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Harlan Coben

With over 47 million books in print worldwide, Harlan Coben's last three consecutive novels, Caught, Long Lost and Hold Tight all debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and lists around the world. His next thriller Live Wire will be out in early spring 2011. His books are published in 40 languages around the globe and have been number one bestsellers in over a dozen countries.

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Harlan Coben

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Harlan Coben follows four consecutive #1 New York Times bestsellers with a stand-alone thriller in the vein of his beloved breakout novels Caught and Hold Tight.

Megan is a suburban soccer mom who once upon a time walked on the wild side. Now she's got two kids, a perfect husband, a picket fence, and a growing sense of dissatisfaction. Ray used to be a talented documentary photographer, but at age forty he finds himself in a dead- end job posing as a paparazzo pandering to celebrity-obsessed rich kids. Jack is a detective who can't let go of a cold case-a local husband and father disappeared seventeen years ago, and Jack spends the anniversary every year visiting a house frozen in time, the missing man's family still waiting, his slippers left by the recliner as if he might show up any moment to step into them.

Three people living lives they never wanted, hiding secrets that even those closest to them would never suspect, will find that the past doesn't recede. Even as the terrible consequences of long-ago events crash together in the present and threaten to ruin lives, they will come to the startling realization that they may not want to forget the past at all. And as each confronts the dark side of the American Dream- the boredom of a nice suburban life, the excitement of temptation, the desperation and hunger that can lurk behind even the prettiest facades- they will discover the hard truth that the line between one kind of life and another can be as whisper-thin as a heartbeat.

With his trademark combination of page-turning thrills and unrivaled insight into the dark shadows that creep into even the happiest communities, Harlan Coben delivers a thriller that cements his status as the master of domestic suspense.

Sometimes, in that split second when Ray Levine snapped a picture and lost the world in the strobe from his flashbulb, he saw the blood. He knew, of course, that it was only in his mind’s eye, but at times, like right now, the vision was so real he had to lower his camera and take a good hard look at the ground in front of him. That horrible moment— the moment Ray’s life changed completely, transforming him from a man with a future and aspirations into this Grade-A loser you see in front of you— never visited him in his dreams or when he sat alone in the dark. The devastating visions waited until he was wide-awake, surrounded by people, busy at what some might sarcastically dub work.

The visions mercifully faded as Ray continuously snapped pictures of the bar mitzvah boy.

“Look this way, Ira,” Ray shouted from behind his lens. “Who are you wearing? Is it true Jen and Angelina are still fighting over you?”

Someone kicked Ray’s shin. Someone else pushed him. Ray kept snapping pictures of Ira.

“Where is the after-party, Ira? What lucky girl is getting the first dance?”

Ira Edelstein frowned and shielded his face from the camera lens. Ray surged forward undaunted, snapping pictures from every angle. “Get out of the way!” someone shouted. Someone else pushed him. Ray tried to...

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Praise for Harlan Coben:

"Nobody writes them better than Coben."
-Associated Press

"Harlan Coben's family thrillers touch us where we live."
-The South Florida Sun-Sentinel

"Fiction reading doesn't get much better than this."
-The Huffington Post on Caught

"Coben is one of the best authors around at writing page-turning suspense."
-Chicago Sun-Times

"Coben has perfected the ability to keep numerous balls in the air, plot threads twisting at once, the readers knowing they will all converge at some point, the suspense lying in just how the author will manage it."
-The Daily Beast on Live Wire

Winner of the Edgar Award, Shamus Award and Anthony Award—the first author to win all three—international bestselling author Harlan Coben's critically-acclaimed novels have been called "ingenious" (New York Times), "poignant and insightful" (Los Angeles Times), "consistently entertaining" (Houston Chronicle), "superb" (Chicago Tribune) and "must reading" (Philadelphia Inquirer). His most recent novels, Caught, Long Lost, Hold Tight, The Woods, Promise Me, The Innocent, Just One Look, No Second Chance, Tell No One and Gone for Good have appeared on the top of all the major bestseller lists including the New York Times, London Times, Le Monde, Publishers Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal and USA TODAY.

Harlan's novel Tell No One has been turned into the commercial and critical smash hit French film of the same name, starring Francois Cluzet and Kristin Scott Thomas. The movie was the top box office foreign-language film of the year in USA, won the Lumiere (French Golden Globe) for best picture and was nominated for nine Cesars (French Oscar) and won four, including best actor, best director and best music. To see the trailer, click here and for stills and to see Harlan appearing in the film, visit our gallery page. The movie is now available in DVD and Blu-Ray. An American/Hollywood remake is in the works.

In his first books, Coben immersed himself in the exploits of sports agent Myron Bolitar. Critics loved the series, saying, "You race to turn pages… both suspenseful and often surprisingly funny" (People). After seven books Coben wanted to try something different. "I came up with a great idea that simply would not work for Myron," says Coben. The result was the critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller Tell No One, which became the most decorated thriller of 2001—nominated for an Edgar, an Anthony, a Macavity, a Nero, and a Barry; winner of the Audie Award for Best Audio Mystery/Suspense Book (read by Steven Weber); and a #1 hardcover book on the Book Sense 76 list. Coben followed the success of Tell No One with the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers Gone for Good (2002), No Second Chance (2003), and Just One Look (2004) and The Innocent (2005). Bookspan, recognizing Coben's broad international appeal, named No Second Chance its first ever International Book of the Month in 2003—the Main Selection in 15 different countries.

Coben was the first writer in more than a decade to be invited to write fiction for the New York Times op-ed page. His Father's Day short story, The Key to My Father, appeared June 15, 2003.

Since his critically-acclaimed Myron Bolitar series debuted in 1995, Harlan Coben has won the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award and was nominated for the Edgar two other times. Harlan also won the Anthony Award at the World Mystery Conference, was nominated for another Anthony Award, won the Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America, was nominated for another Shamus, and was twice nominated for the Dilys Award by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

In the United Kingdom, his novel One False Move earned him the prestigious "Fresh Talent Award", given annually by Great Britain's largest bookstore chain, W. H. Smith, and Gone for Good won the W. H. SMITH "Thumping Good Read" Award. In France, Tell No One (Ne Le Dis A Persone) won Le Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle for fiction. His novels have been People magazine Page-Turners of the Week and a Publishers Weekly Best of the Year pick.

Harlan was born in Newark, New Jersey. After graduating from Amherst College a political science major, Harlan worked in the travel industry. He now lives in New Jersey with his wife, Anne Armstrong-Coben MD, a pediatrician, and their four children.

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