Sat 18 Dec 2021
Reviewed by LJ Roberts: HARLAN COBEN – The Boy from the Woods.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[9] Comments
Reviews by L. J. Roberts
HARLAN COBEN – The Boy from the Woods. Wilde #1. Grand Central Publishing, hardcover, March 2020; paperback, June 2021. Setting: Contemporary New Jersey.
First Sentence: How does she survive?
Thirty years ago, Wilde was found living nearly feral in the woods with no memory of his past or his family.
This will be short. Harlan Coben’s early books were fun to read. Now, it seems, he is writing to be televised because that’s where the real money is made. They are filled with stereotypical television characters. We have the sad, outcast girl; the mixed-race teen who wants to do the right thing but isn’t strong or brave enough; the outspoken, older woman full of snarky quips; the outcast girl’s suspicious father…
…the super-wealthy father protecting his super-bully, over-indulged kid; the nice cop who wants to help but doesn’t want to piss off the super-wealthy guy. Most importantly, we have the tall, strong, gorgeous, former ranger hero who can take on the bad guys with a pea while being desired by every woman. Did I miss anyone?
The story is total escapism and requires a huge suspension of disbelief, including, as was pointed out by a fellow reader, Wilde having an iPhone with a data plan when he’s paranoid about security and privacy, and the ending makes no sense at all.
The Boy from the Woods is an acceptable airplane book if one is into Jack Reacher-type superheroes, and desperate for something to read. It will hold one’s interest for the length of the flight but is then left on the plane, never to be thought of again. For pure entertainment, it’s fine, but there’s no substance.
Rating: Not Recommended.
___
Bibliographic Update: There will soon be a second book in the series. The Match is set to appear in March 2022.
December 18th, 2021 at 3:23 pm
I agree. I’ve read two or three of Coben’s books and the early ones are better. Generally though I have no desire to read more of his as there is always lots of better (and usually older) stuff to read first!
December 18th, 2021 at 3:25 pm
To be fair, the hero being desired by every woman is a problem I have with the Travis McGee series too.
December 18th, 2021 at 4:42 pm
David – I agree. Coben’s earlier books were so much better. It seems he is now going for that which can be made into a movie; aka, selling out. And yes, as a female reader, the trope of every woman falling at the feet of the hero is more than tiring.
December 18th, 2021 at 11:54 pm
Coben is just blah for me, pretty much the same old same old as every other book packaged as a would be made for television and streaming movie with nothing special to define it. He can write but doesn’t bother to.
And, sorry, but any reader of John D. MacDonald can point out to numerous books where not every woman falls for McGee. Granted there are attractive women in most of the books who do, but it is not every woman in the book, and frankly there are attractive women in the books he isn’t interested in either. Even James Bond doesn’t get every woman in every Fleming book.
Not that it isn’t true of Coben, or that Coben doesn’t handle it particularly well. Frankly few writers of this kind of material put half the effort into it that MacDonald or Fleming did.
Like it or not “sexual healing” is part of the plot and theme and not a universal super power McGee is endowed with because he is a hero. MacDonald, right or wrong, does bother to explain McGee’s philosophy, and its limits, because many, if not most, of his adventures detail how the relationships end, sometimes not particularly well (something also covered in the Bond books) and McGee’s limits as anything other than a short term lover.
Part of the characterization of both McGee and Bond is that they are not particularly nice men. I grant some readers today expect the hero to be as pure as Doc Savage, but MacDonald and Fleming were writing about more complex characters, and whatever their own limits regarding the relationship between the sexes at least they were attempting some form of an adult approach to the subject comparable to what Hammett and Chandler had done earlier.
McGee himself comments on his limits in that regard. I find that far different from the devastatingly attractive type floating through most thrillers leaving behind an army of grateful lovers.
Bucking the trope of the protagonist who attracts the opposite sex isn’t going to be easy even today when people are more woke. It goes back pretty far in popular literature (Odysseus at least) and it isn’t going to be easy to change. It’s one area where the female fantasy is pretty mucb even with the male because an awful lot of female protagonists of these kinds of books are equally universally attractive and desired.
Most readers of the kind of books Coben is writing aren’t looking for anything deeper and might even resent it if they got it. He’s writing for an audience that prefers sizzle to steak and he gives them sizzle. I might want more, but it probably isn’t worth it for him or his publishers to stretch and judging the reaction I see to past writers who did try to say something more complex I’m not sure it’s worth the effort these days.
December 19th, 2021 at 12:52 am
L.J.
Some weeks ago we had a brief exchange regarding Charles Todd. Since then, I have been on a Bess Crawford jag, that is nine novels, several twice. They are of a piece, and at the top of the line, I am sold, love the Colonel, but I am ambivalent about Bess.If you have looked at any of these, I’d like to read your thoughts, if not, we shall move along. Oh, as this is the Christmas season, I see the Colonel Sahib as a stand in for God.
December 19th, 2021 at 2:50 am
Well, all I can say in response to the other David re. McGee is that I find his sexual adventures repetitive, predictable, tiresome, extremely dated, and unbelievable. Perhaps because I’m coming to them now, today, and not forty, twenty, or even ten years ago. Any young female he decides he’s interested in he inevitably ends up bedding. For her own good, of course! Yeah, right …
December 19th, 2021 at 9:29 am
Yes, it’s true. I liked the Myron Bolitar books but the stand alones? Not for me. We’ve watched two or three of the series (made in Europe) adapted from his books, and while watchable, I wouldn’t recommend them. If it wasn’t for my wife wanting to see them, I would never turn them on. (I should add that Coben put himself in one of the series as a heroic character.)
I tried (with some anticipation) the updated spinoff from the Bolitar series featuring his incredibly rich, psychopathic sidekick, WIN, but had to give up after a short while. It just lay there, inert. Bad, bad book.
December 19th, 2021 at 3:43 pm
Hi Barry-
Yes, although Ian is my favorite, I’ve read a number of the Bess Crawford books. I was so sad when Caroline died. The good news is that Charles is going to continue writing, including the Crawford series.
My favorites of the Bess series are the early books during the war. I love her family but many of the female readers among us are frustrated waiting for something to happen between Bess and Simon. LOL. However, even with the war being over, the series continues with a new book coming out next year.
December 19th, 2021 at 3:47 pm
Jeff – Boy, do I agree with you about “WIN.” I so hated that book, I didn’t even put my review on my blog. However, on Goodreads, my review, which was being kind, said:
As the psychopathic sidekick to best friend Myron Bolitar, Win was intriguing. As the protagonist, he’s just boring. By the nature of his character, he’s an empty shell mimicking a functional person. In that, Cohen succeeded in creating his character. However, as a reader, it is not enough.
The narcissistic recitation of his wealth, art, cars, planes, suits, guns, knowledge of martial arts disciplines, is eye-rolling. It soon becomes apparent 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 may have been Coben’s attempt to make the plot current but, with many being on overload, it just doesn’t work.
“WIN” is a book most readers will probably enjoy. Some, however, may find themselves not caring enough to do more than skim through.