This is the 2nd book by Harlan Coben I read - the first was The Boy In The Woods. Is it high literature? No. Is it a suspenseful read? YES! I was shocked at the ending of "who did it" and didn't expect that one. The book kept my interest up, was funny in parts, fast paced, and easy read. I will be purchasing it for our library.. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an advance copy!

Coben is the master of suspense, book series and "can't put down" books. The main point of the story is to reveal who Wilde's parent(s) are which he started this story in "The Boy From the Woods" and he brings all his favorite characters back from that book. Coben expertly weaves all his characters together to form a story that holds your interest and anxiously turning each page.

"Sometimes, the secrets did indeed wither and die— but other times, they grew stronger, too strong, taking nourishment from the sunlight and wreaking destruction.”

I read a lot of Coben’s (Run Away) books several years back before I started writing reviews, so it was fun to read another one of his books.

Turns out this one is the second in a series which I didn’t find out until I had already started it. I would recommend reading book one first. I was still able to follow the story and enjoy it but there is quite a bit of background context that would have made some of the character interactions make more sense.

I’m going to have to go back and read it now!


As a boy, Wilde (I looked this up and I think you pronounce it with long ‘i’ sound) was found abandoned in the woods, somehow surviving on his own. It’s now decades later and he still doesn’t know his origin.

Until he gets a hit on a DNA website.

Once Wilde meets with his biological father, he gets entangled in a series of murders that may or may not be associated with a vigilante group who has taken it upon themselves to enact justice against internet trolls that are out of reach of the normal justice system.

Wilde takes it upon himself, with the help of his foster sister, Rola (who is some sort of hacker, I think that would have been described in book 1), and his ‘stand-in’ mother figure and celebrity lawyer, Hester Crimstein, to track down the vigilante group and figure out how he and his blood relatives are involved.

Long- kept secrets have caused a lot of damage and when they finally come to the surface, more destruction will ensue.

I don't know how Coben intended to write Wilde's character but I couldn't help but feel like he was similar to Jim Caviezel's character on Person of Interest (Reese). Just throwing that out there.


There is some interesting discussion in this book about DNA websites and reality TV. Fans of the Bachelor may resist some of the proposed notions or maybe they already suspect some of the lies. Of course this is a fictional story, but I have no doubt that there is a good bit of truth to it.


One thing that I didn’t like about it was that Hester kept asking Wilde about what really happened when Wilde and Hester’s son got in a car accident that resulted in her son’s death. Wilde kept putting her off and she would acquiesce that they could talk about it later but by the end of the book we still don’t know what happened. If this was discussed in book one, then I retract my complaint, but if it wasn’t in the first one, then I’m annoyed that they didn’t offer any answers to that effect.


Here’s a couple random quote that I liked:

“If you are deluded and narcissistic enough to believe you should obey your gut rather than looking coldly at the facts, that’s your bias, not your gut.”

I wish more people looked at cold hard facts before they let their feelings dictate truth to themselves.

“I’m a big fan of punching Nazi’s in the face.”

This one resonated with me because of the first couple lines of my review for Kristin Hannah’s book The Nightingale.


I thought this was a really suspenseful story with some surprises that I didn’t have figured out. If you’ve liked Coben’s other books, I think you’ll enjoy this one, and if you haven’t read him before, I think this would be a good one to read (after you’ve read book one of course…)



Parental advisory: There are a few f-words and references to some inappropriate photographs but I would say it’s generally moderate.

**Received an ARC via NetGalley**

I am so glad there is a sequel to THE BOY FROM THE WOODS! I love Coben's writing style...so exciting! I read this book so fast and did not want to put it down. I learned so much about DNA testing. I will be recommending this book to all of my patrons!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Match is the sequel to Coben's The Boy From the Woods. It can be read as a standalone if you don't mind missing some of the backstory.

The main character, Wilde, emerged from the woods when he was about five - he seemingly had been abandoned there and no one ever claimed him. In The Match, Wilde submits his DNA to a match site and gets a familial hit. One family member he matched with on the site vanishes, and Wilde tries to unravel the mystery of his disappearance and the events leading up to it.

This was another great story by Harlan Coben. I couldn't put it down!

Oh boy. This book took me on a ride. This is only my second book of Coben's, but I can see he has the ability to take his characters down many paths from book to book, with each one being so different from the previous. Not many authors can do that. Many times, the books feel like the same book over and over. This is not the case.

I will say that some of the things in this one were a bit over the top, maybe even eye roll worthy at times. However, those instances also fit with the story for the most part, so I wasn't deterred from the plot itself.

It's clear there will be more searching for Wilde. The main plot was settled, but it raised more questions for future books. For that, I will be waiting.

