I do love many of Harlan Coben's novels. I am a fan of his Myron Bolitar character and enjoy the camaraderie of Myron and Win in the Myron Bolitar series. But Win, in this novel, is not exactly as I pictured him. I can't put my finger on it but the story and the character came across to me as lacking in depth. If you are new to Coben, pick up one of his stand alone novels which are excellent, or start with the Myron Bolitar series, excellent as well. You will become a fan, as I am, and you will then want to read each of his novels as soon as they are published. Coben is an excellent mystery and thriller author and shouldn't be missed.

So begins (about time) a Harlan Coben spin-off featuring one of the most-loved characters---Win!

In this book, Win does his own sleuthing to figure out who stole two of his family's beloved paintings. When one of the paintings is recovered, the mystery deepens and Win gets pulled in.

Win is tasked not only with finding out who stole the paintings but where 6 people known as the Jane Street Six are. The six were considered radicals after killing someone during a "protest" against the Vietnam War. The stolen art gets connected to those 6 and Win begins investigating not only that connection but the connection to his cousin who was kidnapped and his uncle who was murdered.

This book was just okay for me. I loved that it was about Win but I think the story was a bit far-fetched.
The things I disliked the most were: so much talk about sex, the lack of any Myron (besides just discussing him).

I did not see the ending coming so that was a nice surprise. I will read anything Harlan Coben comes out with but I don't think this was his best work---though definitely the most anticipated.

Well, after reading a couple of this author's books and having watched his made for Netflix movies, I've come to realize I am not his audience. I find the plots and characters mediocre and the writing pretty awful...think James Patterson.

Obviously I'm in the minority and my opinion won't affect his ego or his bank account. To each his own!

I don't know if this is the first Coben book to focus solely on Win, but I think it suffered a bit for his overlarge role in the plot. I liked the book; I like Win; I like Coben.

The story gives the reader a fuller picture of Win's background, and that makes it interesting in terms of earlier books in which he plays the Robin role to Myron Bolitar's Batman.

The story was engaging, but the denouement was maybe far-fetched.

Win is a very wealthy man who becomes tangled up in a murder after something that belonged to his family surfaces at a the scene. His cousin Patricia, an heiress, had been the victim of a kidnapping 20 years before and escaped but her captors were never captured. Fast forward to the current situation and there's many questions the FBI would like answers to but Win can't provide. Of course things escalate and there could be trouble for Win. Coben's trademark snark and banter are present with Win's character but in my opinion it felt forced and trying to hard to be witty. I didn't connect with Win or really care what happened to him. I would've preferred more plot and less attempts at snappy comebacks

Never one to pass on a Harlan Coben book, I was extremely excited to be approved for a copy of his newest book, Win. Not only is this a new Coben, it is also the first book in a new series. For those of us who are dedicated Harlan Coben fans, we already know Win from his escapades with Myron Bolitar.

In this book, Win is the main character and I do have to say it feels a bit odd without Myron around. This book is centered around the past kidnapping of Win's cousin Patricia and a stolen painting from Win's family as well as a stolen suitcase. The story moves along quickly and goes deep into the history of Win's family, their feuds, and their secrets. I am looking forward to book number two in the series.

Thank you to Netgalley, Harlan Coben, and Grand Central Publishing for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Readers who are a fan of Harlan Coben’s Myron Bolitar’s series will enjoy this novel that focuses on his friend Windsor Horne Lockwood III. Win has always travelled his own path and once again, delivers his version of justice with twists and turns along the way.

WIN (Thriller/Anti-hero-Windsor Horne Lockwood III-NYC-Contemp) - NR
Coben, Harlan - Standalone
Grand Central Publishing, Mar 2021, 288 pp.

First Sentence: The shot that will decide the championship is slowly arching its way toward the basket.

Windsor Horne Lockwood III is taken to the tower apartment of a hoarder who has been murdered. While one can barely move in most of the place, the victim's bedroom is immaculate with minimal contents, one being Vermeer painting that had been stolen from the Lockwood's. Also, there is a bespoke leather suitcase bearing the Lockwood family crest and WIN's initials. Both the painting and the suitcase had been missing since WIN's cousin, Patricia, had been kidnapped, yet escaped, more than 20 years ago. The victim was behind a group of 70s domestic terrorists. The FBI, and WIN, would like to find the rest of them.

When Win was the psychopathic sidekick to Myron, he was intriguing. As a protagonist, he's just boring. By the nature of who he is, he's an empty shell mimicking being a functional person. In that, Cohen succeeded in creating his character. However, as a reader, that's not enough.

One doesn't care about his wealth, art, cars, planes, suits guns, methods of martial arts. And clearly, as one discovers, his family is as psychotic as he is. Yes, he has one slight crack of humanity, but even that threatens to be a continuation of his dysfunctional family line.

As for the Jane Street Six, those of us who lived through the years of the SLA, etc., don't need to be reminded, especially when we now have the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, QAnon, etc. It's just not an interesting theme.

