I was introduced to Harlan Cobin on vacation one summer by another mom sitting on the side of the pool with her littles. I’ve picked up a few of his mysteries ever since so I was happy to get a copy of this newly released one from NetGalley. I find his books easy to read, entertaining and a go to when I’m looking for a modern day mystery.

The story grabbed me from the start, however I felt a little lost following multiple characters part of the time. Win is the main character, described as a billionaire, vigilante anti-hero. Try to figure that one out. Win was interesting - he was a bad ass & gets his way, that’s for sure. He grew on me.

I was entertained by the 2 mysteries exposed after a sought after criminals death. This is the first of a new series that will be based on Win’s character who apparently is a side kick of another one of the author’s series which I’m going to probably pick up next time I’m in the mood for a Harlan Cobin novel.

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an advanced readers copy of this book.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

We originally met Windsor Horne Lockwood III as a character in Coben’s Myron Boltar series. “Win”, Bolitar’s best friend now stars in his own story and what looks to be his own series if he survives to the end of this thriller.

A murder has occurred on the Upper West Side and the FBI picks up Win because there is evidence in the recluse’s penthouse that points directly at Mr. Windsor Horne Lockwood III. The death may also be connected to a cold case close to Win. His cousin, Patricia was kidnapped over 20 years ago. She escaped but her captors were never caught. Now, with these new clues, Win decides it is time he starts his own investigation. It is past time to dole out a bit of justice and Win is just the man to deliver it.

“Articulate”. Windsor Horne Lockwood III is a flawed character with way too much money and a sense of privilege because of it. He gets away with everything because he has the money and connections to insolate him from any repercussions for things he has done. He has a full-time assistant, a private plane, a keen sense to right wrongs as he sees them in any way he can. An expert fighter he believes he is invincible. His money also gains him membership in an exclusive dating/sex club which enables him to take part in “no strings attached” one-night stands. The man is clearly driven to get to the truth in a case that goes back to the 1970s but there are people out there whose mission it is to make sure he doesn’t get it. But Win likes violence and isn’t afraid to use it. He does have a softer side brought out by only one person and his love and admiration for Myron Bolitar shines within these pages. He also has a troubled soul and some insecurities to deal with. Win is a complicated character and exactly the kind of character I expect to find from this author.

Mr. Coben has written such a complex suspense-filled story. He introduces readers to several diverse characters and entangles them in a multitude of ways throughout the book. At first, I thought I was going to have trouble keeping them all straight but they are dynamically crafted to stand out as the two mysteries evolve. The story is very fast-paced but it is not a book to rush through. There are twists on top of twists and surprises almost around every corner. The final twist brought me to a full stop. It was classic Coben and I should have been prepared. I know to expect the unexpected when I pick up any Harlan Coben book. There is a reason he is my favorite suspense author and I look forward to each new title.

As a fan, I have been waiting for Windsor Horne Lockwood III to have his own story for years and was absolutely giddy when the book went up for pre-order. I have been counting down the days to today, its release date to share my thoughts with you. Don’t panic if you have not read the Bolitar series because this book works perfectly as a stand-alone. If this is your first experience with this author I encourage you to read any and all of his previous titles as they are all excellent.

WIN has set this series off to a fantastic start. Definitely a must-read for suspense lovers. I can’t wait to see what Harlan Coben has in store for Windsor Horne Lockwood III next.

For Harlan Coben fans, WIN, is a complete gift we have wanted for years. The erstwhile best friend and constant companion of Coben’s character, Myron Bolitar, Win has always been a fascinating character deserving of his own series. He is fabulously wealthy, incredibly lethal and has no time for idiots. When he is called to identify a painting found at the scene of a crime, he gets curious; there’s obviously a family connection, for the painting if nothing else. But might there be more to the story? Coben is a great storyteller and this is one of his better tales. While it holds some similarities to a previous book, FADE AWAY, the twists and turns still beguile. I can’t wait for another installment in this series; this first is just excellent. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Hede: A winning combination: 8 books for March from Rick DeStefanis, John J. Jacobson, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Harlan Coben, Dan Gutman, Iain Lawrence, Angeline Boulley and Jess Phoenix

There are about 200,000 books published each year in the United States alone. To pare that down a bit, Mountain Times is spotlighting eight titles — fiction, young adult and nonfiction — that are worthy of attention and are now available in March.

Fiction

‘Rawlins: Last Ride to Montana’ by Rick DeStefanis, The Word Hunter Books, $23.95

The Memphis, Tenn.-native Rick DeStefanis, a former paratrooper with the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, is a master of military fiction who has lived most of his life in northern Mississippi — all information that gives no indication of just how well his Western historical fictional ‘Rawlins’ trilogy is written and received.

