Deal Breaker: The First Myron Bolitar Novel Mass Market Paperback – September 25, 2012

Outstanding!!!! Fooled me to the end. I love these books and I love Harlan Coben. All his books should be movies!!!!!

"Deal Breaker" (DB) is the first in a series of 10 books about Myron Bolitar, a sports agent in the NY/NJ area. The series began in 1995, had a six year hiatus beginning in 2000, and the most recent entry was publihed in 2011. Coben received an Edgar for the third book in the series, "Fade Away" for best original paperback. Coben is a prolific writer - in addition to the Myron series, he writes a young adult series re Mickey Bolitar, and many stand alone novels. Also, the early Myron Bolitar books are being re-relesed so readers should consult lists such as Fantastic Fiction ot Wikipedia to ensure stated publication dates are not misleading. I liked DB very much - the plot was very tangled but not overly done, and there were a number of recaps along the way to ensure the reader was keeping up. The characters are likeable and interesting. I am a sports fan (not an addict) so I enjoy the scenes related to Myron's day job. In DB this included getting a rookie signed to his first NFL contract, and attempting to keep another client from being stolen by a rival, "connected" agent. The main plot had to do with the disappearance of a client's girlfriend 18 months earlier and the recent murder of her father. I give this 4 1/2 stars but three annoyances kept this from being five stars for me. First were the super-human traits of Myron and his sidekick Win, who is either a sociopath or psychopath, I'm not sure sure which, but he is lovable none the less. One but usually both are brainy, successful, wealthy, experts in the martial arts, handsome, former athlete, witty, blah, blah, blah. Secondly, too many characters were connected to each other. I believe in six degrees of connection but not three degrees. Finally, there were a number of stretches in the storyline. It could be that because it was an early book and debut for a series, the author tried to do too much in one book, and maybe it all gets toned down a bit in future books; I hope so. I will read more in the series, but I'm not married to it yet.

Smart, fast paced, exciting read. Couldn’t put it down. Kind of dated, obviously, but since I grew up in that time period, it made it even more interesting.

I have never been much of a fan of what I call "gimmick" mysteries, the type which has murders solved by people who have no business being around that much crime: little old ladies, chefs, etc. It's plausible enough that a cop or private eye (or maybe reporter or lawyer) would have to deal with murder on a regular basis, but when it happens to rabbis, cat owners or medieval monks, it stretches credibility. It's a gimmick, a contrivance that lures people into reading the books. That being said, even a gimmick mystery series, in the hands of a capable author, can be quite entertaining. Harlan Coben's tales of sports agent Myron Bolitar certainly fits into that category.Why does this series work well? First of all, because Coben is a good writer. Second, Coben seems to fully realize how contrived these gimmick stories are, and therefore allows a certain level of absurdity and humor, in particular with the supporting characters: Esperanza, Myron's secretary who was once a wrestler known as Little Pocohontas, and Win, Myron's best friend who happens to be a sociopath. These outlandish characters remind the reader that the story should not be taken TOO seriously. On the other hand, we also get genuine suspense and some rather vicious criminals so we can't take the tales too lightly either.Deal Breaker is the first in the Bolitar series. In it, Myron is busy trying to sign college star Christian Steele to a contract with an NFL team. Steele is himself squeaky clean, but he is haunted by his girlfriend Kathy Culver who disappeared years earlier and is presumed dead. Steele, therefore, is quite jarred when he receives a porn magazine in the mail, with Kathy's picture in an ad; he goes to Myron who investigates.Delving into the past also involves Myron with Kathy's sister, Jessica, who is his ex-lover. Between Myron and Jessica they unearth Kathy's secret life that may have led to her death while renewing the sparks between them. Myron has other things to contend with as well, including a rival sports agent who has some nasty mob connections. Fortunately, Win is in his corner, and Win never loses a fight; in fact, it is a source of amusement for Win to provoke fights with vicious low-lifes and then either kill or cripple them (as stated before, Win is a bit of a sociopath, albeit an entertaining one).This early Coben novel may be the weakest in the Bolitar series and it is still great fun and worthy of five stars. For a wonderful blend of the comic novel and the thriller, this book fits the bill.