Book Review: The Match by Harlan Coben (Wilde#2)

My Rating:

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Harlan Coben’s "The Match" continues the story of Wilde, the protagonist of "The Boy from the Woods" who was abandoned in the wilderness of the Ramapo Mountains in New Jersey as a child. Branded ‘feral’ and a modern-day ‘Mowgli’ by the media , he had barely any memory of his life or family before his days in the woods. Almost thirty-five years after being rescued and placed in foster care and with military experience and a career in private security behind him, Wilde, now in his early forties, is searching for clues that would help him find out more about his past and his true parentage.

When Wilde enters his DNA into a genealogy database he is matched with two people- Daniel Carter, a construction business owner in his sixties based in Nevada and a younger man “PB” closer to home who reaches out to him. He attempts to contact both of them in hopes of finding answers to the questions about his true identity that have been consuming him for all his life. However, his meeting in Nevada leaves him with more questions than answers and when Wilde tries to find out more about Daniel Carter, he seems to have disappeared without a trace. “PB” turns out to be a reality television star who is himself embroiled in scandal and absconding, feared dead. Wilde finds himself embroiled in much more than he had bargained for as his investigation leads him to the pretentious world of reality television, a covert group of hackers engaged in cyber vigilantism and a series of murders that has Wilde being questioned by local law enforcement and the FBI. Will Wilde be able to find the killer before more people are murdered? What happened to “PB” and does his disappearance have anything to do with the murders? Who is Daniel Carter and why did he disappear? Will Wilde find his family and get some much-needed closure? With assistance from his foster sister Rola, his late best friend David’s mother and celebrity defense attorney Hester Crimstein, David’s widow Laila with whom he is in a relationship, Laila’s son Matthew and Matthew’s girlfriend Sutton, Wilde tries to connect the dots and figure out how it all adds up as the body count continues to multiply.

The Match is definitely an improvement over the first book in the series. To be honest, 'The Boy from the Woods’ ended somewhat abruptly and was a tad disappointing. I’m glad that the author finally gives us a resolution to the mystery of Wilde’s past in this novel. I hope the author develops this character further in future novels. A lot is going on in this story and with the characters but the author keeps it compact and interesting. This is a fast–paced, action-packed and gripping read that kept me turning pages till the very end. Though this is a sequel to "The Boy from the Woods", this novel can very well be read and enjoyed as a standalone novel.