DeStefanis introduces the young Tennessean Virgil Rawlins against the backdrop of the Civil War and the American West in “Rawlins, No Longer Young.” Through that introduction, we learn of Rawlins’ own code of honor, of meeting Sarah McCaskey and most importantly, of his unique ability to question his own touchstones. It is in this novel that Rawlins learns that defining his future begins with the decision between being an outlaw or a lawman, with shades of gray and blue both tinting the choice.

In “Rawlins, Into Montana: Even Paradise has its price,” the former Confederate soldier and Sarah agree to lead a wagon train of 20 families along the Oregon Trail and into the Montana Territory. While many of the adventurers are on a quest for gold, Rawlins and his wife are setting out for Paradise Valley, aptly named for its natural beauty but antithesis to the dangers that threaten their peace, family and land.

The segue from that novel fits perfectly into “Rawlins, Last Ride to Montana.” Hoping for a reconciliation with Sarah’s family in the East, the Rawlins set out from Paradise Valley with their children. By this time, Virgil’s fighting skills, gained on the battlefield and during his time as a Pacific Railroad policeman, have become legendary. But during the few times when legend is not enough to deter attackers, we learn of Sarah’s strength: “Rawlins felt Sarah’s presence when she stepped up close behind him in the doorway and pressed a revolver into the hand behind his back. That was his Sarah. She was that kind of woman. She saw things through the same prism as he did — one of frontier survival.”

Developing dual storylines in this final novel of the three — Virgil and Sarah separate for much of the story, he driving cattle and she attempting familial fence-mending — DeStefanis presents enough realistic adventures and scene building to ensure this novel has room on your bookshelf next to Louis L’Amour. And although “Last Ride to Montana” is a continuation novel with enough exposition to leave you satisfied, if you’ve got the space, add the first two books as well.

‘All the Cowboys Ain’t Gone’ by John J. Jacobson, Blackstone Publishing, $27.99

Continuing along the Old West trail for a moment, new this month is John J. Jacobson’s “All the Cowboys Ain’t Gone,” a late-1880s story with a 2021 motif.

Jacobson’s novel is the most quixotic cowboy story you’re likely to ever read. And just like that storied tale, this one is funny, adventurous and most of all, timely.

“All the Cowboys Ain’t Gone” is a man-out-of-time story. Texan Lincoln Smith is living at the turn of the 20th century, a time when the Old West is rapidly fading, much to the chagrin of the young man who fashions himself as the last true cowboy — even channeling a Johnny Cash who won’t be born for nearly 40 years as the story opens: “His mother wouldn’t let him take his .22 caliber rifle out by himself until he turned twelve, three long months from now.”

Old beyond his years, Lincoln longs to live a chivalric code from a time when men such as his Texas Ranger father righted wrongs with nobility. And true to those roots, when as a young man his heart is broken and he is expelled from Dartmouth for nearly blowing up the school — and after serving for a time in the only stint a “true” cowboy at that time could achieve: traveling in a second-tier Wild West show (“Bronco Buck Burke’s Wild West and Tranquility Show wasn’t a first-line outfit like Buffalo Bill’s,” the narrator explains) — he decides there is no recourse but to do what all romantically challenged men must do: join the foreign legion.

Weaned on dime novels, Lincoln’s grasp of what the foreign legion will be like rivals Cervantes’ creation, and from there the story becomes pure fun. Meeting up with a couple of American treasure seekers also planning to enlist, he travels toward exotic lands, meeting, fighting and mentoring with his anachronistic tendencies in tow. Armed with his father’s keepsake Winchester, he encounters Crocodile cults, desert hermits and enough adventure and derring-do for a lifetime — both his and ours.

Even given the story’s early 20th century setting, Jacobson has written a novel for now. Lincoln Smith is the hero today for all of those who, if not long for, certainly wax nostalgic about a time before the iPhone, the Internet and social media were ubiquitous.

‘The Committed,’ by Viet Thanh Nguyen, Grove Press, $27

There’s plenty of existential action — two words that aren’t often juxtaposed in books of any type — in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s new novel, “The Committed.” But here we have it.

From page 1, as the man of two faces begins to describe a horrific journey fleeing to France, and page 2 with a perennial conundrum and Vonnegut-esque reply — “And it stuck us all then, the answer to humanity’s eternal question of Why? ... It was, and is, simply, why not?” — we get the early sense we’re in for cerebral ride.

And we’re right.

“The Committed” is a sequel to Nguyen’s 2016 action-filled existential Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Sympathizer.” Set in the 1980s, the novels share a narrator — a half-Vietnamese, half-French Communist spy who calls himself “a man of two faces and two minds” — and a continuing story.

After the man with two minds went undercover in “The Sympathizer” as a refugee in America, he was captured and committed for re-education. Now, he arrives in Paris with his blood brother, Bon. Hooking up with the French Vietnamese woman who is declared as his “aunt,” the men set up a business dealing drugs to French intellectuals — allowing Nguyen room to bring in the ideas of revolutionaries such as Fanon, Marx and Sartre.

From there, the novel takes off, sometimes funny, sometimes brilliant and, admittedly, sometimes overwritten in scenes that work hard, as when the man with two minds becomes involved in gangster activity, uttering lines that can fall a bit flat: “You can’t torture me. … I’ve lived through a re-education camp.” Well, actually, anyone could be tortured, and the man of two faces lives on to produce a complicated story in which the reading pleasure is in unwinding the twists.

Still, this is Nguyen and themes of addiction, authoritarianism, colonialism and the like are woven masterfully into a story brimming with suspense, challenging the Sympathizer with tasks as divergent as reconciling his own inner turmoils, combatting a state-sanctioned colonial mindset and reuniting his two best friends whose world views are at polar opposites.

To date, four authors have twice won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction — Colson Whitehead joined Booth Tarkington, William Faulkner and John Updike in that exclusive club in 2020 — but after reading “The Committed,” it’s clear that Nguyen could be a contender for a fifth addition. It would also be the first to win a Pulitzer for a novel and its sequel and, of course, the symmetry of Nguyen winning in 2016 and Whitehead in 2017, and Whitehead in 2020 and Nguyen in 2021 would be just about as existential as it gets.

‘Win’ by Harlan Coben, Grand Central Publishing, $29

A Coben standalone novel about Win — super rich, super handsome Windsor Horne Lockwood III, fixer friend to sports agent Myron Bolitar — has long been a fan fancy, and here it is, with the author’s 33rd novel starring the sidekick in a title story all his own.

His own it is. Win’s narrative penchant is speaking directly to the reader — a style you’ll either love or hate. Devotees of first-person stories will devour the book, and others … well, they’ll no doubt ride alone for one of Coben’s most tautly plotted thrillers to date.

Win is the uber-competent friend everyone wishes they had. He’s able to make problems disappear with the wave of his wallet or a flash of his phone, and if a date to a beach house via helicopter is on your bucket list, he’s the guy that’ll loan you all three.

But here, Coben’s “Win” is more complicated in several ways than in the author’s typical fare. For one, Win has his own moral compass, and is fit enough to force the needle to point toward his own True North. What makes him either a smartass or a badass, depending on your own view, is that he doesn’t really care what you think, and tells you just that. So, it’s not that those who’ll find him intolerable aren’t in on the gag, they just don’t like the brand of humor.

But in this novel, Win’s voice is perfect for a story that involves a rediscovered Vermeer that had been stolen from the Lockwood estate, an ancient suitcase of the narrator’s that’s discovered in the apartment of a dead subversive from the 1960s and a cousin who was one of 10 young women abducted and taken to the “hut of horrors” for just about every unimaginable horror a woman could be forced to endure.

Through money, no small amount of intelligence and a lot of muscle, Win sets out to unravel these riddles, driven by the ever-present need to keep the family name unsullied and his own sense of social justice just as clear.

Clear also is Win’s voice to the last page, when the facade breaks just a crack as we witness the one — the only — thing he cares for beyond himself: his “biological daughter.” Yet true to form, he closes the crack just as quickly, sending the reader off with vintage Win narrating the black and white of his worldview: “When my daughter turns and looks at me, all those grays suddenly vanish in the bright of her smile. For perhaps the first time in my life, I only see the white. Am I being hackneyed? Perhaps. But since when have I cared what you thought?” Badass, indeed.

Young adult fiction

‘Houdini and Me’ by Dan Gutman, Holiday House, $16.99

Dan Gutman has authored more than 150 books, with about a dozen of those either nonfiction or written for adults. The rest he writes for children, tweens and teens, and based on the success of his “My Weird School” series, he gets the way kids think. But better, he get the ways kids learn.

There’s a lot to learn in his odd and inviting “Houdini and Me,” and the author pays considerable attention to details in his honest storytelling. As Gutman writes in an afterword, “everything in this book is true, except for the stuff I made up.”

Kids, and adults enlightened enough to pick up a YA title, will learn in this book a lot about the famed magician Harry Houdini (including his real name and how he performed some of his most iconic tricks), a lot about New York City during both the early 20th century and today (including incredibly accurate physical details — Gutman lives eight blocks from the house on 113th Street where Houdini lived; an inspiration for the story) and a lot about loyalty, friendship, bullying and facing your fears (the foundation of YA and really well-written adult novels).

You’ll also learn about some things that aren’t exactly or fully in the undeniably true camp, spirituality chief among them.

