Home

Ten years after the high-profile kidnapping of two young boys, only one returns home in this gripping #1 New York Times bestselling Myron Bolitar thriller from the bestselling author and creator of the hit Netflix drama The Stranger . A decade ago, kidnappers grabbed two boys from wealthy families and demanded ransom, then went silent. No trace of the boys ever surfaced. For ten years their families have been left with nothing but painful memories and a quiet desperation for the day that has finally, miraculously arrived: Myron Bolitar and his friend Win believe they have located one of the boys, now a teenager. Where has he been for ten years, and what does he know about the day, more than half a life ago, when he was taken? And most critically: What can he tell Myron and Win about the fate of his missing friend? Drawing on his singular talent, Harlan Coben delivers an explosive and deeply moving thriller about friendship, family, and the meaning of home.

Praise for Home

“Coben knows how to play with readers’ expectations, and he’s crafted another suspenseful and twisty tale. Fans and newcomers alike will feel as if good friends have come home.”—Associated Press

“The lasting appeal of this series lies in Coben’s sympathy for ordinary people who do desperate things when they’re swept up in circumstances they can’t control.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Reading Harlan Coben’s spectacular Home feels like running into an old friend you haven’t seen in years...Coben’s latest reminds us not only of his roots but also his mastery of the genre. As structurally flawless as it is stylistically brilliant, Home is everything great storytelling is supposed to be.”—Providence Journal

“Edgar-winner Coben's action-packed 11th thriller featuring sports agent Myron Bolitar (after 2011's Live Wire) blends family drama with a twisty plot...This page-turner is sure to please Coben's many fans.”—*Publishers Weekly

“Series fans will be happy to see Myron, Win, Esperanza, and other recurring characters...Given the size of Coben’s audience, this one is sure to be popular. With five years since the last Bolitar novel, expect holds.”—*Booklist

“Coben is simply one of the all-time greats—pick up any one of his thrillers and you’ll find a riveting, twisty, surprising story with a big, beating heart at its core.”—Gillian Flynn, bestselling author of *Gone Girl

“[A] standout family thriller....Coben moves *Home at a brisk pace and while he employs his usual twists, each turn is realistic. The heartfelt Home ranks as one of Coben's best, a standout among his 29 novels.”—Sun Sentinel (Florida)

• “Master of ‘the hook.’”—*Charlotte Observer

“Harlan Coben once again proves himself a master at creating a page turner that will keep you up reading until the wee hours and keep you guessing right up until the end. While I’ve read many of Coben's books, I was actually new to the Bolitar series when I was sent a copy of Home. Wow, I am totally hooked! Just when you think you have it all figured out, there's another Coben twist, and believe me when I tell you that he saves the most stunning twist for the very end. It left me with my jaw dropping and with the biggest smile ever as I closed the book.”—Joan Lunden*

*More Praise for Harlan Coben*

“Coben is like a skilled magician saving the best, most stunning trick for the very end.”—*Publishers Weekly (starred review) on *Fool Me Once

• “Coben hits the bull's eye again...masterfully paced plotting...a tale guaranteed to fool even the craftiest readers a lot more than once.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on Fool Me Once 

“Coben proves his thriller mastery once more.”—Entertainment Weekly *on Fool Me Once *

“Harlan Coben, master of the suburban thriller, has written another compelling and twist-filled tale with Fool Me Once...The unpredictability of the story will keep readers literally turning the pages to try and figure out what is really going on. Even those savvy enough to figure out some of the ending will not uncover everything, and the whopper of a payoff not only will have jaws dropping, but also demonstrates Coben's skill as a writer.”—Associated Press on *Fool Me Once

“Coben has done it again with this fast-paced, smart thriller.”—*Library Journal (starred review) on *Fool Me Once

“Harlan Coben has long been the master of the jaw-dropping twist. But in *Fool Me Once, he knocks our legs out from under us as well...Fool Me Once just might be his crowning achievement.”—Providence Journal 

“Harlan Coben is a master of his craft and a wizard with words...Fool Me Once is him at his best and there is no shame in having him trick us one more time. In fact most of us will be begging him to fool us again and again and again.”—Jackie K. Cooper, book critic, The Huffington Post

Auteur

Harlan Coben

Échantillon de lecture
This excerpt is from an advance uncorrected copy proof

Copyright © 2016 Harlan Coben

Chapter 1

The boy who has been missing for ten years steps into the light.

I am not one for hysterics or even feeling much of what might be labeled astonishment. I have seen much in my forty-plus years. I have nearly been killed—and I have killed. I have seen depravity that most would find difficult, if not downright inconceivable, to comprehend—and some would argue that I have administered the same. I have learned over the years to control my emotions and, more important, my reactions during stressful, volatile situations. I may strike quickly and violently, but I do nothing without a certain level of deliberation and purpose.

These qualities, if you will, have saved me and those who matter to me time and time again.

Yet I confess that when I first see the boy—well, he is a teenager now, isn’t he?—I can feel my pulse race. A thrumming sound echoes in my ears. Without conscious thought, my hands form two fists.

Ten years—and now fifty yards, no more, separate me from the missing boy.

Patrick Moore—that is the boy’s name—leans against the graffiti-littered concrete support of the underpass. His shoulders are hunched. His eyes dart about before settling on the cracked pavement in front of him. His hair is closely cropped, what we used to call a crew cut. Two other teenage boys also mill about the underpass. One smokes a cigarette with so much gusto I fear the cigarette has offended him. The other wears a studded dog collar and mesh shirt, proclaiming his current profession in the most obvious of uniforms.

Above, the cars roar past, oblivious to what is below them. We are in King’s Cross, most of which has been “rejuvenated” over the past two decades with museums and libraries and the Eurostar and even a plaque for Platform 9¾, where Harry Potter boarded the train for Hogwarts. Much of the so-called undesirable element have fled these dangerous in-person transactions for the relative safety of online commerce—much less need for the risky drive-by sex trade, yet another positive by-product of the Internet—but if you go to the other side of the literal and figurative tracks, away from those shiny new towers, there are still places where the sleaze element survives in a concentrated form.

That is where I found the missing boy.

Part of me—the rash part I keep at bay—wants to sp…