Background

Harlan Coben was born on January 4, 1962, in Newark, New Jersey, United States, to Carl Gerald Coben and Barbara (Kronberg) Coben.

Education

Coben graduated from Amherst College as a Bachelor of Arts in 1984.

Career

Coben made his mark in the 1990s with mystery novels that embrace the worlds of professional sports and high-powered media glitz. His first, Play Dead (1990), concerns a Boston Celtics basketball star, David Baskin, who fakes his own death on his Australian honeymoon.

Library Journal contributor Marylaine Block noted that Play Dead is “an engrossing suspense novel”; the novel was also, Block stated, “primarily great romantic suspense” rather than a sports book. The same School Library Journal critic found Coben’s second novel, Miracle Cure, a “fast-moving mystery”. Here, the subject is the fictional development of a cure for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) by a pair of brilliant researchers, one of whom is murdered, as are several of their clinic’s Patients.

Coben went on to develop a new investigative hero in later novels, that include Deal Breaker and the 1996 Dropshot. As their titles imply, the series protagonist is a sports agent; but Myron Bolitar is anything but typical.

Coben's most recent novels Home and Don't Let Go were published on September 20, 2016, and in 2017 respectively.

Coben is the creator and executive producer for several television shows including the upcoming Netflix Original drama SAFE starring Michael C. Hall, Audrey Fleurot and Amanda Abbington.

Achievements

• In 1996, Coben received the Anthony Award in the category "Best Paperback Original", for Deal Breaker, the first volume of the Myron Bolitar series, which was also nominated for an Edgar Award in the same category. Coben won the 1997 Shamus Award and the Edgar Allan Poe Award for "Best Paperback Original" for his novel Fade Away, which was also nominated for the Anthony Award and the Barry Award in the same category, as well as for a Dilys Award. His novel, Back Spin, won the 1998 Barry Award and was nominated for the Dilys Award and the Shamus Award. Four years later, Tell No One was nominated for the Anthony Award, the Macavity Award, the Edgar Award and the Barry Award. Eight more years later, Live Wire won the world's most profitable crime fiction award, the RBA Prize for Crime Writing, worth €125,000.

Works

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  • Run Away

    (The brilliant new thriller from the international bestsel...)

    2018
  • Six Years

    (Six years have passed since Jake Fisher watched Natalie, ...)

    2013
  • The Stranger

    (The Stranger appears out of nowhere, perhaps in a bar, or...)

    2015
  • Just One Look

    (Living a lie for 21 years - and now the past has caught u...)

    2009
  • Missing You

    (A heart-pounding thriller about the ties we have to our p...)

    2014
  • The Innocent

    (A brilliant, gripping stand-alone novel.)

    2009
  • Don't Let Go 2017
  • Caught 2010
  • Tell No One 2010
  • Fool Me Once 2016

Membership

Coben is a member of the Mystery Writers of American and the Sisters in Crime.

Connections

Coben married Anne Armstrong on November 5, 1988. They have four children - Charlotte, Benjamin, Will and Eve.

Father:

Carl Gerald Coben

Mother:

Barbara (Kronberg) Coben

child:

Charlotte Coben

child:

Benjamin Coben

child:

Will Coben

child:

Eve Coben

Wife:

Anne Armstrong