The Match is the sequel to Harlan Coben's best-selling book, "The Boy From The Woods" and begins with Wilde discovering a match on a DNA website that suggests a very close relative. This being a Coben book nothing is ever that simple and Wilde's research leads to a story taking 2 different directions. with a slightly confusing part of the tale part way through as the nuts and bolts of analysing DNA links is discussed and my poor old brain over-heating. Once I'd re-read and digested that I was up and running again.
Quite a few current issues are covered in this book, reality TV,internet trolling,those DNA matching sites, influencers and much more. One of Wilde's matches is a fame seeker ,someone whose life is public property,another exactly the opposite. How close are these people to Wilde? Does he find the parents he's searching for? Does he get the answers he's looking for? All I'l say is that book ends with plenty of scope for a third in the series

This is an entertaining read that will also make the reader think about parts of our society today, always a good thing. The plot is quite convoluted with plenty of twists and there's even a small "Easter Egg" that will make fans of one of Coben's other series smile when they come across it.

Love Harlon Coben and this is another great read about families. This features a character called Wilde who has lived in the woods since being abandoned by his family and wants to find out who his parents were.
The story follows Wilde as he seeks out his father using a DNA site and with many twists and turns this will keep you wanting to read until the end. I read this book in 2 days as I could not put it down.
Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Uk for a advanced copy.
Looking forward to the next book.

If you think families are easy and uncomplicated, you need to read this book!

Wilde by name but not by nature, the man at the focus of this tale was found wandering in the woods as a boy several years after he vanished. Decades later he has discovered he is not the last member of his family and this is his story. I hate spoilers and so am not going to offer any more detail other than to say this book shows so very well that DNA testing might not be the panacea it is purported to be and will end this review by stating this book is very well worth your time.

Harlan Coben knows how to tell a story and tell it entertainingly with lots of golden nuggets, twists and surprises. After a couple of heavy reads and feeling the need for something more elevating, I turned to the master of great storytelling for an engrossing read, and he did not disappoint.

The Match is the second book to feature Wilde, the man who as a young boy was discovered living a feral existence in the Ramapo mountains of New Jersey and who we first encountered in The Boy from the Woods. He made friends with a young boy from a nearby family and that family has been the only one he has been close to since then. Wilde has no idea about his parentage or even where he came from.

That’s about to change. He submits his DNA to a database and gets back a match. He makes contact and after some lapses in time he finds a message from his match that suggests his relative is in real trouble. Having never revealed his identity, Wilde has to use the covert methods of Rola, his foster sister, to track him down.

Harlan Coben gives us plenty of thrills and excitement in this quest for Wilde to find his family. Along the way Wilde will have to deal with a world he neither knows nor understands – social media influencers, celebrity reality shows and the fleeting nature of fame; cancel culture and vigilante justice.

It’s a brilliant, whirlwind ride in which Wilde comes close to having some of the closest relationships in his world destroyed and trust is breached, potentially fatally.

I loved coming back to lawyer and Wilde’s honest friend, Hester Grimstein (the Judge Judy of her own show) and her law enforcement lover. While Wilde tracks down his elusive relatives, he also has to tackle his own emotional distance and to handle the surprises that finally finding out about his family will deliver. All this while solving a high profile disappearance and being accused of murder.

The Match is classic Coben. Highly entertaining, great characters, emotional investment and a truck load of suspense and surprises. Wilde is a character you ache for; one you want to succeed and be happy. Who can resist a good looking loner who is afraid to trust because he has never known a nurturing family love? This is an entertaining, exciting and engaging read, and as Wilde finally finds out where he came from, Coben hold out the possibility of a deeper emotional engagement for him, which leaves this reader very happy.

Wow! Well, initially, I really struggled with this book and it was only due to the excellent reviews that I kept reading and I'm so, so glad that I did.

This can absolutely be read as a stand alone, but, I'd strongly recommend you read 'The Boy in the Woods' first as it really helps understand the Wilde character's backstory.

Wilde doesn't know who his parents are, nor how he ended up fending for himself in the woods for many years. This book follows Wilde's story as he researches his family via a DNA website. What follows includes; murder, reality tv stardom, family and relationships and is a thriller of a ride and I loved it! It's got twists, thrills, fun and humour and it's so well written. I did get very confused regarding the whole DNA information, but, it's not necessary to fully understand, just, go with the flow.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and Random House UK Cornerstone for the opportunity to preview.