Gutman’s story is tied to a vintage cell phone and Houdini’s ability to communicate from the dead on it with 11-year-old Harry Mancini. The author does make clear in “Facts & Fictions” at the end of the book that his story has limits — “you cannot communicate with dead people by text message. Don’t bother trying” — but the prospect is intriguing. If Houdini could communicate from the afterworld, what would he want?

The answer to that is nothing less than to perform his best escape act ever — coming back from the dead by exchanging places with a young boy from the future. Harry Mancini is that boy, and although the storyline reads implausibly on the surface, the deal is that both would get something from a temporary exchange — young Harry a chance to experience the life of a worldwide celebrity and Houdini the chance to make good on his famous boast that could he cheat death, he would somehow find a way. The moral dilemmas presented make for engaging and thought-provoking reading.

‘Deadman’s Castle’ by Iain Lawrence, Margaret Ferguson Books, $17.99

Combine the name Igor and a title with the word castle and you’re likely to come up with something a la “Frankenstein.” But Iain Lawrence’s “Deadman’s Castle” is much creepier than that.

Six years before the story opens, Igor Watson’s father “saw someone do a terrible thing.” Since then, the family has been on the run, changing towns and homes through a witness protection program run by the Protectors whenever the Lizard Man — the boogeyman, so named because of a tattoo, who did the terrible thing — catches up with them. It could be days or years until the family has to move and the uncertainty is now wearing on 12-year-old “Igor,” his latest alias and one of so many that he can’t remember them all.

Approaching his teen years, Igor finally talks his father and mother into letting him attend school, something he hasn’t done since kindergarten. With his cover story intact, Igor begins to experience all that a public education has to offer — making friends, bullying, classes and homework included — but soon realizes that his parents’ web of rules (curtains closed, be home before dark, don’t travel further than a certain street and continually lie about his background) aren’t going to work if he wants to make friends on any real level. Worse, their new town is the only one of the dozens that he’s lived in that somehow feels like home, with an unaccustomed unfamiliarity about it, and he doesn’t want to have to move again.

The closer Igor gets to making serious friendships, the more his story starts to slip. And, the longer they stay in the town, the more he begins to doubt his father’s sanity. After all, only his father has ever seen the Lizard Man.

Lawrence develops this story with real suspense, real problems and the very real concerns of any pre-teen — especially one whose life is built on a series of lies that if unleashed could threaten his family’s safety. The “creepy” factor — Is there really a Lizard Man, and, if not, why would his father, a former college professor, make up not only that, but the story about the Protectors and force his family to move and start anew time and again with his mother complicit in the scam? — is well developed, and it is only through the power of friendship and honesty that the action is resolved.

“Deadman’s Castle” is not your typical YA fare — probably because Iain Lawrence is not a typical YA author, having himself lived in 11 different homes and attended nine different schools before high school — and middle readers will love it. Every young teen at some time questions parental authority and rules, and in “Deadman’s Castle,” Lawrence has tapped into an instinct for rebellion that will universally appeal.

‘Firekeeper’s Daughter’ by Angeline Boulley, Henry Holt and Co., $18.99

Angeline Boulley’s debut novel “Firekeeper’s Daughter” is one the most beautiful books, in substance and production, that you’ll find among YA readers — and it’s also one of the most important.

The Anishinaabe author began writing the novel a decade ago with the idea of creating an “indigenous Nancy Drew” character — crafting a story with people and settings that reflected her cultural upbringing. And, because storytelling is central to the Anishinaabe way, a novel springing from “an Ojibwa girl with a Native dad and non-Native mom” makes sense.

In “Firekeeper’s Daughter,” Boulley accomplishes this and more.

The story centers on 18-year-old Daunis Fountaine, a teenager who loves her life but wants more — she longs to be an official part of the Sault tribe. Originally planning on leaving home for college, Daunis changes her mind after her uncle dies from an overdose and her grandmother has a stroke.

She then decides to enroll at a school near her Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., home. Battling complex familial challenges — her Anishinaable father is deceased — she soon becomes involved in challenges outside of the family. When her best friend is murdered by a boyfriend who is addicted to meth, she begins to explore the pervasive drug overdoses infiltrating the Ojibwa reservation and uses her education in chemistry and native plants to go undercover for the FBI to help source the seller. As the story develops, Daunis becomes increasingly concerned that her investigation will expose more than a drug dealer — opening truths to old scars that could threaten to sunder the community she loves.

Tightly plotted with taut suspense and meaningful characters, there is little wonder that “Firekeeper’s Daughter” has been adapted by Netflix for TV and plucked for many YA book clubs. Exploring what it means to be an Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman), making stands on issues of citizenship, language and drug use within Native communities are important topics that are addressed with skill and sensitivity.

