitar

My daughter and are crushing on Myron Bolitar and his buddy Windsor Horne Lockwood III, better known as Win. There’s only one problem: Myron and Win are fictional creations from the brain of Harlan Coben. Actually, I guess that’s a good thing since I’m happily married.

Like any crush, this goes back to a love at first sight experience though I guess love at first reading would be a better description. I purchased Long Lost, the latest Myron Bolitar mystery, a few months back and devoured it.

What can you say about characters that just leap off the page and a mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end? You say: “I’ve got to have more!” Then you start searching bookstores or Amazon if you don’t have time to get to the nearest bookstore. Because of our frequent reading and listening to these books, I’ve decided to call this hot season the summer of Myron Bolitar.

In my case, the next Myron Bolitar mystery I got was the audio book version of Long Lost, performed by Steven Weber of Wings fame. He’s a consummate actor on screen who did a good job with the voice performance. I thought my daughter would enjoy listening to it as we made treks to her various doctor appointments. She liked it so much that we listened to it again as we traveled to our house in the Hill Country. So did I. In fact, I immediately visited Mr. Coben’s website and made a list of the other books in the series.

The Myron Bolitar Series

Deal Breaker, book 1, nominated for an Edgar® and the Anthony® which it won.

Drop Shot, 2nd Myron Bolitar Novel.

Fade Away, 3rd Myron Bolitar Novel which finally won the Edgar®.

Back Spin, 4th Myron Bolitar Novel.

One False Move, 5th Myron Bolitar Novel.

The Final Detail, 6th Myron Bolitar Novel.

Darkest Fear, 7th Myron Bolitar Novel.

Promise Me, book 8.

Long Lost, book 9.

Then I paid a visit to Amazon, my usual place to drop lots of bucks, and went crazy. I ordered books 1 – 4 on audio. So far we’ve listened to Deal Breaker, book 1, and Drop Shot, book 2, during our trips to the Hill Country. I am amazed at how I can’t figure out whodunnit until the end. I’m always surprised, but when you look at the story in its entirety, it makes sense and isn’t something pulled out of left field.

Books 1 through 4 are performed by the amazing Jonathan Marosz. He shines and makes one wonder why he wasn’t contracted to perform Long Lost, the first audio book to which I’d listened. Mr. Marosz has performed in regional national theater from Shakespeare to contemporary works. He is simply astounding as an audio book performer.

At the moment, we have an unabridged Elizabeth Peters loaded into the CD deck in the car. It’s a massive 10 CD audio book and is superb with Barbara Rosenblat as the performer. However, I can hardly wait until it’s finished so I can load up book 3, Fade Away.

Takeaway Truth

If you want humor, gripping mystery, and characters that come alive, run, don’t walk, to your nearest bookstore and get a Myron Bolitar Novel. Whether you get print, digital, or audio, you’ll not be disappointed.

Tags: audio book, harlan coben, jonathan marosz, myron bolitar, mystery, steven weber, Windsor Horne Lockwood III