I read this as a stand alone not realising it was a sequel to The boy from the woods (off to get a copy of that to read now). This book touched on many themes and took many unexpected turns, another cracker from Harlan Coben.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

Wow. This was my first Harlan Coben book, I've no idea why I waited so long to read one! Seriously, this guy is everywhere at the minute, every time I turn on Netflix there's another of his books been adapted to a tv show. I've had friends buy me copies of his books and they've just sat there. This year I decided I had to read at least one. It was so good.
There's a lot going on here, there's no pause for you to collect your thoughts, it's a constant BAM! BAM! BAM! of activity. At first I was a bit overwhelmed and confused as to how everything was going to tie together but by then end you have all the answers and everything makes sense.
I absolutely loved this and I have a huge backlog of books to now work my way through!

Harlan Coben always has a good story to tell and this sequel to “The Boy from the Woods” is no exception. Wilde, abandoned as a child, decides to look into his family by registering his DNA on a ancestry website. Of course, as in all books by this author, this does not turn out to be a simple matter and he gets caught up in a series of murders as well as the disappearance of a cousin who is a Tv reality star.
The DNA sections of the plot were quite complicated to understand and the two strands of Wilde’s search did turn out to be interesting but unrelated in the end.
Wilde is a good hero, damaged but very authentic and keen to do the right thing for everyone. He holds a torch for Laila, the widow of his best friend and this aspect of his life is explored further in the book. I liked the way that Wilde gradually started to form closer relationships as the story progressed and I was really hoping he would find out more about his real family and the reason for his abandonment.
I didn’t really warm to the reality Tv stars who featured in the plot but I thought it was a clever way to examine this unpleasant aspect of modern life and to emphasise the dangers of being hounded on social media if you decide to go down the reality star route.
I loved Hester Crimstein, Wilde’s elderly lawyer friend and mother figure! She’s a feisty woman who never seems to slow down and she even has a love interest in this book which is a definite plus; she’s a really great role model for the older women!
I’d certainly be interested in reading a further book about Wilde’s journey if the author decides to write one.
All in all an enjoyable read and another treat for Harlan Coben fans.
Thanks to NetGalley and Century books for my arc.

I'm not going to say this was an amazing book because for me it was good, steady, a good plot an ok ending....
The story follows a man called Wilde, who as a child was abandoned by his parents and lived for the first few years of his life in the woods. He was fostered and life carried on but when he gets older, he wants to know where he comes from. You don't always get what you wish for.......
If you're a fan of Harlen Coban, you won't be disappointed, its a great story but I wasn't all that impressed!!
Many thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC book for an honest review.
#Netgalley, #harlencoban,, randomhouse.

Discovered living a feral existence in the Ramapo mountains of New Jersey, he has grown up knowing nothing of his parents, and even less about his own identity. Until now. When a match on a DNA database puts him on the trail of a close relative - the only family member he has ever known - Wilde thinks he might be about to solve the mystery of who he really is. Only this relation disappears as quickly as he's resurfaced. Undaunted, Wilde continues his research, becoming caught up in a secret community committed to exposing anonymous online trolls. Then one by one, people start to die, and it soon becomes clear that a serial killer is targeting this secret community.

I am not sure if I will be able to do tis book justice, I absolutely loved 'The Match' and has become one of my favourite books from Coben. This book is set around Wilde and we get to learn more about him and, more importantly, about his family. I found this aspect of the plot very interesting and moving. Alongside this, people start dying and Wilde finds himself caught up in a dangerous world. This aspect of the plot was incredibly thrilling, extremely tense and meant I was unable to put this down.

As well as having an electrifying plot, this book has Coben's trademark wit and writing style that I simply love. Everything about this book was just perfect and Coben balances the light and dark perfectly to make for a stunning, exhilarating read.

As I have mentioned, this book returns to the character of Wilde and we learn more about him as a person and see him develop more. We also have the return of Wilde's friends, and again, I enjoyed seeing what happens to them during this book. For long-standing fans of Coben's, there is even another returning character which was thrilling and perfect for the book.

'The Match' is a phenomenal thriller from the master. I cannot recommend this enough.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for an advance copy.

Another great action packed thriller from Harlan Coben. Wilde doesn’t know anything about his past or identity, so he decides to upload his DMA on an ancestry site and he finds a match! This leads to intrigue as his story unfolds and long buries secrets are revealed. I wish I had read the previous book featuring the character Wilde, The Boy From The Woods as there are other characters and references to the past but in saying that it can be read as a stand-alone.

This book is outstanding. A follow up to The boy from the woods, The Match sees answers for Wilde about his background as he signs up to a website and hears about a DNA match.