"WIN" is a book where it's okay not to like it, although most readers will. Some, however, may find themselves bored and just not care enough to even do more than skim through.

Win by Harlan Coben. Not a "win" for me. The character set my teeth on edge with his pompous self importance. Couldn't into the story.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

Published by Grand Central Publishing on March 16, 2021

Remember those crazy protesters who were flinging Molotov cocktails around in the early 1970s? You probably don’t because there were too few to remember. The story told in Win imagines a group called the Jane Street 6, perhaps very loosely based on the Chicago 7. The Jane Street 6 threw two Molotov cocktails at an empty building during a protest. An errant throw frightened a bus driver who drove into river, killing his passengers. Authorities were quick to blame the "hippy" protesters for the bus driver’s careless failure to maintain control of his bus, but that’s neither here nor there. The Jane Street 6 disappeared, amazing the public with their ability to remain hidden, except for one who reappeared, served a brief sentence, and disappeared again.

Flash forward to the present. A man is murdered in a luxury New York City apartment. The victim had possession of an expensive painting that was stolen from the Lockwood family. Circumstances bring Windsor Home Lockwood III into the investigation, in part because a suitcase believed to be his is found at the murder scene, making him a potential suspect. The murder victim turns out to be Ry Strauss, one of the Jane Street 6.

We soon learn that Patricia Lockwood, the daughter of the younger brother of Win’s father, was abducted when she was eighteen and held in a building where multiple young women had been tortured and murdered. Her father was killed during her abduction and two Lockwood paintings disappeared from the family estate. The reappearance of a painting in Strauss’ apartment suggests that he had some involvement in the abduction and perhaps the torture of multiple young women decades earlier.

The story follows Win as he tries to piece together the connections between the art theft, his sister’s abduction, and the fates of the various members of the Jane Street 6. Win’s investigative efforts bring him into contact with a couple of people, including a member of the underworld, who have a reason to seek revenge for the inadvertent deaths associated with the Jane Street 6. Making all the connections entails a fair amount of legwork, distracting Win from his normal routine of shagging rich women and beating up people who, in his judgment, deserve a good beating. He eventually uncovers family secrets that surprise him — not that he is particularly bothered by unpleasant surprises, as any aspect of life that doesn’t have a direct impact on his pursuit of gratification barely registers with him.

Fortunately, I don’t necessarily need to like the characters to like a book. If Win were real, I would dislike him intensely. He’s smug, self-righteous, and he answers the phone by saying “Articulate.” How annoying is that? He excuses all sorts of morally unsound behavior by claiming that life is full of gray areas about which we make judgment calls. I agree with that but disagree that gray areas excuse mayhem. His philosophy of life is based largely on “I’m important and you’re not” coupled with “might makes right,” although only when he is the one who exercises the might. Win is a friend of Myron Bolitar, a Harlan Coben character I really like, and I frankly don’t understand why someone like Bolitar wouldn’t detest someone like Win. But they aren’t real people and they have been fictional buddies for years, so I’m not going to fret about it.

It is enough for me that Coben, an inconsistent storyteller, assembled a clever and reasonably credible puzzle in Win. And Win Lockwood is admittedly an interesting character, if only because he’s irritating and a bit loathsome but not quite reprehensible. His presence is tolerable as long as he advances the plot, and he manages to carry the story forward at a steady pace. Win is in many ways enjoyable, but I’ve been waiting five years for a new Myron Bolitar novel. While Win is a decent supporting character in a Bolitar novel, I’d rather spend my time with Bolitar.

RECOMMENDED

It was hard to connect/care about Win with all his going on about wealth and privilege. Overall an OK read, but not the appeal of the Myron books.

In one of her reviews, my GR friend Regina asked can you like a book but dislike yourself for liking it. Yes!!! I really liked this one, and I don't like myself much for liking it. This should be one I dislike because of that feminist in me.

Win, is the sidekick to Myron Bolitar's character in his series and is now the main character here. I found myself missing Myron, and it at first felt like something missing, however I thought Win could stand on his own here.

What I liked

The story is heavily plotted with a few threads that Coben keeps spinning to connect the plot and characters. It's fast-paced with plenty of suspense and tension that kept me clicking the pages. All the thread skillfully came together well.

What I dislike

There is a few characters here that come and go, and I couldn't keep track of them all and who was who.

Win's hidden talent is he is batman in disguised with the family butler and secret lair hidden in his mansion. However, he flies by his own grey rules between right and wrong because he is Win, and he can and will win at all costs.

Win, is what you would expect from your typical wealthy, class privilege, sexist male character.

However

Win knows it, Coben knows, and we know it. Win knows his truths and shares it with us.

Win, is also witty, sarcastic, and so humous with those truths it's literally laughable, and I couldn't help but like him and I laughed all the way through it right up to Win's last line.

