The Match

The Match is the second book in the Wilde series by award-winning, best-selling American author, Harlan Coben. When a DNA matching site coughs up Wilde's father, he's hoping to find out why he was left alone in the woods over three decades earlier. It is not to be: David Carter says he is completely unaware he has fathered a son, and can offer no real clues about who Wilde's mother might be.

Wilde is ready to abandon the search when he discovers an old message from another match on the site, a second cousin calling himself PB. What is concerning is the tone of PB's message, and when, between his foster sister Rola Naser, and his godson Matthew Crimstein, they discover PB's identity, the mystery becomes Peter Bennett's whereabouts. A popular reality TV star, after being heavily and nastily trolled online for claims of infidelity, Peter has disappeared. Most believe he committed suicide.

Wilde reaches out to Peter's family, perhaps also his family(?), and gets Rola to use her talents and resources to track down the troll. Wilde takes a look, and that leads to this amusing dialogue between celebrity attorney Hester Crimstein and Wilde: "Let's say hypothetically I found a dead body."

"I knew I wasn't going to like this. Where?"

"In a private home where I was not supposed to be."

Hester then advises "Coming clean and calling it in."

"I broke into the house."

"We could work with that. You walked by. You smelled something funny."

"So dressed all in black with a black mask and gloves, I slid open the back door in a remote house on several acres of private property, nowhere near where anyone would be taking a casual stroll—"

"Could all be explained."

Soon, Wilde has a nasty encounter with the troll's buddies, a more civilised one with the FBI, and a clandestine meeting with the leader of an illegal online vigilante group. By this time, the body count is mounting, all from the same gun and with the same MO, but no other connection: do they have a serial killer on their hands?

This time Coben gives the reader a very tangled web of a plot that will keep even the most astute reader guessing until the final reveal. While more books featuring this cast of characters would be welcome, this one does seem to neatly tie up most issues, apart from some aspects of Wilde's parentage being left vague: the boy in the woods mystery is comprehensively solved, so the reader may wonder if Coben has more of Wilde in store. Once again, very entertaining crime fiction.

This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK Cornerstone.