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Harlan Coben books: every book Harlan Coben wrote and recommended
Across 2 podcasts. Every show Harlan Coben appears on, in one place — not just one.
Books by Harlan Coben
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Tell No One
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Gone for Good
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Just One Look
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Drop Shot
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Hold Tight
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Deal Breaker
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No second chance
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Promise Me
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Darkest fear
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The Innocent
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Caught
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Stay Close
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Shelter
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Back Spin
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One False Move
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The Boy from the Woods
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Fade Away
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The Final Detail
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Live Wire
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Missing You
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Plot Twist
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Gone Before Goodbye
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I Will Find You
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The Match
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The Stranger
Harlan Coben’s most recommended books
- Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth
- The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
- Where Are The Children? by Mary Higgins Clark
- Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
- Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln
- The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Harlan Coben is an American writer. On the How I Write podcast, he shared several literary favorites and recommendations from his own reading life. He named Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint and Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities as two of his favorite coming-of-age books, while noting that both resulted in unwatchable, horrendous film adaptations. He also praised Mary Higgins Clark's novel Where Are the Children?, highlighting it as her first legendary book and noting her dedication to writing while raising five children. In discussing the writing process, he referenced Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, specifically highlighting her well-known chapter on writing terrible first drafts. On Freakonomics Radio, Coben discussed Dan Brown's bestselling thriller The Da Vinci Code, recalling how Brown brought him the manuscript before publication to get his thoughts. He also mentioned reading the nonfiction book Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln, which served as the theoretical foundation for Brown's novel. Finally, he introduced his own thriller The Stranger, describing his deliberate goal of crafting a narrative so suspenseful that readers would start it late at night and find themselves still turning pages at four in the morning.
Books recommended by Harlan Coben
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Portnoy's Complaint
Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth is a groundbreaking, highly controversial coming-of-age novel that dives deeply into the psychological and sexual anxieties of its neurotic protagonist, Alexander Portnoy.
Recommended“two of my favorite books of the you know when I was sort of coming of age poor noise complaint by Philip Roth and Bonfire the Vanities by Tom Wolf both are horrendous films unwatchable”
Where to get it
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The Bonfire of the Vanities
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe is a satirical novel chronicling ambition, greed, and urban decay in 1980s New York City.
Recommended“two of my favorite books of the you know when I was sort of coming of age poor noise complaint by Philip Roth and Bonfire the Vanities by Tom Wolf both are horrendous films unwatchable”
Where to get it
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Where Are The Children?
Where Are The Children? by Mary Higgins Clark is a suspenseful psychological thriller novel about a mother with a troubled past who moves to a quiet Cape Cod town, only to have her children disappear.
Recommended“Where are the children was her her first legendary book. When Mary was 37 years old, she had five kids.”
Where to get it
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Bird by Bird
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott is a well-known guide on writing and creativity that often resonates deeply with readers' broader lives.
Discussed“we were talking off thing about Ann Lamont's bird by bird. She has the great chapter called the shitty first draft that many people are familiar with.”
Where to get it
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Holy Blood, Holy Grail
Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln is a 1982 pseudohistorical book that speculates on alternative Christian history, including the bloodline of Jesus and the Priory of Sion.
Discussed“And I actually read, it was based, a lot of the theory was on a nonfiction book called Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which I had read.”
Where to get it
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The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown is one of the best-selling mystery thriller novels in history, blending cryptography, religious history, and secret societies.
Discussed“And I remember a couple of years later after I had already had a little bit of success and Dan had came to me with the manuscript for Da Vinci Code.”
Where to get it
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The Stranger
The Stranger by Harlan Coben is a gripping psychological thriller that explores secrets, blackmail, and the sudden unraveling of seemingly perfect suburban lives.
Discussed“That's Harlan Coben reading the beginning of his latest thriller, The Stranger. I'm all about suspense, trying to make you turn that next page. I want you to start The Stranger at 11 o'clock at night, think, I'll read 10 or 15 minutes, and the next thing you know, it's four in the morning.”
Where to get it
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| Harlan Coben: Tough Love Advice for Every Writer | How I Write | How I Write | 2026-09-09 | 4 |
| Does it Take a Twisted Mind to Write Twisted Stories? | Better In Person | Freakonomics Radio | 2026-08-05 | 2 |
| 214. How to Create Suspense | Freakonomics Radio | 2015-07-30 | 1 |
Other mentions (19: passing, ad reads, own books)
“I wrote a book a number of years ago called Promise Me.”
“if you read the book I will find you. Every one of you is going to have a completely different David.”
“If you want the experience of reading I Will Find You, read I Will Find You.”
“from James M. Kaine, the the great writer who wrote Postman Wings Twice and Double Demny, a famous story where an interviewer said to him, "Don't you hate what Hollywood has done to your books?"”
“from James M. Kaine, the the great writer who wrote Postman Wings Twice and Double Demny, a famous story where an interviewer said to him, "Don't you hate what Hollywood has done to your books?"”
“It's be out soon called Plot Twist. It's a memoir I'm writing that I wrote. basically I realizing how much of my own life and stories affect my writing.”
“A few years ago, I came up with a book. I wrote a book called The Boy from the Woods.”
“I mentioned before um the story the boy from the woods. So the character um because he spent the first five years of his life in the woods, he never really feels comfortable in society.”
“this is one of the things I discovered when I was writing plot twist is that I constantly go over. I don't consciously think, oh, I'm gonna write a novel”
“the first line of the book is in my fifth year of a life sentence for murdering my own child.”
“The first line of I will find you is I am serving the fifth year of a life sentence for murdering my own child.”
“I was writing a book, The Boy from the Woods and the Match. There are two books in this series.”
“I was writing a book, The Boy from the Woods and the Match. There are two books in this series.”
“had it happen to Missing You. I've had it happen three or four times in books, uh, Just One Look. uh, there's two examples I can think of off the top of my head where a secondary character almost ended up being the main character.”
“had it happen to Missing You. I've had it happen three or four times in books, uh, Just One Look. uh, there's two examples I can think of off the top of my head where a secondary character almost ended up being the main character.”
“I was writing a book called The Stranger and I started to try to justify why I'm spending the money because I just didn't want to drive that day”
“In the sense of, I just finished writing a book with Reese Witherspoon that just came out called Gone Before I Goodbye.”
“So when I wrote Tell No One, there was a huge bidding war in Hollywood.”
“Like, I wrote one book, I don't remember, I think it's The Innocent, and I named the lead character Jeff.”