#TheMatch #NetGalley This is the second book in the Wilde series which I didn't realise until I came to write my review! I don't think that I missed out on any understanding by not having read the first one but boy do I want to now go back and read it! What a brilliant read! It hooked me from the first page and I read it in just over 24 hours. Such a different subject matter to my 'normal' crime thrillers which made it all the more enjoyable. lots of action and tension and twists and turns as Wilde forged ahead to discover the truth about Peter and his own parentage. An excellent 5 Star read!

Great read, couldn't put it down and a great addition to the authors collection already. was tense and twisty and very additive and really enjoyed I look forward to the next Installment from this amazing writer who can't seem to do wrong in the land of writing

It's a welcome return for The Boy from the Woods, Wilde!

He's grown up not knowing his parents, abandoned in the woods and yet managing to survive; but he wants to know more as time has gone on. Who are his parents and of course, he wants answers as to why he was left in the woods - who could do such a thing??

So, he sends a DNA sample to a facility and he gets a match, is this his father or mother? Does he really want to know or will it bring more problems and questions, than resolution and answers?

In the meantime he gets involved in an online smear campaign, resulting possibly in a man's suicide; more people are murdered - what's going on?
How are the two things linked? The book brings back characters from the first book; Hester Crimstein, Matthew and Laila.

It's a great follow up book to The Boy from the Woods. I just love books from Harlen Coben, you can be rest assured of a good read, characters and plots.

The Match is the second book in the Wilde series by award-winning, best-selling American author, Harlan Coben. When a DNA matching site coughs up Wilde’s father, he’s hoping to find out why he was left alone in the woods over three decades earlier. It is not to be: David Carter says he is completely unaware he has fathered a son, and can offer no real clues about who Wilde’s mother might be.

Wilde is ready to abandon the search when he discovers an old message from another match on the site, a second cousin calling himself PB. What is concerning is the tone of PB’s message, and when, between his foster sister Rola Naser, and his godson Matthew Crimstein, they discover PB’s identity, the mystery becomes Peter Bennett’s whereabouts. A popular reality TV star, after being heavily and nastily trolled online for claims of infidelity, Peter has disappeared. Most believe he committed suicide.

Wilde reaches out to Peter’s family, perhaps also his family(?), and gets Rola to use her talents and resources to track down the troll. Wilde takes a look, and that leads to this amusing dialogue between celebrity attorney Hester Crimstein and Wilde: “Let’s say hypothetically I found a dead body.”
“I knew I wasn’t going to like this. Where?”
“In a private home where I was not supposed to be.”
Hester then advises “Coming clean and calling it in.”
“I broke into the house.”
“We could work with that. You walked by. You smelled something funny.”
“So dressed all in black with a black mask and gloves, I slid open the back door in a remote house on several acres of private property, nowhere near where anyone would be taking a casual stroll—”
“Could all be explained.”

Soon, Wilde has a nasty encounter with the troll’s buddies, a more civilised one with the FBI, and a clandestine meeting with the leader of an illegal online vigilante group. By this time, the body count is mounting, all from the same gun and with the same MO, but no other connection: do they have a serial killer on their hands?

This time Coben gives the reader a very tangled web of a plot that will keep even the most astute reader guessing until the final reveal. While more books featuring this cast of characters would be welcome, this one does seem to neatly tie up most issues, apart from some aspects of Wilde’s parentage being left vague: the boy in the woods mystery is comprehensively solved, so the reader may wonder if Coben has more of Wilde in store. Once again, very entertaining crime fiction.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK Cornerstone.

Wilde has grown up knowing nothing of his family, and even less about his own identity. Now Wilde has had a hit on the DNA website he has been researching. A 100% match.
Soon, he becomes caught up in a community of online doxxers, a secret group commited to exposing anonymous trolls. One by one these doxxers start to die and it soon becomes clear that a serial killer is targeting them. Is Wilde the next victim?

This is the second book to feature Wilde's character. And Wilde, who has always refused to learn more about his past, finally changes his mind. After taking a DNA test on a website, he receives a notification that his DNA is a 100% match: it is his father. His father admits that he never knew he had a son. Wilde, not wanting to disrupt the man's life any further, decides to leave without a word. But in the meantime, he receives a message from another person who is supposedly related to him. And that's where the story gets complicated because when Wilde reads the message, 4 months have already passed and the person has not been heard from again.

The end of the book took me totally by surprise, I didn't expect it at all! Harlan Coben never ceases to impress me. The story made me a little confused at first and gradually the plot became clearer. We also get to know Wilde's character a bit more. I hope there will be a sequel!

I was totally enthralled by The Match, and found myself losing hours reading in the garden. The writing style is engaging, clever, entertaining and gripping, with the plot moving along at a super fast pace.
The characters are well rounded and believable. Wilde has featured in a previous Coben book and this is the second in a series, although (like me) you don’t need to have read the first book.

There are numerous threads and plot lines covering trauma, abuse, greed, revenge, cyber crime, murder, DNA/genealogy, reality tv, vigilantism etc, all coming together to tie up the loose threads of Wilde’s mysterious background.

I strongly recommend The Match to anyone who enjoys a twisty well written thriller that sprints along with plenty of suspense and surprises.

With many thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone, Century for the opportunity to read this ARC, in return for an honest and unbiased review.

This is the second Harlan Coben book about Wilde but works just as well as a stand-alone. Wilde has no family and no idea where he was born, who his parents are or how he ended up living in the woods alone. Now thirty years on from being rescued he lives off grid in the Ramapo Mountains in his eco capsule , at home in the place he was ‘rescued’ from . As a boy he made friends with David , son of the famous tv lawyer Hester Crimstein, the closest Wilde has to a mother and the one person who Wilde trusts completely. So after living happily without family connections Wilde decides to put his DNA into an online website that helps people find family members from DNA comparison. Rather amazingly he gets a hit for someone who matches as his father, yet the moment he tries to contact him, the account is deleted . Through her contacts Hester finds Daniel Carter, 61 years old living in Nevada. Wilde approaches him and suddenly his whole world is tipped upside down and bodies start piling up, meanwhile Daniel Carter has disappeared.
This wonderful book tackles the world of social media trolling, reality show stardom and the most extreme results that can happen when all of these things collide in the worst way. Harlan Coben’s style is a joy to read and minutes into the book and I’m hooked. This psychological thriller wows from start to finish.

A twisting turning thriller with great characters and a surprisingly ending.

My first Harlan Coben book to read, and although it’s the second part of the Wilde story, it is so well written that I felt like the characters were easy to understand and I felt part of the story straight away..
I love a story when I don’t predict the ending!

The Match by Harlan Coben was such a satisfying read in tying up all those threads about Wilde’s background. The storyline was clever, fast paced and gripping. All the elements of modern cyber vulnerability mixed with intrigue, greed, revenge and trauma. There were a number of story threads covering everything from reality tv to vigilantism and abuse but they were all beautifully stitched together. The characters were well developed and the plot credible. This was a great four star read

I have read a couple of books by Harlan Cohen. I will start by saying his style is easy to read and engaging. The main character in this book is known as Wilde. He lives a somewhat unusual lifestyle after being discovered in the woods. This means he knows little of his parents and less about who he is.

A DNA search produces a match which may unravel the mystery. Nothing is simple as the match disappears and as his search to find out the truth develops so he is drawn into the secret would of a gang of people who wreak revenge on people who troll and abuse online.

Like everything the question is whether there is a link. Wilde is such a good character that you are easily drawn in, and the plot is so well delivered. I would really recommend this book and looking forward to reading more!

I have read a few Harlan Coben books before - although not nearly enough - and I was just as impressed with this one as I was with the others.
Coben has a great writing style which is funny, entertaining and engaging. His characters always seem to be great - they are utterly believable from the start and he really doesn't need a lot of space to get you interested in them.
The central character in The Match is Wilde, who apparently has been in another Coben book which I haven't yet read! Wilde was found living in woods as a child, assumed to have been abandoned by his parents.
His search for the truth about his past is just one mystery of the novel. It brings him into the middle of many others.
Wilde discovers a possible relative, "PB", on a DNA matching site. The chilling nature of messages from PB eventually leads Wilde to find out that this is probably a famous reality star, who has been at the centre of horrendous allegations and has quite possibly committed suicide as a result.
Alongside Wilde's search for his family and to discover the fate of PB, we hear about the Boomerang gang - a group of anonymous individuals who exist to wreak revenge on those who troll and abuse people online. Without wanting to give too much away, the reader gradually realises the links between these things.
The best bit about this book for me is Wilde himself. He is an intriguing, attractive, almost too good to be true character, but you definitely want to keep reading about him. Wilde is someone who, despite his traumatic past, seems in many ways more comfortable with himself than many people do.
If I had to make a criticism, perhaps there are times when the strength of his character is put across a little too simplistically. For instance, he is convinced to take a sort-of relationship he has with Laila, a woman who he clearly loves but keeps a distance from, more seriously and immediately does so. Perhaps in real life, things wouldn't work out quite so well.
But then, who wants real life?
I finished the novel in a matter of days because, as well as the fantastic character of Wilde, the actual plot and the writing of the other characters makes this a very readable story. I will be waiting for the next installment!

I’ll start by saying that I’m Still mulling over the DNA data in this novel.
I haven’t read the fist novel of the series and there was nothing presented in this one that seemed to need any additional backstory.
What we have is a protagonist who was abandoned many years previously and is now searching for this parents using one of the many DNA profiling websites out there. The DNA statistical probabilities take a bit to get your head around, but I really enjoyed this element and the dark web element of this novel. I may be a bit slow to the dark web inspired trend but I’ve really enjoyed the two books read this year covering this is is pacy, as you would expect but also has many interesting characters that I will certainly spend time with again in the future.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and the author for the opportunity to read this novel. The fact that I received this free of charge does not in any way influence my opinion.

I didnt realise that this was the 2nd book in tje series but this didn't matter.. In typical Harlan Coben style it's fast paced with lots of twists and turns. Really enjoyably

My first Harlan Coben book and I haven.t even seen his TV adaptations!I Thought it was time to try one, especially given the DNA/genealogy thread. It was certainly a rollicking read and an interesting change for me. But in truth, not really for me; I am drawn more to character depth than a fast-moving plot. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance digital galley.

So I did not even realise that this book is second in the series! Very easy read and the main character is quite likeable and keeps you very easily engaged right to the end! Ill definitely be picking up the first one now that I know it exists!

Huge Harlan Coben fan so couldn’t miss out on this one. This is the second in the Wilde series but I didn’t realise that till a bit in but it can totally be read as a standalone as you really don’t feel your missing anything. Good storyline but found the pace a little slow compared to his usual storylines and think it would have added to the twists had it been ramped up a bit. Dual storyline that keeps you guessing how it’ll all come together and it didn’t disappoint when all the pieces started to click into place. As always I love how Coben develops his characters and there quirky personality traits that makes them become favourites along with there relationships with each other. Enjoyed it and would recommend.

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for the opportunity to listen to #TheMatch

I have always enjoyed Harlan Coben's books in the past so I was excited when The Match became available. I was not disappointed!! As always, a wonderful cast of intriguingly characters take us on an exciting twisty turny adventure towards a satisfying and unexpected finale. If you enjoy an intriguing, exciting tale interwoven with an emotional backstory and wonderfully entertaining characters then this book is most definitely for you.

The Match is the second book in Coben's Wilde series. I hadn't read the first book but that didn't matter as I was able to follow the storyline without knowing the background. A really good read that had lots of twists and turns. I loved the main character and I will now be reading the other book in the series.

I love Harlan Coben's work and he absolutely excels at describing characters who through their own natures or their circumstances are just a little bit different, none more so than Wilde. We first meet Wilde in The Boy From The Woods when, as a young child he is discovered by Hester and her family living alone in the nearby woods and with no memory of his past. The story is fascinating and while it is not necessary to read that book first I would recommend it. In this story we, along with Wilde, discover more of his history. At the same time there is the case of a missing reality tv star and someone bumping off online trolls to get our teeth into. I really enjoyed this and hope we will get to see more of Wilde in the future.

Who doesn't love Harlan Coben. Another great book from this fabulous author. A definite recommendation from me.