Promise Me

written by Harlan Coben

This is apparently a revival of Coben's oft-used hero, Myron Bolitar. I haven't read any of Coben's previous books, but I do know that many people rave about the Myron Bolitar series.

The book opens with Bolitar telling two teenaged girls (one is the daughter of a friend) to call him if they ever find themselves in trouble or need a lift, especially to avoid riding with a drunk driver. Of course, one of them ends up taking him up on his offer, and he gives her a ride to her "friend's" house in the middle of the night. When she turns up missing the next morning, Myron (who was the last person known to be in contact with the girl) finds himself embroiled in a sticky police investigation in which he may be implicated for abduction. Suddenly a sports-agent-turned-crime-sleuth, Myron gets to the bottom of the mystery and pretty much saves the day.

Not-so-cool elements:

• Is it just me, or is the plot unnecessarily complicated by about a million different two-bit characters? And many of the characters are so over-the-top silly that they seem like caricatures. Almost like you're reading a comic book.
• Coben goes overboard with sexual references. Can't a book be intriguing without all the trash?
  
• Some of the lines in this book are just pure cheese. It's like the literary equivalent of a really bad Stephen Seagal movie. For example: "His worn blue jeans hung low, displaying enough plumber crack to park a bike." Sigh.
  
• I think a good mystery book should be at least halfway believable. This one just wasn't. The twist at the end felt particularly contrived.
  

Cool elements:

• I have to give Coben credit for the way he can hook a reader and maintain interest. Maybe he took lessons from James Patterson. Their books are like train wrecks -- you know they're horrible but you just can't look away.