4.5★s

“’Do you really want people to take the law into their own hands?’
‘People? Heavens, no. Me? Yes.’
‘You’re joking, right?’
“I trust my judgment,’ I say. ‘I don’t trust the common man’s.’”

Win is the first book in the Windsor Horne Lockwood III series by award-winning best-selling American author, Harlan Coben. When two FBI agents escort Win to an exclusive New York penthouse, he’s already puzzled, but when he enters what is clearly the home of a hoarder, apparently murdered, and is shown a Vermeer painting on a bedroom wall, he is stunned. It is one of two valuable paintings stolen from his family over twenty years ago while on loan to the family’s alma mater.

Even more perplexing is the other item in the bedroom, which ties the scene to the murder, also over twenty years earlier, of his estranged uncle and the abduction of his cousin. Win’s erstwhile FBI handler, PT suggests he investigate because “The FBI will have to play this strictly by the rules… you don’t, (and) you get to stay involved and protect the interest of your family and more specifically your cousin.” Win gets to use FBI resources and his own.

PT reveals that the dead hoarder was one of the Jane Street Six, a notorious group of New York college student whose action with Molotov cocktails, in the early 1970s, unintentionally resulted in a number of deaths. Clearly, finding any survivors of the remaining five should be Win’s first priority. But there are others hunting for them, not the least of these a local mob family.

Win’s investigations lead him on a merry chase, not all of it legal but “I realize that impersonating an officer is breaking the law, but here is the thing about being rich: You don’t go to jail for crimes like this. The rich hire a bunch of attorneys who will twist reality in a thousand different ways until reality is made irrelevant.”

There are plenty of red herrings and diversions for the reader and the final twist is excellent. Readers of Coben’s Myron Bolitar series will be familiar with Win, and perhaps have instant affection for this rather cocky and insanely wealthy man whose arrogance occasionally spurs him into what he prefers to call “preventive offense” rather than vigilantism, although at a certain point he has to admit “Perhaps I was wrong. I’m not infallible” especially when his actions land him in the ICU for a few days.

But “I also have a tremendous ego. I don’t do things that I’m not good at. I’m a very good golfer, a very good financial consultant, a very good fighter, and a very good lover. If I do something, I want to be the best.” Definitely an entertaining read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK.