DNA Matching Can Be Thrilling—THE MATCH by Harlan Coben Shows Why

The March 2022 release from Harlan Coben, THE MATCH, is a taut and fast-paced thriller charged with dangers and dark deeds -- and underlaid with honest affection and a craving for justice.

That makes it one of the best mysteries of the year so far, worth buying, reading, then waiting a bit and re-reading, because it holds up so well in terms of human value.

THE MATCH begins as a sequel to The Boy From the Woods. Wilde (his only name) survived as an abandoned small child in the woods north of the New Jersey suburbs. In the earlier title, his survival skills assist TV lawyer Heather Crimstein in finding, and finding justice for, a missing girl.

There's no need to read The Boy From the Woods before THE MATCH, though. Wilde's strong bond and interdependence with Heather come through clearly from the start, along with his loyalty and love toward others in Heather's family. And he is understandably determined, at this point in his adult life (post military service), to discover his own roots if he can.

Wilde's submission of his DNA to the online databases, however, opens a door to life-threatening danger. The man identified as his father by the database claims a long-forgotten one-night stand; the man pinpointed as Wilde's cousin may have committed suicide; his other presumed cousins cover a range of misleading to nasty. And in opening the gate toward what may have resulted in his being abandoned, Wilde crosses paths with a powerful faction that doesn't shrink from abuse and murder.

Threaded through the book are tech surprises ranging from password tricks to vicious vigilantes, classic material for Coben, whose thrillers skate along the edges of military secrets, surveillance, and stalking. But when real danger crowds up against Wilde and the people he cares about, it comes from a significant betrayal that could cost him ... everything.

Highly recommended. And if you are new to Coben, the surprises he provides about both New Jersey and cybercrime will add to the delight of discovery. 

PS: Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.

Tech Entrepreneur Turns Kidnapper? Gripping Debut from Rea Frey, NOT HER DAUGHTER

[Originally published in the New York Journal of Books]

The first chapter of NOT HER DAUGHTER is taut, intense, gripping – and by the end of its handful of pages, it’s clear the speaker, entrepreneur and CEO Sarah Walker, has taken someone else’s child: Emma Grace, an adorable and smart little girl in a red dress who’s been routinely, casually, physically and emotionally abused by her mother (and ignored by her father). Is there any way this can be right? Has Sarah become a kidnapper, a criminal, a runaway from her own life—for the sake of rescuing a child who reminds her far too clearly of her own abandonment?

Sarah’s probably the last person you’d imagine as a kidnapper. Her loyal and caring employees at her firm, which provides educational materials for schools in the US and abroad, call her “Boss Lady” to her face, and do all they can to make her high-stress, hard-work life a little smoother and sweeter. Her aging dad counts on her support. Her mother—well, she walked out when Sarah was a small child. And Sarah’s boyfriend just took off recently. Traumas, or clarity?

One way or another, Sarah and Emma are on the run. But Emma might not be the classic victim imagined. Consider this moment when Sarah considers Emma’s offer:

She closes the gap and looks up at me. My hand is still extended. She studies it, arms at her sides. I manage a smile and secure my lips against my teeth. ‘I just want to help you,’ I say.

I am going to take you away from here.

She takes another breath. Her whole body balloons and then deflates. She bends the fingers of her left hand, then lifts her right hand toward mine.

It makes contact. I squeeze and press her hot palm to mine. Our bodies link. Our eyes lock. She nods, and my voice catches in my throat as I begin to pull her away from her mother, her house, and her life.

Rea Frey lives in Nashville and has a daughter (with her husband). She’s been co-owner of a gym in the past. Her previous books have been nonfiction—on detoxing before pregnancy, vegan eating, cheating boyfriends—and this is her debut in fiction. It’s a high-suspense crime novel, well paced and smoothly written. The ending raises multiple questions, and is a little too rushed to do them justice. Probably the most interesting aspect of NOT MY DAUGHTER is the urge to identify with Sarah, who clearly is guilty of a horrifying crime. Of course, from her point of view, she’s a rescuer, taking action that the social welfare system won’t.

Also intriguing are the segments from the point of view of Emma’s mother, the woman who gave birth to her and in most ways hates her. That abuse is real; there are reasons for it, but of course, no possible justification.

Book-club questions wrap up the novel. It could be fascinating to listen to discussions from other women, moms and aunts and grandmothers, who’ve imagined saving a child this way. Would you do it?

