Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben (born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1962) is an American writer of crime and suspense fiction. Since the 1990s his novels have reached readers in many languages, and they are known for returning to past events that were never properly solved or were misunderstood, such as murders or fatal accidents. His plots usually turn several times before the final reveal.

Coben grew up in Livingston, New Jersey, and studied political science at Amherst College, where he belonged to the Psi Upsilon fraternity. After graduating he worked for a while in his family's travel business, but by his final year at university he had already decided to become a writer. His first novel, Play Dead, came out in 1990, followed by Miracle Cure the next year. He then started a series about Myron Bolitar, a former basketball player who becomes a sports agent and keeps finding himself caught up in murder investigations involving his clients.

Over time he began writing stand-alone thrillers alongside the series. Tell No One (2001) became his best-selling book up to that point and inspired a French film of the same name, directed by Guillaume Canet, in 2006. Coben has won an Edgar Award, an Anthony Award and a Shamus Award, making him the first writer to receive all three. Hold Tight (2008) was also his first book to debut at number one on the New York Times bestseller list.

His later influence is closely tied to television. Under a deal with Netflix signed in 2018, he has worked as an executive producer on adaptations of at least fourteen of his novels, made in several countries and languages. His books have been translated into dozens of languages and have sold tens of millions of copies worldwide.