This is the second in a series of mysteries featuring Myron Bolitar, a sports agent and it’s hard to know what to make of it as it’s part decent and realistic mystery and part comic book hero takes on the world. Myron is a larger than life character who has been on the verge of being a star basketball player, he then became a federal agent, has a law degree and is a member of the New York bar. That’s on top of being a sports agent representing superstar sportsmen. I like him and find him an oddly believable kind of superhero. I find his sidekick Win to be too much to take however. Win’s also a superhero of his own, a star financial manager, ace martial arts expert, good at everykind of sport and pretty much doubles as a hit man on the side. (Oh and there’s also Myron’s girlfriend Jessica who I see in my mind’s eye as Jessica Rabbit from Who Killed Roger Rabbit?, I definitely have a strong association between this book and cartoons.)

But really I shouldn’t take these people too seriously, they are superhero like but with a dose of the everyday in there too, and I like Coben’s writing and find it flows very well. I enjoyed this more than I remember enjoying the first in the series, probably because I know tennis, which the story revolves around, better than most sports. I guessed the solution to the mystery pretty early in this one but as is usually the case when my detective skills work I enjoy watching how the author gets the characters there too.

Fun stuff and a less mindless read than I’ve made it out to be.