Rea Frey’s most pointed question may be: Whose daughter is Emma, really?

A note about this unusual author: Frey gave herself an 8-week window to write this book. Not only did she complete it (in a month), but her manuscript ended up in a bidding war among publishers, and she received a two-book contract. So, expect another gripping crime novel from her, in a year or so.

 
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PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.  -->

Crime Fiction Debut from Martin Jay Weiss, THE SECOND SON

[Originally published in the New York Journal of Books]

A debut thriller is always an adventure—has the author been secretly practicing the craft of tight, suspenseful writing, so that the plot will make sense, the pace will force the pages to turn, and the characters will be memorable? Or will there be small gaps in means and motive and opportunity, or flaws in dialogue, or accidental mismatches?

Fortunately, Martin Jay Weiss is far from the usual debut author. Under the name Marty Weiss, he’s already an accomplished filmmaker and director, producing award-winning commercials. Translation: He can set a scene swiftly, raise the ante, and make it work.

So Rare Bird Books didn’t just snatch up his debut—this independent California press grabbed both THE SECOND SON for this season, and Flamingo Coast (not a sequel) for next year. That’s great news.

Start with the risky and exhilarating business of a California tech entrepreneur. “Stalker,” owned by brothers Ethan and Jack Stone, isn’t quite ready to go fully public. Its facial recognition software still has glitches. But the pressure from their CFO (chief financial officer), Bailey Duff, keeps escalating. There’s not much the brothers can do to rein that pressure in, since it’s coming from an anonymous financial “angel” who refuses to give the team its next dose of funds unless Stalker launches immediately.

So the tradition of “first death, first chapter” in many a thriller becomes, instead, a premature birth of an app. At the same time, Ethan Stone’s life decomposes in a matter of hours, as his brother Jack, who’s his twin, announces an immediate departure to go work for the competition. The two have never been significantly apart. How can this happen?

And when Ethan gets home, the other intimate part of his life turns upside down, because his live-together-girlfriend, his beloved Brooke, has left him at the same time. How can this happen? Have his brother and his heart’s desire somehow bonded in a way that’s stolen them both from his life? Will his venture-capital-funded tech firm collapse, as his private life explodes?

 Even so, Ethan’s awareness of what’s really going on hasn’t really started. What’s the real connection that Brooke has with her own business, the Dancing Rabbit retreat house in Big Sur? Why do people disappear there? If Ethan’s own business is about people finding each other via new search modes, could Brooke’s business somehow be doing the opposite? And, as mysterious as all the rest, how could the firm’s competitor, Hounddog, have recruited Ethan’s twin out of his life?

When Ethan decides to undertake his own search for both Jack and Brooke, he stumbles into evidence of a pair of deaths near the retreat house, and suddenly he’s interfering with the police:

 Ethan took a few steps forward and tried to explain, ‘I haven’t been able to get through to them on the phone and I just want to make sure—‘

‘This is an investigation, sir. I need you to get back to your vehicle.’

The officer didn’t want to leave his post but was getting irritated. Ethan knew the officer wouldn’t let him through, so he waved, as if thanking the officer for permission, and headed for the crushed metal barrier opening.

The officer shouted, ‘Don’t even think about it!’

By the time the officer waited for a passing car, Ethan had already disappeared into the pitch-black muddy slope. The officer grabbed his walkie-talkie and warned the officers below. ‘Civilian approaching!’

Another voice echoed a complaint, but it was too late. Ethan was upon them.”

Haunting the rest of the action and the secrets that Ethan’s got to uncover is something Brooke told him before she vanished: “Birth order and birthrights shouldn’t matter, but they always do.”

Even between twins?

The pace is tight, even though the writing shows an early-career tendency to “tell” more than “show,” making the book a little too wordy. But there’s enough adventure in here to promise a heady career for the author. A parallel could be Paul E. Hardisty’s books, which began a little too “loose” and turned into the powerful Claymore Straker series, increasingly tight and challenging. Espionage from Karen Robards has the same feel.

Granted, Martin Jay Weiss has some distance to go, but he’s already worth reading. And here’s the other excitement of a debut thriller: spotting the ones where the author’s rapid growth will make that first book into a treasure. THE SECOND SON offers exactly that promise. (Published by Rare Bird Books)

PS:  Looking for more mystery reviews, from cozy to very dark? Browse the Kingdom Books mysteries review blog here.