Darkest Fear (Myron Bolitar Series #7)

\ From Barnes & NobleBolitar Speechless? Shocking, but True\ He's smart-mouthed. He's shrewd. And try as he may, he just can't seem to live a simple life as a sports agent. Myron Bolitar is back, and he's about to find himself speechless, in Edgar Award-winning Harlan Coben's latest, Darkest Fear. \ Things are not looking good at MB Sportsreps. Business is floundering, their client wall is looking like a patchwork of has-beens, and even Myron's receptionist, Big Cyndi, is throwing in the towel. Myron's personal life is in a shambles as well -- he's crashing at Win's Central Park West apartment, his parents are selling the house he grew up in, and his father is not in good health. It looks like things can't get any worse, until his ex-girlfriend from college, Emily, calls him with news that will change his life forever.\ Emily, who married Myron's on-court archrival from days as a college basketball player, Greg Downing (who, incidentally, ended Myron's career with a knee injury), has troubles of her own. Her son, Jeremy, is dying of leukemia, and only a bone-marrow transplant can save his life. In a twist of fate that could turn fatal, they've found a match in the marrow registry -- but the mysterious donor is nowhere to be found. And then Emily hits him with the really big news: Jeremy is Myron's son, conceived the night before Emily married Greg. Floored by sudden fatherhood and the fear that it will all be taken from him before he has the chance to understand what this revelation might mean, Myron will stop at nothing to find the mysterious donor.\ But even with the expert assistance of Esperanza and Win, his manhunt proves to be the challenge of a lifetime, and he's going to need all the help he can get -- even going so far as to grudgingly team up with his former rival, Greg. Spying the donor's name out of the registry's confidential files, Myron and Greg follow a lead to rural Connecticut. And while what they find appears to be a deadend, it raises more questions than answers, and they soon realize they've opened the door to a nightmare of inestimable proportions.\ The name of the donor, Davis Taylor, appears to be the new identity of Dennis Lex, a long-missing son of a wealthy and infamously private novelist, Raymond Lex. But why would Dennis Lex change his name, and why would he vanish without a trace? But that's just the beginning. It seems Dennis Lex, or Davis Taylor, is in some way affiliated with an unemployed journalist with a dark past, Stan Gibbs, who was fired for publishing a plagiarized interview with a serial kidnapper. It seems the "Sow the Seeds" kidnapper, a vicious sociopath who thrived on the darkest fears of his victims' families, was a fictional character stolen straight out of a horror novel. And no one believes he is real -- until he resurfaces and strikes again.\ Darkest Fear is more than a mystery; it is also a story about fatherhood, about homecoming, and about the basest of human instincts. But while this is a case that hits home for Myron, don't worry -- he's not getting completely sappy on you. He's every bit the cocky smart-ass you expect him to be, and more. With the stakes raised, Myron roars through this novel with a mouth that cracks like a whip, with his fearsome sidekick Win who likes to crack skulls. As they get closer and closer to the missing donor and possibly the kidnapper, this novel positively sizzles with some of the hottest detective work you've ever seen and twists and turns that would make even the most savvy sleuth trip on his laces.\ Harlan Coben throws out the playbook in this new novel, which is a full-court press with suspense and full of surprises in the final quarter. Myron Bolitar fans: This one is a slam dunk.\ Elise Vogel is a freelance writer who lives in New York City.\ \ \ \ \ \ Toby BrombergHarlan Coben has outdone himself with Darkest Fear, the thrill read of the season. This plot is a nail-biter, and Coben explores the relationships between fathers and sons as keenly as he plots suspense. \ — Romantic Times\ \ \ Barnes & Noble Guide to New Fiction"Witty" sports agent Myron Bolitar faces the toughest case of his career, when his ex-girlfriend reappears with devastating news: Not only is her thirteen-year-old son dying, but the boy is Bolitar's biological son, conceived the night before her wedding to another man. "An exciting story with plenty of twists and turns. Never a lull in the action." "An excellent afternoon's escape." "Jerry Maguire, move over."