The Match, by Harlan Coben {Book Review} ⋆ An Ordinary Gal

April has been a good reading month for me thus far…I just love it when I’m in the zone to read! I have an exciting review for you today, the 2nd book in the Wilde series! WHOOP!! I previously reviewed The Boy from the Woods, which is the first book in the series. Today I’m reviewing The Match, which is the 2nd instalment in Wilde’s quest to learn about his past……

What is The Match about?

Wilde has grown up knowing nothing of his family, and even less about his own identity . All he knows is that, as a young child, he was found living a feral existence in the Ramapo mountains of New Jersey.

He became known simply as Wilde, the boy from the woods.

Now Wilde has had a hit on the DNA website he has been researching. A 100% match. His father. They meet up, and Wilde soon realises that his father doesn’t even know he had a son and is as mystified as Wilde is by his existence.

Undaunted, Wilde continues his research for his family on DNA websites where he becomes caught up in a community of online doxxers, a secret group committed to exposing anonymous trolls.

Then one by one these doxxers start to die, and it soon becomes clear that a serial killer is targeting this secret community – and that his next victim might be Wilde himself .

My Thoughts

Harlan Coben is one of my favourite authors, but I felt he left me wanting a bit after I finished The Boy from the Woods. At the time of reading it, I didn’t know the intention was for a series with Wilde, so I was left with so many questions after the first book. Thankfully we finally have The Match to answer most of our questions about Wilde!

Side note: You could read this as a standalone, because Harlan is skilled in recapping information in a way that doesn’t make the book feel 100 pages longer then it needed to be.

The plot was kind of like The Bachelor meets Dexter (though not as meticulous), with a whole lot of interesting information around DNA and DNA matching sites. Wilde gets a lead (through one of these sites) on ahis father, but then he also gets a hit on another connection and this takes us on an action packed ride! A ride filled with murder, mystery and a whole bunch of twists.

The Match is a fast paced action thriller and it was great revisiting Wilde, Matthew, Laila and of course, Hester! Harlan knows how to write page turners, and The Match is no exception, because every chapter leaves you with answers and a new question, so you just want to keep turning the pages. In The Boy from the Woods, I had a problem with Wilde’s character, but in The Match, Harlan really gave him more depth and fleshed him out a lot more. We also have a really cute love story in the mix 😉

My Rating

I went back and forth with my rating on this one, but I think I had to settle on 5 stars. In the previous book, I had a few issues and I felt like Harlan fixed it all and also gave us an exciting mystery to solve in addition to Wilde’s WILD story! Entertaining, fast paced, great characters, exciting mystery (that I could NOT solve) and an enjoyable protagonist. So, deserving of 5 stars in my opinion.

The Match is available to purchase at all leading book retailers.

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