Deal Breaker

You know an author's popular when you have to wait for the first book in a series (originally published back in 1995) to become available.  But that's the case with Harlan Coben's first Myron Bolitar novel Deal Breaker (#175). 

Myron Bolitar, sports agent, injured Celtic draft pick, and Harvard Law School graduate, has picked up a new client; Christian Steele, squeaky clean darling of the college quarterback media flurry.  Negotiations with the New York Titans team owner aren't going so well, but Otto Burke is known to play dirty.  Christian's college girl friend and fiancee went missing about eighteen months ago but on the eve of signing a contract with the Titans, Kathy Culver calls him.  Could she still be alive?  Myron's role in this murky case is personal.  He used to live with Kathy's sister Jessica and he still hasn't gotten over her.  When Jessica comes to see Myron to beg him to look into Kathy's disappearance and the recent mugging and murder of her father, his investigation becomes both personal and professional.  Could the two Culver tragedies be related?  And things only get uglier from here...

Unfortunately these days you don't have to look too far before you read or hear about college sports scandals or owner antics like those described in Deal Breaker, where the only thing that seems to matter is the money.  But maybe that's just me being cynical.

It was helpful to get some of the background in Deal Breaker on characters like Myron himself, his relationship with Jessica Culver, and just why his best friend Win is considered so scary by everyone else.  I'm glad I found this series, and I'll be putting the next installment on reserve at my local library.