One aside... Was it really necessary to throw the C-word in there a couple times? Absolutely not. Not only was it annoying, it played NO part in the book at all. Plus, I read to escape real life. Some things should just be left out, especially when they're just thrown in for no reason.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I can't wait to see what happens next.

I picked up a Harlan Coben book on a whim sometime in the summer of 2005. I was early for a doctor appointment, and there was a Borders—a Borders!—across the street, so I popped in and Just One Look was sitting there in a paperback ‘new releases’ display.

I still think that Just One Look is one of Coben’s best standalones.

But I have been a fan since that day…or maybe the next day, since that’s when I finished that freight train of a book.

My point is that I am a pretty big fan of Mr. C, and have been for a decade and a half. So I was really looking forward to this book—and when I got approved for the #ARC, well, it would not be an exaggeration to say that there was some squeeing.

This book is a direct sequel to 2020’s The Boy From The Woods, and follows Wilde, the titular boy from the woods as he navigates the increasing complexity of his relationships with his late best-friend Daniel’s family. He is godfather to Daniel’s son, a surrogate son to Daniel’s mother, famed attorney Hester Crimstein, and reluctantly in love with Daniel’s widow, Laila.

Things get even more complicated when Wilde gets a DNA hit from one of those “23 and Me” sites, and jets off to confront the father he never knew, inadvertently setting off a chain of events that will explode almost everything he thought he knew about himself.

This is a tight thriller, with the propulsive action that I have come to expect from Coben. There are hidden agendas, federal agents who are not at all forthcoming, and a shady cabal of bad guys whose motives shift with the wind. Add to that the ever-evolving nature of Wilde’s relationships with both his chosen family and his newly-discovered genetic family and there is something going on on every page.

However, some of the things that were going on were a little confusing. I am a pretty smart cookie and I could not keep the players straight. The DNA stuff was especially taxing—The mental gymnastics I had to do to figure out how everyone was related in this book finally led me to give up and just draw a family tree.

I loved getting to know Wilde better, and found his desperate search for his own family believable. It’s not that Wilde doesn’t love his godson, and Hester and Laila…but it is that he views all of them as uniquely Daniel’s…and Wilde longs for someone to call uniquely his. How this resolves is satisfying, if a little open-ended.

There are other mystery trails that are left hanging, which I hope points toward a third book. I think that Wilde is a compelling protagonist, and I’d love to follow his story further. Highly recommend for mystery/thriller lovers who don’t shy away from a complicated plot.

I really enjoyed Boy in the Woods with Wilde as the main character, so I was excited to read another book about Wilde. I also love Hester Crimstein who is featured in a lot of Coben's other novels. She is a feisty, but super loveable, woman! This is a fast-paced thriller that follows Wilde's search for potential family members he is matched with after he sends his DNA to an ancestry site.

This is one of those books that keeps you reading since there are a lot of twists that keep you guessing about what is really going on. A few times I was a little confused since there are multiple POV's and an unidentified first person POV of a killer. In the last 10% or so of the book everything comes together. A great plot with well-developed characters. I hope there will be another book with Wilde!

Harlan Coben presents readers with yet another masterful suspense thriller. The Match plot is especially unique and surprising.
Thank you for the digital review copy.

This is second in the Wilde series, but I read it as a standalone.

The author gives a recap of Wilde and how he survived in the woods on his own for years as a child. I guess his name is appropriate, because he was also known as Little Tarzan and the feral boy.

He is grown-up and curious about his background and the circumstances that led to him being abandoned. He succombs to the temptation of one of those online DNA genealogy databases and soon gets a hit. He starts digging up the past and learning about his family ties.

I had high expectations going in, even though it has been a long time since I've read a Coban novel. The DNA aspect and some raving reviews really piqued my interest. A bit far-fetched and confusing at times. Ultimately, it was just an average read for me, just fine.

I didn't realize this was a sequel, and I would definitely recommend reading the books in order. There is some backstory, but I felt a bit confused with this one, which took away from my enjoyment of it. The format just seemed very disjointed to me. Perhaps that wouldn't be the case for someone who has read the prior book.

4.75 STARS

Wilde has grown up knowing nothing of his biological family. All he knows is that, as a young child, he was found living alone and abandoned in the mountains of New Jersey. He became known simply as Wilde, the boy from the woods. Going out on a limb, he enters his DNA into a website, and gets a few matches. As he begins to investigate his potential blood relatives, he realizes the truth about his biological family might be even more traumatic then he expected.

If you haven't read The Boy From the Woods by Harlan Coben yet, I highly suggest you do prior to reading this one. You don't NEED to, but you will have more love towards some of the characters in this book if you do! Plus, Harlan Coben is awesome, you should really just go back and read all of his books! ;)

I've read a lot of Coben's work, and I have to say this is in the top 3 of my favorites from him (along with Run Away & this book's prequel - The Boy From the Woods!)

