Book Review: Fade Away

Fade Away, by Harlan Coben

Fade Away is about a missing pro basketball star. Myron Bolitar, a former college basketball superstar waylaid by injury and now a sports agent, is asked to look for him. You wouldn't think you could easily build a mystery series around a sports agent, but Harlan Coben finds a way.

I'm reading Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar books in order. Fade Away is the third. This is the most personal of the Bolitar books so far, from Myron's perspective. We spend a lot of time learning about Myron's history as a basketball star. His history is vitally important to the story, both in understanding the events and in understanding the character of Myron Bolitar. Maybe because of this, it is told in third person instead of first person. Still, we mostly follow along with Myron, to the extent that when the narrative viewpoint switches to Esperanza or Win it is quite jarring.

I liked Fade Away. The story is interesting. The reader is given a lot of clues to process. The suspects and hangers-on are interesting. The back story and development of Myron makes one glad this is an ongoing series. This is good, because Myron is the only character really developed in any depth. The supporting cast (Win, Esperanza, Jessica) are superficially portrayed, but provide good moments of comic relief, including a new character of Big Cindy who creates quite the vivid impression.

The books in the Bolitar series are:

1. Deal Breaker
2. Drop Shot (Myron Bolitar) 
3. Fade Away
4. Back Spin: A Myron Bolitar Novel (Myron Bolitar Mysteries)
5. One False Move: A Myron Bolitar Novel (Myron Bolitar Mysteries)
6. The Final Detail: A Myron Bolitar Novel (Myron Bolitar Mysteries)
7. Darkest Fear (Myron Bolitar)
8. Promise Me (Myron Bolitar, No. 8)
9. Long Lost