Some advice: Read the book before you see the story on television. Boulley’s storyline will be well-adapted to the small screen, but the crisp characters and the nuances and subtleness of her language and writing could only be fully appreciated in novel form.

Nonfiction

‘Ms. Adventure: My wild explorations in science, lava, and life’ by Jess Phoenix, Timber Press, $24.95

The best nonfiction reads like fiction, and that’s certainly true of Jess Phoenix’s “Ms. Adventure: My wild explorations in science, lava, and life.” And when you lead a life as exciting as that of an extreme explorer, scientist, volcanologist and cofounder of the environmental scientific research organization Blueprint Earth, it’s certain that any book of those adventures would read like a thriller.

Yet here it’s all true, and Phoenix’s message that “exploration and science are our birthrights as humans” is soundly and thrillingly shared.

Like authors of the best fiction, Phoenix is a skilled writer and gifted storyteller with a startlingly ability to weave telling details into her narrative. It’s no wonder that she is so often tapped to speak at national forums — her life is her story, and the passion she feels for her profession and the climes she studies are captured with infectious enthusiasm on each page.

Geologists and explorers alike will thrill in some of the career highlights Phoenix shares — teasing ancient secrets from rock specimens, harrowing high-altitude treks into the Andes’ Nevada Salkantay, enduring a bout of appendicitis on Hawaii’s Mt. Kilauea and railing against a media establishment that sometimes works to sensationalize her sex above her profession (as when she is asked by a TV crew to fake a fall so that she could be “rescued” by a male team member) among those.

Other stories detail more inner journeys, such as her acceptance into the Explorers Club — the international professional society that works to advance field research and “reserve the instinct to explore” — but are no less stimulating. “Ms. Adventure” transcends stereotypes in important ways, and is sure to excite a new generation of adventurers.

Interesting to read a book where the secondary character in another series is the primary character. While I enjoyed this book, I’m not sure I would want to see a full fledge series based on Win. As always, Mr. Coben entertains. Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

A (sort of) Batman-inspired retelling about a rich guy who tries to get to the bottom of a decades-old mystery that involves his wealthy family.

Win is a Mickey Bolitar spin-off. (I have read several Harlan Coben books but never any of his Mickey Bolitar series. My husband has read all the Cobens, so as I was reading this I was trying to describe Win and he's like, yeah, I know that guy. Mickey and Win are very close friends.)

Good news: you can enjoy Win without having read any Mickey Bolitar books. I didn't get any of the Mickey references or crossover characters, but the story stands completely on its own. I liked Win as a character. As I mentioned above, there are some obvious Batman references. Win is a bit of a loner, rich, has lots of expensive toys and is a bit of a crusader who doesn't mind crossing an ethical line or two.

Win's plot is multi-stranded and has some nice twists and turns. Like the other Coben books I've read, it's more plot driven than character driven. But it's a fast-paced, fun read.

Harlan Coben really needs no introduction, right? What's amazing is that he doesn't rest on his laurels- Win is just as fantastic a book as any previous one has been. I have read many of his standalones, but not the Myron Bolitar series, in which Windsor Horne Lockwood III made his debut, but that didn't hamper my enjoyment of this one. Part thriller, part mystery, part no nonsense, bad ass vigilante story, this is one that I absolutely tore through. It's wildly entertaining and I really want more!

This is the first in a new series by Harlan Coben featuring billionaire Windsor Horne Lockwood III, in his forties, a good friend and sidekick to Myron Bolitar, providing him with help by accessing information that would otherwise be unavailable. This book is a real treat for the fans of the Myron Bolitar series. Win has been Myron's best friend and sidekick for many years and now we finally get to read a book from his POV. If you are not familiar with Win, I bet you'll still enjoy the book. It has the typical Coben wit, great pace, multi layered mystery and unique characters that are impossible not to like.

Windsor is from a white privileged background, he is a martial arts guru, and has more money than he can spend. His moral code often doesn't align to what's legal and illegal and he likes to take justice into his own hands. There are many reasons to hate Win, he is arrogant and often uses money and muscles to get what he wants, however, you can't hate him.

I loved the book! The mystery was well plotted with a number of unexpected twists and at no point did I have any clue what was coming next. I'm looking forward to read the next installment in the series.

I've been reading Harlan Coben for many years now and have always liked his Myron Bolitar series. Those of us who follow it know Win is Myron's trusty, sociopathic sidekick. This is Coben's first book featuring Win and I think it's a good one. There's a very complex mystery that is well told and there's Win's non-endearing personality to enjoy. I would have given it five stars but I had to take one off for the cheesy "rich people sex app" that he uses. I mean, really?! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Somehow this is the first Harlan Coben book I’ve read and sign me up as a new member of the fan club!