This book was suspenseful, funny, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and pretty much everything in between. If a reader doesn't like the main character (Wilde) in this book, I would be very surprised. I pretty much love all of Coben's recurring characters though. It is my FAVORITE when he ties in something from a past book into his current work.

As this book had the subtitle (Wilde #2), I can ONLY HOPE that there will someday be a (Wilde #3).

You can find my review on Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4541587579
You can also be on the lookout for my review on my instagram page @mollyreadsthrillers

I didn't want The Match by Harlan Coben to end. While a very good mystery was being solved, there was anxiety about Wilde and his personal search. This book encompassed so much; it was great!

3.5. I love Harlan Coben’s books. His stories consistently capture your attention from the first few pages, and the twists are always quality. Most are standalones (with some recurring characters - like my favorite, Hester!). The Match, however, is more or less a sequel to The Boy From the Woods, and I’d say you definitely need to read that one first. Also, IMO, this was much better than book one.

Coben is the *master* at introducing seemingly disparate stories; making you equally invested in all of them, however unrelated they appear; and then weaving them all together for the craziest aha-moments.

As with many of his books, The Match focuses on family dynamics and the lengths we’ll go to protect the people we care about. There’s also a ton of interesting commentary on doxxing, everyday DNA testing, and social media & influencers.

Quite frankly I was not expecting this book to be so exciting! I am extremely guilty of picking up books based solely off their cover art and recommendations on social media. This method usually fails me; however, I absolutely loved The Match by Harlan Coben. It is a thriller that kept me guessing until the end.

I walked into this book blind, and have not read the first book in this series. You can definitely read this book independently of his prequel as I had no trouble at all figuring out the background of the characters. Wilde has not had a traditional life. He was found living in the woods around age 8, and has no recollection of anything prior. As an adult, Wilde still prefers the solitude of nature, and lives in the woods separate from society. He has made some close friends since he was found as a child, but he has always wondered about his biological family and why they left him by himself. After taking a DNA test, Wilde finds more than one close family member. However, when one of these family members goes missing, Wilde is led on a hunt to find out what happened and if they are still alive.

There is great character development and acceptance in this book. Even though the characters and their lives are so different, they all accept each other for who they are and understand the boundaries and obstacles that each one faces. I loved how smart and resourceful Wilde is in the book. I highly recommend this non-traditional thriller!

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for granting me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

Harlan Coben does it again! I absolutely love his writing and his character development throughout his series. I've read his Myron Bolitar series, but I think the Wilde series is quickly becoming a favorite. The Match answered so many questions about Wilde, while also having so many more arise within me. I already cannot wait for the next book in this series!

Though this kind of follows the mold of Harlan Coben books, it is entertaining and fast paced. Though I did guess a few of the twists, it made for good weekend reading and I imagine it will be a good TV series adaptation as well.

4.5 stars!! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for this advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

I'd like to start out by saying that this is listed as a sequel to a title, but I haven't read the first one, and this can absolutely be read as a standalone book. This one actually made me want to read the first one to find out more about Wilde's backstory as the boy in the woods. That being said, I've had a few Harlan Coben books that were recommended to me, and I'm a big fan - this one was very fast moving, and I didn't have any problems keeping all of the characters straight - I took off a half star only because this was a complex moving story, and at times, I felt like some of the plots didn't intersect well, or until well after it was introduced, and I had to stop and remember what happened. That being said, I'm really excited to read additional titles by Coben, because he writes in the exact style that I love to read - fast paced, plot driven, and very likable characters.

Again, thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing this advance copy for review!

I've been a big fan of the Harlan Coben adaptations on Netflix and was excited go see a new release from him. Realizing it was a follow up to The Boy in the Woods, I decided to read that first and thoroughly enjoyed it. Loved the writing, the story, and the characters, particularly the fabulous Hester Crimstein. I couldn't wait to read The Match and see where the story and characters went next. Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed. The plot was somewhat intriguing, but there was too much unnecessary rehashing of The Boy in the Woods. The lack of further character development (beyond Laila's romantic relationships ) left these great characters I had come to care about flat and one dimensional. All I can say is I expected more.

Harlan Coben’s book The Boy From the Woods introduced readers to Wilde, who was basically a feral child living on his own in the woods when he was “found” as a young child. Other characters included Hester Crimstein, her daughter-in-law Laila (Wilde’s on-and-off lover) and Laila’s son Matthew, whose father David was Wilde’s best friend from a very early age intil his deat in an accident for which Wilde bears feelings of guilt.

In The Match, Wilde returns, having decided to submit his DNA to an online site, hoping to find out something – anything!-- about his birth family. He gets a couple of hits, and eventually connects with a second cousin whosuddenly disappears. Lots of twists and turns, more Wilde-and-Laila relationships, A fairly typical (solid) Coben story, a quick fun read. Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for this honest review. Four stars.