BOOK REVIEW: The Match by Harlan Coben

Shane | 20 July 2022 | Reply

BOOK REVIEW: The Match by Harlan Coben
Penguin Random House
March 2022
Paperback, rrp $32.99

Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
88%
Thriller

The term “unputdownable” is overused nowadays, but rarely does it apply so accurately as with Harlan Coben’s latest, The Match.

The Netflix darling is on a roll with novel number thirty-four-ish, pitching an ex-marine named Wilde, who was found feral in the woods as an abandoned child, against an unknown killer erasing all traces of a possible DNA match which might shed some light on who he was, and how he came to be living in the forest all alone.

Coben’s gift is tight plotting and believable characters, and despite some initial reluctance (why do the heroes of these stories have to ALWAYS be ex-military?), it isn’t long before the reader is engrossed and interested in the outcome to Wilde’s situation.

This is apparently the second book featuring Wilde, but since I am unfamiliar with The Boy In The Woods, and the back blurb doesn’t specifically state it’s a sequel, I launched into The Match without the backstory, and it didn’t seem to matter much.

Corben takes a few well-aimed shots at reality television and internet trolls as Wilde goes deeper down the rabbithole trying to find the family which left him to scavenge for a living in the woods, and of course he ties it all together very nicely by the end of the book.

With Netflix making just about any Corben property they can get their hands on, I wouldn’t be surprised to see The Match and it’s prequel on the channel sooner rather than later, but for book lovers, this is a taut and well-written populist thriller which will help you while away a few nights, or a holiday beside the swimming pool.