Win is delightfully devious and twisty. And I’m not just talking about the book! Win Lockwood is such a well-written morally ambiguous character. He lives and thrives in the gray area between good and bad and knows how to work it.

A recluse is murdered and a stolen painting and suitcase belonging to the Lockwood family are recovered at the scene. This sets off a chain of affairs that brings Win into the investigation of a decades old act of domestic terrorism and connects to generations of Lockwood family secrets.

Coben’s writing is top notch. The plot is well-developed with suspense and twists and the writing is fast-paced and sucks you right in.

I can’t wait to dig into Coben’s backlist and especially learn more about the Myron Bolitar series. Any recommendations on must reads?

A big thank you to @grandcentralpub @hbgcanada for the #gifted copy in exchange for my honest review. This one is out now!

Win by Harlan Corben is the first book in a new series. The main character is Windsor Horne Lockwood III, a close friend to Myron Boliotar from another series. Windsor, who likes to be called Win, is an arrogant billionaire who has connections with the FBI. Win’s former mentor calls him to a murder scene of a recluse in a penthouse apartment. A suitcase with Win’s initials is found at the crime scene along with a missing Vermeer painting that was stolen from Win’s family. This is a mystery within a mystery; jumping from the present to a time when Win’s cousin was kidnapped and a group of 1970 radicals was firebombing buildings. The kidnapper and the radicals were never caught. However, when this recluse is identified as a member of the radical group, the FBI wants the other members. Are they even alive? I look forward to the next book in this series. This was an ARC from NetGalley.

Fans of Coben's Myron Bolitar series, launched in 1995, have been anxiously awaiting the return of Windsor Horne Lockwood III, Myron's best friend. The inspiration for the character was none other than Coben's own best friend in college -- a handsome blond who, according to Coben, belonged to the right golf clubs.

Win indeed belongs to the most exclusive clubs because he has a vast fortune that permits him to travel via his own helicopter and private jet, wear the finest clothes, and live in the storied and historic Dakota apartment building on the corner of Seventy-Second Street and Central Park West in New York City. Win practices many forms of martial arts and meets up with women via an exclusive application that discreetly pairs wealthy partners for no-strings-attached sexual encounters. Win has no interest in a committed relationship, and tenuously embraced the role of father when he learned that he had, as he refers to her, a teenage "biological daughter," Ema. Win does not want to care about anyone more than himself, and acknowledges that his new role leaves him "teetering and unbalanced."

Win's first-person narration is highly effective and entertaining. He finds himself investigating the murder of a man who might be Ryker Strauss, a member of the infamous Jane Street Six, a radical group that advocated violence. More than forty years ago, a misdirected Molotov cocktail injured dozens and killed seven, including the daughter of a well-known mobster. Only one member of the Jane Street Six was ever accounted for. Two years after the attack, Lake Davies turned herself in, but served only eighteen months because she did not actually toss the explosive. Her attorney successfully argued that she was under the spell of Strauss, a Charles Manson-esque leader. None of the other five were ever found. Remarkably, "Girl at the Piano," an oil painting by Johannes Vermeer worth around $200 million, was found in the dead man's apartment. The painting was on loan by Win's family to Haverford College when it, along with Picasso's "The Reader," was stolen. The robbers were never caught and the paintings have been missing for decades. How did it end up in a penthouse apartment in the Beresford building? More disturbing to Win is the fact that a suitcase bearing his initials and family crest, a gift from his aunt, was also found in the apartment. No one knows that he gave that suitcase to his cousin, Patricia, years ago.

Patricia survived being kidnapped by two men who murdered her father in their home and then held her captive in a cabin in the woods for months before she finally escaped. She was only one of about ten victims held in what the media dubbed the "Hut of Horrors." After her ordeal, she established the Abeona Shelters for abused and homeless girls, and has been the recipient of numerous awards for her charitable, humanitarian work. Win's father and his brother, Aldrich, Patricia's father, had a falling out -- Win never knew why -- and Patricia has not set foot on the family estate for more than twenty years, although she and Win have stayed in touch.

Win quickly realizes that, given the fact that his family's painting and his suitcase were both discovered in the dead man's apartment, he is a suspect. And he has to figure out how the Jane Street Six attack, the theft of the paintings from Haverford College, his uncle's murder, and his cousin's kidnapping are all related. Could Ryker Strauss have masterminded each event?