I guess you may enjoy this as a standalone but I would highly recommend you read The boy from the woods first to find out the background of the characters. In The Match we see all of the characters from the previous book and meet some new ones, most of these involved in Wilde’s search for his relatives.

A murder takes place and the killer appears to be taking revenge. A highly secretive group meet online to discuss revenge, with strict protocols to protect their anonymity and how does this relate to Wilde a couple who lived their lives on social media until one of them mysteriously disappeared?

Fantastic read and could not put it down. Highly recommend. Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

It made big news when a feral boy was found living in the forest fending for himself. Over the years as he grew into adulthood the story died down, and it was about time he got some answers to his past. He wasn't to know that putting his DNA into a genealogy database to find his parents would expose him to exploitation and murder.

It was my first time reading a Harlan Coben book and I was very impressed. I intended to read a few pages then get on with my weekend, but ended up reading it all the way through to the end, which testifies yo just how good it was. I loved the relationships Wilde had with 'his people' and the fast paced twists and turns definitely had my fingers turning pages.

I wasn't aware that this was the second book in the series. However the way it was written, it read like a stand alone, I didn't feel like I was missing out on any significant information. It was a really good read, and I will be going back to read book one "The Boy in the Woods".

This becomes quite a complex book, so much so that as I come to write my review a few weeks after reading it (because life got in the way), I can't think of how best to describe it.

Let's start simple. Wilde was a boy found feral in the forest as a child. Now, as an adult, he does a DNA test that links him to his father, but that also connects him to an online group of doxxers - people who expose internet trolls. But then people start dying, including the doxxers, and Wilde could be next? He's used to danger, but not like this...

The book goes on, there are twists, turns, and lots more DNA. It's a real page-turner and I enjoy the characters here (Wilde, yes, but also NYC attorney, Hester Grimstein and her family, who have known Wilde since he was first discovered, in one way or another). It did get a little head-scratchery towards the end, but I enjoy a book that makes me work for the pay-off.

Wilde was abandoned as a child and grew up fending for himself in the woods no one really knows how long he was there or who he really is.
Now grown up he wants to discover more about his origins and registers with a DNA site. However things soon escalate and he finds himself amidst a sequence of events starting with the disappearance of a reality star to whom he seems to be related. As with all Harlan Corben novels things are never simple and a complicated chain of events begins to unfold. It’s hard to know who is telling the truth as the plot moves on but as ever plenty of suspense in an intricately woven plot.

I love Harlen Coben. He's one of my favourite authors and he never fails to disappoint. Another fantastic read that I devoured in a day! You will not be disappointed in this book, a classic Coben novel!

Wow, Harlan Coben has done it again. The Match is fantastic. It centres around Wilde and his search for answers about how he became The Boy from the Woods. I loved the story and I was happy with the outcome but most of all I love the dynamics between Wilde and each of the other characters. I genuinely love Wilde's character and just want him to be happy.

I highly recommend The Match.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for my ARC.

The Match is another fantastic thriller by the phenomenal Harlan Coben. It is a fast paced, page turner which I could not put down. This story carries on the story of Wilde and his search for the truth about his childhood and where he came from. I love all the characters, the story is fantastic and the ending was one I did not see coming at all. Harlan Coben has again written an amazing, clever story which I highly recommend.
It is a definite 5 out of 5.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for my ARC.

Well I`m late to the party here as this was my first Harlan Coben read and it certainly didnt disappoint.

The second in the series based on a man called Wilde who, as a child was abandoned and left in a forest to fend for himself, eventually being found after a few years amazingly surviving on his own.

Here we have Wilde seeking out his real family as he gets a match on a DNA website to a possible relative. This leads him into a world of intrigue, secrets, the power of social media, the hunger for fame and the ease with which it can be taken away and someone "cancelled" and ultimately murder.

I loved loved loved this one. The characters here are fantastically written. Wilde is a fascinating character and I cant think of one character in the book that wasnt very well written. The story also is beautifully paced with plenty of twist and turns along the way. This book never get boring.

This can definitely be read as a stand alone as I did. So impressed with it as I was, I immediately looked for the first in the series only for my wife to tell me she had a copy of the paperback. Result!

As I said Im late to the party with Coben but if this is the standard of his writing and storytelling then I will certainly be seeking out his back catalogue.

An easy 5 star review for me. Get a copy of this, strap yourself in and enjoy the ride.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC through Netgalley.

A simple attempt to unravel his past involves Wilde in an unforeseen domino effect of death and destruction. A satisfying thriller with some of my favourite Coben characters. Not quite Marlon and Win but close enough.