It's Harlan Coben, and I love his writing, and I have some history with his books that have got me through some tough physical miles ahead of me.

So I like it, but I don't like that I liked it!!

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley

Well, well well Mr. Harlan does it again...
Loved Win, the story is definitely Coben’s trademark. His usual twists and cliffhangers are there and what I loved the most is the feeling that you are sitting down with this friend if yours while he tells you his life story. Where to start?! I loved what he did here with the characters, bringing them back from his past novels and sort of creating this universe. There is something about the way he writes that you definitely know his style, I laugh with the characters and the situations. This novel is a bit more slower than others I have read but almost every chapter ends in a cliffhanger so there’s no time for “this is too slow” or “I’ll pick it up later” nooo.
On top of that, Harlan is making this a series so I can’t wait for the next book!

Another in the Windsor Horne Lockwood 111, Win, series. He has his own brand of justice trying to solve a mysterious abduction years ago. FB I cold case of of teens killed , paintings stolen ,and domestic terrorism. Always great to read a book that characters and new adventures. Excellent book! Doesn't disappoint!!!!

Wow, first off - thank you so much for my advanced copy of Win! I am a massive Harlan Coben fan, so this meant even more to me.

The first book in a series is truly magical. The groundwork is laid, first impressions occur, and the tone is set for the entire series. I can honestly say after reading this book, I am so excited to see what’s next!

There was so much I loved about this book. Win’s honest and blunt approach to life kept me rolling my eyes and laughing. I appreciated how straight forward he was, especially because he never pretended to be anything but his arrogant self. I also loved the mystery element of the book coupled with the Jane Street Six. There were so many little nuances and side stories, but it went together so well.

Overall, a very enjoyable read! Thank you again!

In this novel, the story is told from the point of view of Win Lockwood, an enigmatic character who emerges from the shadows in several of this author’s Myron Bolitar novels, however, whose backstory was never divulged. Win is a complex character – his violent nature and the liberties he takes in dispensing his idea of justice counter the traditional sense of what a good guy is. How can we identify with a protagonist who has a thirst for violence, who leverages his wealth and social standing to get what he wants? Well, somehow as the story unfolds and we learn about his family and their past, and we view his actions on the backdrop of persons whose crimes and propensity for cruelty are truly unfathomable, our perspective shifts a bit. This book is all the multi-faceted Win – the good and the bad, the violent and the benevolent, and made for a fascinating read.

This is my first book by Harlan Coben and I must say that I am now a fan. The book kept my attention to the very end, and I was intrigued with how the crime was all tied together and explained perfectly. I now want to start from the beginning and read all of his books, especially the Myron Bolitar series.
If you are a fan of mystery and crime novels; this book is for you....great book !

Win is the very first book in the new Windsor Horne Lockwood III series by Harlan Coben. Ever since binge-reading the Myron Bolitar series years ago, I quickly established that Win was my favorite side character. His loyalty, genius and wit won me over. To finally see him featured in a series of his own is beyond exciting. I want to scream to his grandmama, "Win made it!"

What happens when a dead man's secrets literally fall into the hands of a vigilante antihero? Over twenty years ago, Win's cousin Patricia was kidnapped by men who murdered her father. She returned after being locked in an isolated cabin for five months. She escaped but so did her captors. That's not all that was stolen. Two pieces of art were stolen and never returned until now...

An authentic Vermeer painting was recovered in a dead man's penthouse. It, along with a Picasso painting, were stolen from the Lockwood estate. It seems obvious to investigators who killed the dead man. Surely it's someone who wanted their items back. A briefcase with the initials WHL3 was also found at the scene. And now the story gets going...Win is the main suspect!

In this first installment, Win does what he does best: solve mysteries, deal karma, kick ass and look dapper all at the same damn time. There are many references to Myron throughout the book but not one cameo. I was disappointed that Myron didn't make an appearance until I was greeted by another familiar character. I love it and cannot wait for the second novel! Harlan, put the Netflix show writing on hold please. I need more Win like yesterday!

Happy Belated Pub Day, Harlan Coben! Win is available as of Tuesday, March 16.

~LITERARY MARIE

Win Lockwood is a character from the Myron Bolitar series. They have been best friends for years. Myron is not featured in this book. Win leads an interesting life. He is called home because a stolen painting has been found in the apartment of a murdered man that has been wanted for over 16 years. Not only is the painting found but Win's suitcase filled with his cousins clothes is also in the apartment. Win finds this very interesting and sets out to investigate himself and is pulled into this mystery that involves his family. Fast paced with plenty of twists that keep you guessing and then wanting the next installment in the series. Loved It.

I have not met a Harlan Coben book that I haven’t liked. Thanks to @netgalley for the free ARC of Win. Win is a spin off of the Myron Bollitor series, one that I have not read a lot of, but now want to go back and read. This book, asl all Harlan Coben’s books did not disappoint. Quick paced with lots of action kept me very entertained.