Win is a fascinating and frequently infuriating character. He enjoys violence, and inflicting pain when, in his judgment, it is deserved. He has no problem taking matters into his own hands, literally, if he is convinced that the legal system will not dispense justice and doing so himself, even though, by his own admission, he sometimes fails to consider the long-range consequences. Such a mistake almost costs him his own life, and jeopardizes his relationship with Sadie Fisher of Fisher and Friedman, the victims' rights law firm that now occupies the space where Myron's sports agency was located. He answers phone calls by announcing, "Articulate," and will use any means necessary to get the information he seeks, including bullying and threatening anyone who is reluctant to tell him what they know. He abhors small talk and having his time wasted. He readily acknowledges that nothing is fair and, accordingly, wealth and privilege enable him to accomplish his goals, using whatever methods he finds expedient. He is exasperatingly arrogant.

In the hands of a less-skilled novelist, Win would just be an egotistical, boorish, and amoral vigilante. But Coben manages to make him surprisingly charming, frequently humorous, and always entertaining. He is an anti-hero that readers will find themselves loving to hate, but cheering for. Because, ultimately, Win does have a tender side and a conscience. He is capable of admitting his mistakes, including his failure to forgive his mother until it was too late. Still, he lives by his own unique moral code that underlies and justifies his actions.

Coben has tautly constructed a compelling mystery, full of his signature surprises, misdirection, and shocking developments. Sure enough, he demonstrates how the various events are intertwined, who was responsible for them, and, perhaps most importantly, why they occurred. But along the way, the action-packed story never slows and keeps readers guessing about how all the loose ends will come together into a cohesive tale of deception and lies. Coben illustrates that Win is right -- with great wealth comes the ability to influence, and the perceived need to hide uncomfortable truths that would prove embarrassing and diminish a family's social standing and power. Because, of course, "families protect their own." Win chooses what to do with the information he gathers, and his choices may not be the ones readers would make.

Win is sure to be another bestseller for beloved author Coben and, hopefully, only the first installment featuring Windsor Horne Lockwood III. It is an intricately-plotted, clever, and thoroughly engrossing mystery featuring a fully formed, intriguing lead character from one of America's premiere storytellers.

Excellent start to new series

I have enjoyed many of author Harlan Coben's books over the years but have never read his Myron Bolitar series. I know, I know. Some of you will be aghast. But there is just only so much time in a day and so many books. AND if I had realized that this book was an offshoot of the Bolitar series I wouldn't have read it so I'm glad I didn't know.

I enjoyed the character of Windsor "Win" Horne Lockwood III immensely. He is debonair, extremely rich, and has his own idea of what his moral compass should be.

The story revolves around two old unsolved mysteries - one involving Win's family and one involving a group of extremists. When a man is found dead in a downtown apartment, Win finds that the mysteries are intertwined and he starts his own investigation.

I will definitely be looking forward to the next book in this series. It probably would be a tad better if you've read the Bolitar series previously but the author fills in enough gaps so that I didn't feel lost by not reading those prior books.

I received this book from Grand Central Publishing through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read and review it.

I loved this. What a gift for longtime Myron Bolitar fans. I cannot wait to read more in what is hopefully a series.

Free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Finally, a book all on Windsor Horne Lockwood. No longer the friend of Myron Boliter, but now the star. Let's hope this is the beginning of a series. This book has it all. Family secrets playout 20 years later. Vigilantes seek revenge. Art work is stolen and recovered. This book is so fast paced, yet it gives us insight into Win's family that we haven't read about before. The twists and turns will keep you turning the pages to find out the conclusion and seeking more Win. Coben and Win are truly a "winning" combination.

I discovered Harlan Coben last year by accident, and I am so happy I did. He is now one of my go-to authors for thrillers and getting me out of reading slumps. His books are reliably good and always full of surprises.

Win is the beginning of a new series featuring Windsor Horne Lockward III, a character that is featured in Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar series. That being said, you do not need to have read these books. I have not personally read them, although I am much more motivated to do so after reading this.

Win is a suspenseful thriller in which Coben's writing will propel you through to the very last page. The story is complex but easy to follow, as all good thrillers should be. Coben always surprises me with at least some, if not all, of the twists. I also enjoyed that the book makes you question where the line is between right and wrong, honorable and immoral.

For me, Win is not the most likeable character, but he is charming and witty. He ultimately won me over, but he is not a character I love. It is just hard for me to love a wealthy white male protagonist. However, I appreciate that the character often criticizes the wealthy and pays heed to his privilege. For all his faults, Win is certainly amusing and a good central character. As Coben always does, the characters are well-developed despite the fast-moving plot.

Overall, I really enjoyed Win and am looking forward to upcoming books in this series, This book managed to make me think, smiles, and really want to find out how it ended. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys thrillers, suspense, Harlan Coben, or books that take place in New York.

Action-packed, intricate, and twisty!

Win is a sinister, tortuous tale that finally gives Myron Bolitar’s sidekick the hedonistic Windsor Horne Lockwood III centre stage when a painting stolen from his family long ago and his monogrammed suitcase from when he was a teen is discovered in the home of a murdered recluse who may also have ties to the activist bombing group known as the Jane Street Six who inadvertently killed seven people in the early 70s, as well as the infamous “Hut of Horrors” where several women, including Win’s cousin Patricia, was kept and sexually assaulted for several months in the 1990s.

