The Myron Bolitar series by Harlan Coben started out a lot of fun.  Back Spin is the fourth in the series, and I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been reading them so quickly or that Coben is trying to do too much with the characters to keep them interesting, but I had a harder time being motivated to finish this one.  That’s not to say it’s bad; I found it quite entertaining and the mystery kept me guessing.  It just felt like I was reading the male Stephanie Plum after a while.

Jack Coldren is about to do the impossible.  Twenty-three years after he blew his chance to win golf’s U.S. Open and virtually ended his career, he’s about to complete a comeback and finally redeem himself by winning the Open.  At that moment, kidnappers choose to kidnap his teenage son, a golf prodigy in his own right.  What’s not clear is exactly what’s behind the kidnapping.  Is it to throw off Jack’s game so he loses the Open, or is there something more behind it?

Enter Myron Bolitar, sports agent.  If he can figure out what’s going on, not only does he stand to get Jack as a client, but also his professional golfer wife, Linda.  Linda Coldren is a bigger name in golf than her husband.  She also happens to be related to Myron’s best friend, Win Lockwood.  Win was the one who urged Myron to come to the Open to get potential clients.  What he didn’t bargain for was for Myron to end up digging into his own family’s past.

There’s a lot of twists and turns in Back Spin as Myron investigates possibilities having to do with the local Mafioso, a spoiled rich kid who just ran away to the wrong side of the tracks, sponsors who are intent on having their client win the Open, and more.  There are twists and turns aplenty and Win won’t help Myron out at all, not even when his life is at stake.  We learn more about what motivates Win, but the revelations felt a little flat to me. I was expecting something more in the situation.

The book flows well and everything seems to happen at quite a fast pace.  Myron’s girlfriend Jessica is noticeably absent, but events in Back Spin make it seem as if maybe he’s having second thoughts.  You’ll have to read to find out why, and that’s what will motivate me to pick up the next book.  I like Myron, and Win, and Esperanza (Myron’s receptionist turned partner in his sports representative agency).  They are fun characters and usually aren’t too outrageous.  There are convenient plot points that occur that seem a little too convenient and this leads to a bit of frustration.

Overall, though, I enjoyed reading Back Spin.  It didn’t seem to be at the same level as previous books, and I’m afraid of what will happen in future books in the series but hoping Coben doesn’t get silly with the characters.  Myron cracks jokes a lot and this can lead to misinterpretations with the tone at times.  It’s still worth continuing with the series at this point, though.

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