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The Match by Harlan Coben | Book Review

Jun. 01, 2023

Harlan Coben is a new author, sort of, to me. I have seen some of his television programs in the past so I know of his work but I hadn’t read any of it until now.

The Match by Harlan Coben | Book Reviewfive-stars
The Match by Harlan Coben
Series: Wilde #2
Genres: Mystery, Thriller

'At the age of somewhere between 35 and 45 - he didn't know exactly how old he was - Wilde found his father ...'

Wilde has grown up knowing nothing of his family, and even less about his own identity . All he knows is that, as a young child, he was found living a feral existence in the Ramapo mountains of New Jersey.

He became known simply as Wilde, the boy from the woods.

Now Wilde has had a hit on the DNA website he has been researching. A 100% match. His father. They meet up, and Wilde soon realises that his father doesn't even know he had a son and is as mystified as Wilde is by his existence.

Undaunted, Wilde continues his research for his family on DNA websites where he becomes caught up in a community of online doxxers, a secret group committed to exposing anonymous trolls.

Then one by one these doxxers start to die, and it soon becomes clear that a serial killer is targeting this secret community - and that his next victim might be Wilde himself ...

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I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This is the sequel to The Boy in the Woods, which I haven’t read. I will say after reading this one I think I should have read the first one. While this does work as a stand alone I think I felt as though I missed out on learning more about Wilde. He grew up alone in the wilderness but now has uploaded his DNA on an ancestry site in the hopes of figuring out who his parents were.

He finds the match to one parent as well as another possible family member. That family member leads him on a journey filled with danger. There are some murders, reality show contestants, and plenty of twists to leave you guessing. That is one thing that drew me to this book. Having watched a few of the television series based on Coben’s books in the past I knew he always had plenty of twists and turns that leave you guessing. 

The Match is no exception to that. Every single time it seems like I was figuring things out there would be a twist that left me wondering what was going on. It is by far one of the best mysteries that I have read this year so far. It was entertaining and I had to read it all in one sitting. I just had to know what happened.

five-stars

About Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and one of the world’s leading storytellers. His suspense novels are published in forty-five languages and have been number one bestsellers in more than a dozen countries with seventy-five million books in print worldwide.

His books have earned the Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony Awards, and many have been developed into Netflix Original Drama series, including his adaptations of The Stranger, The Innocent, Gone for Good and The Woods. His most recent adaptation for Netflix, Stay Close, premiered on December 31, 2021 and stars Cush Jumbo, James Nesbitt, and Richard Armitage.

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Category: Review Tags: NetGalley

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Elizabeth says

    June 1, 2023 at 1:05 pm

    I haVen’t read any Coben yet, but this one sounds intriguing!

    Reply
  2. heather says

    June 1, 2023 at 2:28 pm

    I enjoyed reading this review. This book sounds like one I would love to read this summer while at the beach.

    Reply
  3. Bea LaRocca says

    June 1, 2023 at 5:19 pm

    Thank you for sharing your review of The Match, the synopsis has intrigued me and I am looking forward to reading this book and series myself

    Reply
  4. Suzie B says

    June 1, 2023 at 8:19 pm

    I really love Harlan CObens work – I am really looking forward to checking out this new book!

    Reply
  5. Dreaa Drake says

    June 1, 2023 at 9:30 pm

    Ive heard great things about this author but have yet to read it! Deff adding to my tbr!

    Reply
  6. BN says

    June 1, 2023 at 10:54 pm

    odd cover

    Reply
  7. Adriane says

    June 2, 2023 at 2:13 am

    Doxing is an awful trend online

    Reply
  8. Sandra Dufoe says

    June 3, 2023 at 9:35 am

    Didn’t realize this was a second book will have to check out the first one.

    Reply
  9. Adriane says

    June 4, 2023 at 7:41 pm

    thanks for the heads up to read the 1st book

    Reply
  10. Shirley O says

    June 8, 2023 at 10:46 pm

    I haven’t read any Coben yet, This sounds like an interesting read, I will have to check it out.

    Reply
  11. Marisela Zuniga says

    June 8, 2023 at 11:38 pm

    This sounds interesting, thank you for sharing!

    Reply
  12. Nina Lewis says

    June 11, 2023 at 11:15 am

    I’ve read the first book & have this one on the TBR. Thank you for the review! 🙂

    Reply
  13. Kim Henrichs says

    June 21, 2023 at 10:11 am

    Nice book to take to cabo for a beach read!

    Reply

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annoyance becomes my safe place.
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next door becomes my fiercest protector, ready to stand by my side while I fight for my family.
 
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