Win

This is the story of Win. Most of Harlan Coben's books focus on ex-basketballer Myron, with Win (Windsor Lockwood The Third) in the background as the rich confidante.

There is a lot we know about Win from Coben's previous books and going through the book you are reminded of previous connections: his father, his cousin Patricia, the Abeona Shelter and his daughter Ema. These all have a role to play in this book.

It starts with a reasonably gruesome encounter and the reasons for this become apparent throughout the book. What the book is really about is two unsolved cases - the Hut of Horrors where the perpetrators were never captured and the case of two missing paintings belonging to the Lockwood family.

Only when a recluse is found dead in his apartment, which also houses the Vermeer painting and an item of luggage belonging to Patricia does interest in the cases come to the forefront again. Win takes it upon himself to take the lead.

It takes a while to get into and a lot of the prose is dialogue, which sometimes can be difficult to follow, but it does lead to intriguing tale of twists and turns and an ending you will definitely not have expected.

As an aside, the byline to the book 'you lose you die' still baffles me as I still can't quite work out what it's referring to!