One False Move (Myron Bolitar, No. 5)
by Harlan Coben
List Price:
Our Price: $3.50
You Save: $4.49 (56%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Harlan CobenEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-05-11
ISBN: 0440225442
Number of pages: 400
Publisher: Dell
Book Reviews of One False Move (Myron Bolitar, No. 5)
Book Review: Misses the Mark
Summary: 3 Stars
'One False Move' was my first Harlan Coben novel, and while it had its moments, overall I was disappointed. I understand that Coben is a prolific writer with a large fan base, but I found Coben, at least in this effort, far inferior to today's best writers of crime fiction: Dennis Lehane, James Lee Burke, and Lee Childs all do a better job with plot, setting, and characters. And if you prefer to add witty dialogue and one-liners to that mix, consider Robert Crais, William Lashner, or David Rosenfelt (who also does a better north Jersey).
In 'One False Move', ex-basketball star and current sports agent Myron Bolitar agrees to protect Brenda Slaughter, the bright and beautiful star of the WNBA, the women's professional basketball league. Her mother had deserted Brenda some twenty years ago, and now her father, Horace Slaughter, has vanished. Bolitar has a personal stake in this, as Horace was Myron's mentor as he was rising through the ranks of amateur basketball. This seemingly innocent assignment begins unraveling a sordid 20-year old tale of bad love, murder, deception, corruption and power.
Perhaps a reader needs a couple of installments of Myron Bolitar to appreciate him, but I couldn't figure out what Coben was trying to do with himr. While the big ex-jock persona was incongruous with the indecisive, somewhat neurotic mamas boy image, neither of these fit with the gun-toting tough guy always ready with a snappy wisecrack. We are to believe that Myron, who struggles to decide whether or not he some make is assistant a partner in his firm, and who only recently moved out of his parent's home, can stand down ruthless mobsters and power-crazed gubernatorial candidates? Believe that, and you probably can believe that, as positioned in this story, the WNBA really does matter. But while Bolitar was somewhat of an enigma, Bolitar sidekick Winston Lock-Horne manages to add an entirely new dimension to 'annoying'. (As an example, in answering his phone, the insufferable 'Win' inserts 'articulate' for 'hello). The reader is to believe that the manicured and polished Win, of old money and Ivy League society, is really a Clint Eastwood in a blue blazer and tasseled loafers. Yet the mere mention of this pretty-boy's name sends chills down the spine of even the most hardened of New Jersey's mobsters. Right.
Add to this a plot that is wholly unbelievable, cluttered with a love tangent that turns as sappy as it is unnecessary, and you have 'One False Move', fiction that while mildly entertaining leaves little to recommend it.
Summary of One False Move (Myron Bolitar, No. 5)
She's smart, beautiful, and she doesn't need a man to look after her. But sports agent Myron Bolitar has come into her life?big time. Now Myron's next move may be his last?Brenda Slaughter is no damsel in distress. Myron Bolitar is no bodyguard. But Myron has agreed to protect the bright, strong, beautiful basketball star. And he's about to find out if he's man enough to unravel the tragic riddle of her life.
Twenty years before, Brenda's mother deserted her. And just as Brenda is making it to the top of the women's pro basketball world, her father disappears too. A big-time New York sports agent with a foundering love life, Myron has a professional interest in Brenda. Then a personal one. But between them isn't just the difference in their backgrounds or the color of their skin. Between them is a chasm of corruption and lies, a vicious young mafioso on the make, and one secret that some people are dying to keep?and others are killing to protect....
As readers who have enjoyed his appearances in original paperbacks already know, Harlan Coben's former professional basketball star Myron Bolitar is not your everyday testosterone-enriched jock. Myron is a mild-mannered guy who drinks chocolate soda and until very recently lived at home with his parents in suburban New Jersey. In his hardcover debut, we find Myron sharing a New York apartment with his longtime lady friend, writer Jessica Culver, and still running MB SportsReps, where he ostensibly manages the careers of other athletes, but really spends most of his time playing private eye. The arrival in Myron's life of rising pro basketball star Brenda Slaughter seriously tests his commitment to Jessica, who is in Hollywood working on a movie. It seems that Brenda's father Horace--Myron's old coach--has disappeared, and Brenda is receiving death threats that might involve a gangster family's plans for a new female professional basketball league. Or the threats might have something to do with Brenda's mother's connection to a wealthy New Jersey political family. Myron and his banker friend Win, a preppy with a penchant for violence, are more than enough to double-team the bad guys. Previous Myron Bolitar games in paperback include Backspin, Deal Breaker, Drop Shot, and Fade Away.
Literature & Fiction Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Literature & Fiction Books
Little Womenby Louisa May Alcott
Scribner; Published: 1986-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.49
Price in other shops:
The Killing Groundby JACK HIGGINS
HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS LTD; Published: 2007; Hardcover; Book
Saving Fish from Drowningby Amy Tan
4th Estate; Published: 2005; Paperback; Book
Life Expectancyby Dean Koontz
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2005-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Constant Princessby Philippa Gregory
Touchstone/Simon & Schuster; Published: 2005; Hardcover; Book
Wolf of the Plains (Conqueror, Book 1)by Conn Iggulden
Harper; Published: 2007; Paperback; Book
Saharaby Clive Cussler
Harper Collins Pb; Published: 2005-03-21; Paperback; Book
Perelandra (Cosmic Trilogy)by C. S. Lewis
Voyager; Published: 2005-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.67
Price in other shops:
The Lord Of The Rings: Part 2 The Two Towersby J. R. R. Tolkien
Harper Collins Publishers; Published: 2001; Paperback; Book
Red Marsby Kim Stanley Robinson
Trafalgar Square; Published: 2001-06; Paperback; Book
Similar Books and other products
Long Lost (Myron Bolitar)by Harlan Coben
Signet; Published: 2010-02-23; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.15
Price in other shops:
Tell No One: A Novelby Harlan Coben
Dell; Published: 2009-08-25; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops:
Live Wire (Myron Bolitar)by Harlan Coben
Dutton Adult; Published: 2011-03-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
Promise Me (Myron Bolitar, No. 8)by Harlan Coben
Signet; Published: 2007-03-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.75
Price in other shops:
Drop Shot (Myron Bolitar)by Harlan Coben
Dell; Published: 1996-02-05; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.52
Price in other shops:
Back Spin (Myron Bolitar)by Harlan Coben
Dell; Published: 2009-08-25; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.87
Price in other shops:
Deal Breaker: The First Myron Bolitar Novelby Harlan Coben
Dell; Published: 1995-05-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.20
Price in other shops:
The Final Detail (Myron Bolitar, Book 6)by Harlan Coben
Dell; Published: 2011-03-22; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.09
Price in other shops:
Fade Away: A Myron Bolitar Novel (Myron Bolitar Mysteries)by Harlan Coben
Dell; Published: 2010-08-31; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.32
Price in other shops:
Darkest Fear (Myron Bolitar)by Harlan Coben
Dell; Published: 2001-05-08; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.85
Price in other shops: