Harlan Coben Books in Order

Harlan Coben is an American New York Times bestselling thriller and mystery author best known for the Myron Bolitar series and the standalone psychological thrillers, many of which have been adapted for Netflix. He was the first author in history to win all three of the genre’s top awards: the Edgar, the Shamus, and the Anthony, which is a distinction he earned in the mid-1990s for his first two Myron Bolitar novels. His books have since sold over 90 million copies and been translated into 46 languages.

Beyond the Myron Bolitar series, which now includes twelve novels, Harlan Coben has written two spin-off series, Win and the young adult Mickey Bolitar trilogy, the Wilde series and the Detective Kierce series, as well as a long list of standalone thrillers. In 2025 he co-authored Gone Before Goodbye with Reese Witherspoon, being his first collaboration with another writer. His partnership with Netflix was launched in 2018, with so far over a dozen adaptations in several countries, including British, French, Spanish, Polish, and Argentinian productions.

This page lists all Harlan Coben books in order, including every series, the standalone novels, the new non-fiction book, and his co-authored work.

Latest Harlan Coben Books

Plot Twist
Plot Twist, October 2026

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Where to Start with Harlan Coben?

→ Coming from Netflix? Each show is based on a standalone novel. The book it’s adapted from is not part of a series, so it works perfectly as your first Harlan Coben novel – Tell No One, The Stranger, Fool Me Once, Missing You, or Run Away are all good starting points.
→ Want the full series experience? Start with Deal Breaker (Myron Bolitar #1). It introduces Myron and his world, and the relationships build significantly from there.
→ New to Harlan Coben and not sure where to start? Tell No One (2001) is the most recommended first standalone, with its tightly plotted, emotionally driven story, and the book that established his international reputation.
→ The Myron Bolitar and Win series are connected. Win’s character is very familiar if you already know the Myron books. Read Win after at least Promise Me (Myron #8).
→ Wilde, Mickey Bolitar, and the standalones are all independent of each other and of the Myron series, so you don’t need to have read them before picking them up.

How the Series Connect

Harlan Coben’s four main series don’t share storylines, but two of them share a central character. Win (Windsor Horne Lockwood III) appears in the Myron Bolitar books as Myron’s partner and best friend before getting his own series (although it only has one book so far). Reading Win without any Myron context is possible, but his solo book is darker and more layered when you already know who he is. Most readers suggest getting through at least the first eight Myron books first.

Mickey Bolitar is Myron’s nephew and has his own YA trilogy, set during his high school years. The Wilde series is entirely separate. The standalone thrillers share nothing except the author’s signature structure: a buried secret from the past that detonates into the present.

Myron Bolitar Series (Books in Order)

The Myron Bolitar series follows sports agent Myron Bolitar, a former Duke basketball player whose NBA career ended before it started. In the books, he keeps finding himself drawn into criminal investigations involving his clients, his family, and the people around him. Set largely in New Jersey, the series is recognized by its fast dialogue, sharp humor, and genuine emotional stakes, particularly in Myron’s relationships with his parents, his partner Win, and his on-and-off love interest Jessica. Windsor Horne Lockwood III (Win), Myron’s lethal and morally complicated best friend, is one of the most memorable recurring characters in the genre and becomes increasingly more important as the series goes on.

The early books are lighter in tone and closer to traditional PI mystery. From Promise Me (book 8) onward, the series becomes much darker and heavier. It is best read in order, as the character arcs and personal storylines become more complex over time.

  1. Deal Breaker, 1995
  2. Drop Shot, 1996
  3. Fade Away, 1996
  4. Back Spin, 1997
  5. One False Move, 1998
  6. The Final Detail, 1999
  7. Darkest Fear, 2000
  8. Promise Me, 2006
  9. Long Lost, 2009
  10. Live Wire, 2011
  11. Home, 2016
  12. Think Twice, 2024

Mickey Bolitar Series (Books in Order)

The Mickey Bolitar series is a young adult spin-off following Myron’s teenage nephew Mickey Bolitar, whose life is turned upside down when his father is apparently killed and his mother enters rehab. After moving in with Myron and adjusting to a new town, Mickey begins uncovering a conspiracy that connects to his father’s past. The YA trilogy was written alongside the main Myron series and has the same New Jersey setting and some of the same supporting characters.

The series can be read on its own, but knowing at least a little about the main Myron Bolitar series will help adjust quickly to the world.

  1. Shelter, 2011
  2. Seconds Away, 2012
  3. Found, 2014

Detective Kierce Series (Books in Order)

The Detective Kierce series follows NYPD Detective Sami Kierce who initially appeared as a minor character in Fool Me Once, back then under the name Roger Kierce. He was a detective who got just a few lines in the book. He became much more important in the Netflix mini-series Fool Me Once, where his name was changed from Roger to Sami. Later on, in Nobody’s Fool, Harlan Coben changed this character to be more in line with the TV series and gave him a new entry in which he is now a former cop working as a private investigator. He is married man, a new dad living in New York City, where he is teaching a night course on investigation at a local college.

Windsor Horne Lockwood III Series (Books in Order)

The Win series follows Windsor Horne Lockwood III, the amoral, aristocratic, and extremely dangerous best friend we know and love from the Myron Bolitar books, who now he got his own series, albeit with only one book so far. Where Myron keeps the series grounded in morality, Win operates without one, which makes for a much darker and more violent reading experience. The cases tend to involve high-level corruption, missing persons, and violence that go back to the past.

Read after the Myron Bolitar series, or at minimum after Promise Me (Myron #8), as Win’s perspective hits differently once you know his story.

