Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben's books tended to center on a misunderstanding or misinterpretation that ended badly for someone. The author, who was born in Newark, New Jersey on Jan. 4, 1962, got the urge to write during his senior year at Amherst College, where he graduated in 1984 with a degree in Political Science. (In the "Small World" department, he was in the same fraternity as fellow mega-bestselling author Dan Brown.) After he graduated, Coben worked in the travel industry for a bit but then began writing thrillers. He had two novels published in short order: Play Dead (1990) and Miracle Cure (1991).

He then began writing his most popular series of books, featuring Myron Bolitar, a sports agent who often found himself trying to solve mysteries. Bolitar was often helped by his extremely rich friend Windsor Lockwood III, who had a vigilante streak that would make Batman jealous. After several Bolitar novels, he continued with a number of several stand-alone thrillers, including Tell No One, which was made into a film of the same name directed by Guillaume Canet and produced by Luc Besson. Coben then began alternating between new entries in the Myron Bolitar series (plus a young adult series starring Bolitar's headstrong nephew Mickey) and stand-alone thrillers, all of which did very well on the best seller lists.