LIVE WIRE

TITLE: LIVE WIRE
AUTHOR: HARLAN COBEN
Pages: 371
Date: 27/06/2011
Grade: 5-
Details: no. 10 Myron Bolitar
Library

When I had just started reading this book, someone on Twitter told me he'd be interested in my thoughts on this title since he had been disappointed when he read the book. I was a bit worried about that. I've enjoyed all of Harlan Coben's books so far and loved all the Myron Bolitar titles, and I had been really looking forward to reading this latest instalment in the series.
I'm not sure why the tweeter was disappointed by this book, but I'm very glad to say that I wasn't.

The book starts with Myron standing at his father's hospital bed, about to lie to his father for the first time in 16 years. The story then goes back 6 days to the moment when one of Myron's clients, a very pregnant former tennis-star, Suzze, asks him to find her rock-star husband, Lex, who has run off after the paternity of the unborn baby is questioned on facebook.
Looking for the husband leads to Myron coming face to face with his sister in law, Kitty. He hasn't seen either Kitty or his brother for 16 years, but before he can talk to her and ask about his brother she disappears.
Myron is now determined to find his brother and his family, especially after his father has a massive heart-atack and is clinging to life.
But it soon transpires that things are far from straight-forward. Everybody appears to be afraid of something that is somehow connected to the time Kitty and Myron's brother Brad disappeared, but it is unclear what they are afraid of.
And to complicate matters further, there is Mickey, Myron's 15 year old nephew who he has never met before but who blames Myron for everything that is wrong in his life.
When somebody dies and everybody else gets even more afraid, Myron slowly discovers exactly what happened 16 years earlier, exactly what led to the split between him and his brother and who is behind all the fear in the present. Discovering the truth will lead to major changes in Myron's life.

Like I said, I enjoyed this book. The mystery is complicated and keeps the reader guessing. I liked the more personal angle to the investigation and as always smiled at Myron's antics, Big Cindy's appearances and Win's outlook on life.
My only, and slight, objection to this book is that it seems to me that Coben had a dual purpose with this title. Yes, he brought his readers a much longed for new instalment in the Myron Bolitar series. But he also created a vehicle to introduce Mickey Bolitar who is to star in his own young adult book(s?).