The writing is bold and tight. The characters are self-absorbed, deviant, and deceptive. And the plot is an intense, mysterious tale filled with twists, turns, familial drama, secrets, coercion, manipulation, mayhem, attraction, danger, violence, and murder.

Overall, Win has everyone thing you’ve come to expect in a Harlan Coben novel, as well as an antihero that you will love to hate. It’s absorbing, addictive, and exceptionally twisty, and for this long-time Coben fan, a book that was undoubtedly long overdue, eagerly anticipated, and extremely satisfying.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for gifting me a digital ARC of the latest thriller by Harlan Coben - 4.5 stars rounded up for a fabulous start to a new series!

The FBI has two cold cases to solve - in the 70s, a group of radicals who were involved in a fire bombing that ended up killing multiple people. There was also an art heist that ended in a murder and kidnapping of a young girl. These two cases come together and point towards Win - the paintings were stolen from his family and his suitcase was found at a murder scene. Win's FBI friend and mentor, PT, pulls him into investigating these crimes.

I realize it is a personal flaw that I haven't read all of Coben's books - Win is a recurring character from the Myron Bolitar series. But that it no way took away from the enjoyment of this book. I loved Win's character - this book is written in the first person like he is talking to you and explaining himself and his actions to you. While you won't agree with lots that he does, he owns his personality - his rich, white privilege, his sense of right and wrong. I can't wait to read more in this series!

I loved this book! I have been a fan of Harlan Coben's writing for a long time. I am always excited when he has a new book hitting store shelves but I was absolutely giddy when I found out that this book was going to happen. Win plays a big pivotal role in Coben's Myron Bolitar series and has been one of my favorite characters for a very long time. I couldn't wait to see him take the lead in this book and it was everything that I had hoped it would be. Once I started reading this book, putting it down proved to be impossible.

Win plays by his own set of rules. He is incredibly wealthy which makes it possible for him to do things that mere mortals couldn't necessarily do. Win has his own moral compass and tends to function in a grey area. When he feels that someone needs to be stopped, he stops them. Win is a man of action and doesn't always think to include others in his plans which sometimes causes problems.

Win gets a call from the police about a man that has been found dead. The man was a recluse and an incredibly valuable painting that was stolen from Win's family is also found in the apartment. To add to the mystery, police have also discovered a suitcase bearing Win's initials, WLH3. Win believes that the suitcase may be connected to the kidnapping of his cousin, Patricia, twenty years ago.

I was captivated by the mystery in this book. I was very eager to learn how everything was connected and I liked the way that Win approached each situation. There were so many different pieces that needed to come together to tell the complete story and I was hooked by each twist and turn. There were a few times that I worried if Win was finally in over his head but I trusted that he would find a solution like the resourceful man I know he is.

I would highly recommend this book to others. Readers of the Myron Bolitar series will be thrilled to see the spotlight on Win but this book will also work well as a stand alone. I cannot wait to read more of Coben's work in the future.

I received a review copy of this book from Grand Central Publishing.

Win by Harlan Coben
By Jack | March 14, 2021 | Book Review

I don’t think I read anything by Harlan Coben before but I was looking for a good mystery/thriller and this was available on Netgalley. I knew Harlan Coben was a best selling author of this type of book so I thought I’d give Win a try. I’m glad I did. I highly recommend this book and thank Netgalley for the chance to read it before publication.

For the first few pages I was wondering where this story was going. It seemed to be the story of a rich guy at a basketball game. But the game ended and it got interesting fast.

Windsor Horne Lockwood III or Win is not a likeable character. Complex and interesting but likeable is not a word I would use to describe him. He seems kind of narcissistic, probably psychopathic or maybe the word I am looking for is sociopathic. He seems very self-aware and rational. He has a unique moral code and is not shy about taking the law into his own hands. I don’t think I could be his friend but I would rather have him on my side than have him as an enemy. I should also mention that he is extremely rich.

Win is a character in Harlan Coben’s Myron Bolitar series. I have not read any books from this series so can tell you Win’s book can stand on it’s own.

This book is a great mystery and thriller. Before you are introduced to the central mystery, you are drawn into the book by the character of Win. A good mystery involving the Lockwood family stolen art, 60’s radicals, the FBI, the mob, maybe rape and murder, and interesting characters told by a master. What’s not to like!

As mentioned before Harlan Coben is a best selling author of this type of book and a master of the craft. If you would like to read more about the author see https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/10/books/harlan-coben-win.html

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.

The book will be published on March 16, 2021.