Ten years ago two American boys were kidnapped; there has been no sign of them since. Win, a wealthy businessman and crime-fighter, has been on a crusade to find his cousin’s son, and then he sees one of the missing boys in London. He enlists the aid of his best friend, former sports agent Myron Bolitar, and they successfully rescue one of the boys from a crime lord. The boy is whisked home to America by his parents, but something isn’t quite right – and where is the other boy?

Myron and Win carry out parallel investigations; Myron does his sleuthing back home in America, while Win uses his fortune to globetrot after a sinister pimp. They both find themselves skirting uneasily around Win’s cousin, whose son is still missing and who is desperate for answers.

Harlan Coben’s stand-alone thrillers are unmissable, brilliantly plotted and filled with strong, very human characters. But the ‘Myron Bolitar’ series has never been as satisfying as his other books; it combines clever, complex plotting with larger-than-life but decidedly one-dimensional characters, who all seem to think they are amusing but are actually irritating. Take Myron Bolitar, for example – a tall, good-looking former sports star turned sports agent who fights crime and evil at every opportunity. But he just doesn’t seem real and nor does his multi-millionaire accomplice, Win. And don’t get me started on the lady wrestlers.

Home has a classic Harlan Coben plot, with its dark and twisted tale of two missing children and an awful, long-buried secret. But the main characters are so artificial and unconvincing – as they reel off their weak one-liners – that they unbalance the rest of the narrative.

Reviewed by Tessa Chudy