  1. Win, 2021

Wilde Series (Books in Order)

The Wilde series follows Wilde, a man who was found as a young child living a rather feral life in the New Jersey woods. He has no memory of his origins or family. Now he is working as an off-the-grid security consultant, and he uses his prior knowledge of survival in the wild to solve various cases involving missing people, online threats, and the small-community secrets people want to keep secret forever. Wilde’s past is an ongoing arc running in the background.

  1. The Boy From the Woods, 2020
  2. The Match, 2022

Standalone Novels

Short Stories and Anthologies

Picture Books

Non-Fiction Books

Harlan Coben Biography

Harlan Coben author

Harlan Coben is a New York Times bestselling author of suspense and crime thrillers who has published over 35 novels since his debut in 1990.
Official website: harlancoben.com

He was born on January 4, 1962, in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in Livingston, where he attended Livingston High School with his childhood friend and future New Jersey governor Chris Christie. He studied political science at Amherst College, graduating in 1984. Later he worked for several years in the travel industry at a company his grandfather owned. This was an experience that, by his own account, gave him plenty of time to start writing.

His first two novels, Play Dead (1990) and Miracle Cure (1991), were standalone thrillers that Harlan Coben has since taken out of print, as he said they were the work of a writer still finding his feet. His career really took of with Deal Breaker in 1995, the first Myron Bolitar novel. The next two books in the series, Drop Shot and Fade Away, earned him the Anthony, Edgar, and Shamus Awards in quick succession, making him the first writer in history to win all three of mystery fiction’s major awards.

With Tell No One in 2001, Harlan Coben began writing standalone psychological thrillers and found an even wider audience. The book became a major bestseller and was adapted into a critically acclaimed French film in 2006, directed by Guillaume Canet, which won four César Awards including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor. It remains one of the most decorated foreign-language thrillers of its era.

In 2018, he signed a landmark deal with Netflix to adapt 14 of his novels for the screen. On every production, he is present, serving as executive producer. The deal was renewed in 2022 and has since produced over a dozen series in multiple languages, including British, French, Spanish, Polish, and Argentinian adaptations among them. Fool Me Once (2024) debuted at number one on Netflix’s English-language charts in its first week. In 2026, Netflix announced a Myron Bolitar series, produced by Emmy winner David E. Kelley, extending the partnership further.

In addition to his solo work, Harlan Coben co-authored Gone Before Goodbye (2025) with Reese Witherspoon. This was his first ever collaboration with another writer. 2026 is the year of publishing his first non-fiction book, Plot Twist, a memoir as a guide to writing stories, sharing his craft, ideas, tips, and insights. He has also written essays and fiction for the New York Times and received the Vermeil Medal of Honor from the Mayor of Paris. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and four children.

Harlan Coben Book Adaptations

Several of Harlan Coben’s novels have been adapted for film and television.

  • Tell No One (Ne le dis à personne, 2006) – French feature film
  • No Second Chance (Une chance de trop, 2015) – French television miniseries
  • The Five (2016) – Original British television series
  • Just One Look (Juste un regard, 2017) – French television series
  • Safe (2018) – Netflix television series
  • The Stranger (2020) – Netflix television series
  • The Woods (2020) – Netflix television series
  • The Innocent (El inocente, 2021) – Spanish Netflix series
  • Gone for Good (2021) – Netflix television series
  • Stay Close (2021) – Netflix television series
  • Hold Tight (2022) – Polish Netflix series
  • Fool Me Once (2024) – British Netflix television series

Harlan Coben Awards and Honors

Harlan Coben has received multiple awards and nominations for his novels and short fiction. He is the first author to receive nominations for the Edgar, Anthony, Shamus, Dilys, and Barry Awards across his body of work.

Awards

  • Deal Breaker – Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original (1996)
  • Fade Away – Shamus Award for Best Original PI Paperback (1997); Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original (1997)
  • Back Spin – Barry Award for Best Paperback Original (1998)

Nominations and Shortlists

  • Deal Breaker – Edgar Award nomination for Best Paperback Original (1996)
  • Fade Away – Dilys Award, Barry Award, and Anthony Award nominations (1997)
  • Back Spin – Shamus Award and Dilys Award nominations (1998)
  • A Simple Philosophy – Macavity, Anthony, and Agatha Award nominations for Best Short Story (1999)
  • Tell No One – Edgar, Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Award nominations for Best Novel (2002)
  • The Woods – Shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger (2007)
  • Hold Tight – ITW Award and CrimeFest: Sounds of Crime Award nominations (2009)
  • Long Lost – ITW Award nomination for Best Hardcover Novel (2010)
  • Caught – Edgar Award nomination for Best Novel (2011)
  • Shelter – Edgar Award and Agatha Award nominations for Young Adult Fiction (2012)
  • Seconds Away – Agatha Award nomination for Best Children/Young Adult Fiction (2013)
  • Found – Agatha Award nomination for Best Children/Young Adult Fiction (2015)
  • The Stranger – CrimeFest: Sounds of Crime Award nomination (2016)
  • The Boy from the Woods – Barry Award nomination for Best Novel (2021)

Edited by

Marika

Founder of Mystery Sequels, a reference site focused on listing mystery and thriller books in the correct reading order. I maintain and update the site’s bibliographies as new titles are released, ensuring accuracy and consistency across author and series pages.

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23 Comments

  1. I loved every book that I have read by you, I have seen a couple of yours books that were made into movies and was NOT impressed.

  2. Well I just finished listening to all of your books. Please write another one or ten soon! My very favorite author.

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