Early Life and Education
Harlan Coben was born on January 4, 1962 in Newark, New Jersey and was raised in Livingston. After graduating from Livingston High School, Coben went to Amherst College in Massachusetts. He graduated from Amherst in 1984, and subsequently worked at a travel company owned by his grandfather.
Novelist
Coben published his first novel, “Play Dead,” in 1990. It established him as a writer of suspense thrillers in which past events and secrets come bubbling to the surface. His second novel, “Miracle Cure,” was published in 1991. With his 1995 novel “Deal Breaker,” Coben introduced his most famous character, crime solver and sports agent Myron Bolitar. The book won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original. Coben continued the Myron Bolitar series with “Drop Shot” in 1996 and “Fade Away” in 1997. The latter won both the Shamus Award and the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original. For the next Myron Bolitar novel, “Back Spin,” Coben won the Barry Award. The subsequent novels in the series were “One False Move” (1998), “The Final Detail” (1999), and “Darkest Fear” (2000). Coben then wrote “Tell No One” (2001), his first standalone novel in a decade. He continued writing standalone novels over the ensuing years, releasing “Gone for Good” (2002), “No Second Chance” (2003), “Just One Look” (2004), and “The Innocent” (2005). Coben returned to the Myron Bolitar series with “Promise Me,” which was published in 2006. After that, he alternated between standalone novels and ones with Bolitar. Coben published the standalone novels “The Woods” (2007) and “Hold Tight” (2008) before releasing the Bolitar novel “Long Lost” in 2009. Following the standalone “Caught” in 2010, he published the Bolitar novel “Live Wire” in 2011. The latter won the RBA Prize for Crime Writing, one of the most prestigious honors for crime fiction. Meanwhile, in 2011, Coben published “Shelter,” his first YA novel and the first book of the Mickey Bolitar spinoff series, featuring Myron’s teenage nephew. He released two more Mickey Bolitar novels, “Seconds Away” and “Found,” in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Coben’s standalone novels during this time were “Stay Close,” “Six Years,” and “Missing You.” After publishing the standalone novel “The Stranger” in 2015, Coben published three novels in 2016: the Myron Bolitar installment “Home” and the standalone books “The Magical Fantastical Fridge” and “Fool Me Once.” His next releases were the standalone novels “Don’t Let Go” (2017) and “Run Away” (2019). In 2020, Coben launched a new series with the release of “The Boy from the Woods,” focused on the character Wilde. The second book in the series, “The Match,” came out in 2022. Meanwhile, in 2021, Coben published “Win,” his first novel focused entirely on Myron Bolitar’s best friend and sidekick Windsor Horne Lockwood III. After publishing the standalone novel “I Will Find You” in 2023, Coben returned to the Myron Bolitar series for the first time in eight years with “Think Twice,” released in 2024. It was the 12th overall book in the series. Coben followed that with the standalone novel “Nobody’s Fool” in 2025.
Film and Television Adaptations
Other Projects
As well as adapting his novels for the screen, Coben has also created some original television series. His first was “The Five,” which aired on Sky1 in the UK in 2016. Coben next created the Netflix series “Safe,” which premiered in 2018.
Personal Life & Real Estate
With his wife Anne Armstrong, a pediatrician, Coben has four children and resides in Ridgewood, New Jersey. In 1999, Harlan and Anne paid $960,000 for a home in Ridgewood, New Jersey. Today this home is worth around $3 million.
