Darkest Fear

By: Harlan Coben

Narrated by: Jonathan Marosz

Edgar Award-winner Harlan Coben is at his electrifying best in his latest novel - a dazzling tale of seething mystery and dark family secrets.

In Darkest Fear, Myron Bolitar faces the most emotionally shattering case of his career. And it all begins when Myron's ex-girlfriend tells him he is a father - of a dying 13-year-old boy....

Myron's sports agency is struggling. Now more than ever, Myron needs to keep his eye on the ball, sign up some big-name clients, and turn away from the amateur detective work that is taking precious time away from the agency.

But life is not going according to plan. Myron's father, recently recovered from a heart attack, is facing his own mortality - and forcing Myron to face it, too. Then comes another surprise. Emily Downing, Myron's college sweetheart, reappears in his life with devastating news: Her 13-year-old son, Jeremy, is gravely ill and can be saved only by a bone-marrow transplant - from a donor who has vanished without a trace. And before Myron can absorb this revelation, Emily hits him with an even bigger shocker: Jeremy is Myron's son, conceived the night before Emily's wedding to another man.

Staggered by the news, Myron plunges into a search for the missing donor. But for Myron, finding the only person in the world who can save a boy's life means cracking open a mystery as dark as it is heartbreaking - a mystery that involves a broken family, a brutal kidnapping spree, and a cat-and-mouse game between an ambitious reporter and the FBI.

Somewhere in the sordid mess is the man who once signed his name to a bone-marrow donor's registry, then disappeared. And as doubts emerge about Jeremy's true paternity, a child vanishes, igniting a chain reaction of truth and revelation that will change everyone's life forever.

At once a riveting mystery and a spellbinding journey into the secrets that haunt families, lovers, and friends, Darkest Fear proves once again that Harlan Coben is a master storyteller like no other - and one of the most original talents in suspense fiction today.

©2000 Harlan Coben (P)2000 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"Don't let Coben's wry observations fool you. They gift wrap keen insights into our society." (Washington Post Book World)

Amazing narrator

Best narrator ever! He catches all the subtle humor and sarcasm with which Coben writes. Another excellent Myron plot which did not disappoint!

Love this!

I love Myron Bolitar and Jonathan
Mayrose is my all time favorite reader. He is anything but flat!

I'm going to miss Jonathon Marosz.

Excellent book even though it sounds like the end of Myron Bolitar. I'm obviously super late to the party so maybe this was meant to be his last one. It's going to be like a whole new series with a new narrator.

Darkest Fear

Harlan Coben knows how to write. This was suspenseful and exciting. Another good one by the author.

Convoluted and Dated But Still Fun Coben-Bolitar

Things get personal for Myron Bolitar when his college girlfriend, now married to his basketball nemesis Greg Downing, tells him that her son has a rare bone disease and the only known donor has gone missing. And that her son is actually his son, the result of an affair the two had right before her wedding to Greg.

The intertwining story lines get somewhat convoluted, and it takes a talking villain (a literary no-no) to somewhat untangle them (actually, Myron does the talking to the villain rather than vice versa). But it's still a satisfying read, primarily because of the non-stop quipsterisms tendered by Myron, Win, and Co.

The pop culture references are seriously outdated -- to wit, an entire set piece based on Charles Nelson Reilly on the Hollywood Squares. But if you're my age, they're still quaint.

Hey... It's Myron Bolitar and Crew!

Okay... the ending's either a hair ragged or I needed to pay a tad more attention. But this is an ensemble that's always fun to visit. Myron's growing darker with each new novel in this series and I'm worried that Coben might be beginning with this installment to be finding it difficult to carve the stone as sharply as he's done before. Still, Jonathan Marosz continues to create Coben's cast in ways that resonate with me. I'll find the next book in this series. But, reward yourself and don't start with "Darket Fears". Go to the beginning of this Bolitar story and work forward. This experience will be a lot fuller if you do.

Narrator is fabulous - Love Myron Bolitar

These are fun ---the narrator is fantastic. Unfortunately the next 3 in the series have a different narrator and he is awful. Rins the entire relationship that was built up. Guess I will have to read the others.

Clever tale, witty prose , properly snide delivery

To quote Myron Bolitar, "Good one." No one can deliver the repartee between these characters better than Jonathan Marosz. It ain't no Pulitzer, but superior in its genre.

Humor and Mystery

This listen was a pleasant surprise. If I was reading it I wpuld call it a page turner

Probably My Favorite

Love Myron! Each book keeps getting better, evolving as the characters do. As in all the books there is a dilemma this one a moral one? Certainly hits Myron hard! Great theories and crazy dangerous places for Myron & Win to end up. I was not sure how HC was going to tie all the various paths together but of course he does. Can’t wait for the next one.

Narration was excellent. Love the was this narrator conveys not only Myron’s voice but Win’s and the others!