\ \ \ \ \ Publishers WeeklyBook seven in Coben's wonderfully rich series (after 1999's The Final Detail), which features sports agent Myron Bolitar, former basketball player and totally believable human being, is all about fathers, sons and the intricate and often painful chains that link them together. Myron, who has just moved out of his parents' house at the age of 34, is worried about his father's health after a heart attack, but it's hard for either of them to talk about the older man's condition. Myron tends to have long relationships with women that end in tears. ("You're in your mid-thirties, single, sensitive, and you like show tunes," says his current lover, a troubled television star. "If you were a better dresser, I'd say you were gay.") Emily, his college girlfriend from Duke who dumped him for a more successful basketball rival, re-enters the picture to tell him that her critically ill 13-year-old son needs a bone marrow transplant, but the only suitable registered donor has disappeared. Can Myron find him? And, by the way--Myron is the boy's real father. The search takes Myron deep into some decades-old unsolved crimes involving another father and son--a sadistic deranged killer and a conflicted newspaper columnist. Myron's deadly preppy friend, Win, is on hand to supply his own frightening brand of violence, and the gorgeous Esperanza Diaz, the former wrestler who's now a full partner in MB SportsReps, supplies wisdom as well as glamour. But the heart of the novel is, as always, the fallible but infinitely appealing, accessible figure of Myron Bolitar--a modern Don Quixote complete with knee brace and cell phone, ready to take on the world's problems. (June) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\|\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalManhattan sports agent Myron Bolitar is shocked when his former college lover informs him he is the father of her 13-year-old son, who has anemia. But the girlfriend--now inimically divorced from her husband--only uses that fact to convince him to locate the boy's bone-marrow donor, who has disappeared. Bolitar's subsequent quest pits him against a wealthy, publicity-shy, and bitterly scrapping family with hitherto secret connections to a crazed kidnapper. Crisp, focused prose, a wisecracking but gallant hero, and a busy plot make this essential for most collections. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\\\ \ \ \ \ School Library JournalYA-Struggling to keep his sports agency afloat, Myron Bolitar is not thrilled to have a former girlfriend resurface after many years. Sadly, her 13-year-old son desperately needs a bone-marrow transplant from a person who has mysteriously disappeared. The woman asks for Myron's help in locating the missing donor and confides to him that he is the boy's father. Against his better judgment, the protagonist begins to search for the man who can save Jeremy's life. The plot twists are numerous as Myron stumbles upon a powerful family hiding a grave secret, a serial killer reinvented from a plagiarized novel, and a missing person with a dual identity. Myron's wit and personality- plus his partners, Win and lesbian-wrestler lawyer Esperanza-add a light touch whenever the novel becomes too dark. Suspense, mystery, DNA matching, missing persons, and a shoot-out at the end will keep YAs enthralled. This seventh book in the series will make new fans and not disappoint old ones.-Katherine Fitch, Rachel Carson Middle School, Fairfax, VA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\ \ \ \ \ Kirkus ReviewsYears after a mauled knee ended his basketball career in his first preseason game, sports agent Myron Bolitar is still taking body blows. The latest is the news that he has a son by Emily Downing, the college sweetheart whose wedding to rival hoopster Greg Downing he celebrated perhaps too vigorously with her the night before. Emily's kept her secret for 13 years, but now that Jeremy's been diagnosed with life-threatening Fanconi anemia, she begs his help in locating a bone-marrow donor who'd be a perfect match for their son if only he hadn't vanished. And it gets worse. Myron's search for the missing donor swiftly drags him into the nightmare world of a serial kidnapper whose whispered phone mantra to his victims' loved ones—"Sow the seeds"—has been spreading terror for years; to the reporter whose exclusive stories on the kidnapper sent his career soaring before wrecking it and killing his girlfriend; and to the obscenely wealthy Lex family, whose members aren't shy about using their money to destroy anyone who crosses their path—anyone like Myron, for instance. As the complications deepen, the oppressively playful badinage of the opening chapters falls away, revealing Coben (The Final Detail, 1999, etc.) once again as one of the most inventive plotters in the business—until he tries one spin too many with an epilogue that's too twisty, too sentimental, and way too long. Even so, Myron runs rings around most of the tough-guy competition in the amateur division, like a class clown who's much more than just a funny face.\ \