Yuck. I kind of liked the other Harlan Coben book I read last year, Tell No One. This one has a totally different feel, which, I suppose, is kind of a compliment to Coben.
Dealbreaker is the story of Myron Bolitar, a college basketball superstar, NBA bust (injury), former FBI working, wisecracking, handsome 30ish year-old man turned sports agent.
Truthfully, I found Myron to be...annoying. You know those funny guys who just can't be anything but? Yes, he gets in some great one-liners. It's that dry, sarcastic wit that authors love to use and abuse and Coben WAY overdoes it with Bolitar. Everything uttered from his lips, it seems, has to have us softly chuckling - from his comeback lines, his name calling, to his smooth replies when someone from the mafia holds a gun to his head.
It didn't help that this novel is about the seediest lifestyles possible. One of Bolitar's big clients, rookie quarterback Christian Steele, is spooked when his former fiancee's picture shows up in an adult magazine after she had been supposedly murdered a year before. Bolitar uses his former investigation skills to solve the crime which drags the story through the ugliness of professional sports, the mafia, the porn industry and the lifestyles of the rich and elite. Yuck, yuck, yuck.
Didn't like it. Apparently, Coben plans to write a bunch of novels for this new protagonist of his. No thanks. Dealbreaker was a dealbreaker for me.
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