Cool concept, interesting characters, and the quest for DNA truth will bring you on a wild ride over the river and through the woods. Where you end up is a bit unpalatable, but i guarantee you’ll enjoy the trip!

Many characters, some old, some new. Lots of sarcastic humor. Complicated happenings. Very typical of Harlan Coben. No surprises here.

ANOTHER winner by Harlan Cohen. Great plot, moves along well. Very readable and enjoyable. Must read.

Excellent

This featured one of my favorite characters., Wilde, of one of my favorite authors, Coben. I am always a bit hesitant when starting a book by a favorite author because my expectations are high and I am afraid this will be the one where they "jump the shark". I am happy to say this was an excellent book.

Wilde, a man who got his name as a child because he was found living alone in the woods, got a match on a DNA registry. It linked him to PB, a reality star who recently took a big fall from grace and was presumed to have committed suicide. It also involves a group of vigilantes called Boomerang who try to get back at internet trolls.

The story was very well-written and has a great bunch of like-able characters. I was happy to see how the relationship between Wilde and Laila, the widow of Wilde's best friend was handled.

This is definitely not a shark-jumping book. I highly recommend it.

f you have not read a book by Coben before, this can be read as a stand-alone, but it is better enjoyed after reading "The Boy From the Woods", which introduces Wilde.

I have to be honest. I hated the Boy From the Woods. Because I've always read Harlan Coben, I decided to read this book anyway. It wasn't bad. It was a decent story, but I'll take Myron and Win over Wilde any day. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wilde is back and dare I say, this is Coben’s best book yet. With some old favorites (hello, Hester Crimstein) reappearing and some newer darlings from Wilde’s last book, we are drawn deeper into the life of the boy from the woods. Mixing elements of DNA tracking sites (a la 23andme), reality TV and vigilante justice, the characters feel like friends and as always, I regret finishing too quickly, knowing that I will need to wait a year for the next book.

This is a follow up to The Boy From the Woods but can definitely be read stand alone as well (you should definitely read both, because they are great, but you don’t HAAAAVE to read TBFTW to read The Match)

Look for this one in March 2022!

I most like the Coben books with Myron and Win so at first I was disappointed to start a book with Wilde. But then the tale became intriguing and Coben's writing prowess showed through. The story will grab fans of Coben and The Boy from the Woods.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

4 Stars

Wilde returns to the Ramapo Mountains and finds a clue to his parentage and maybe why he was left alone in the woods as a small child. He gets involved with a long lost cousin who disappeared. There is also a group of people who take on line bullying doxing very seriously.

Make sure to read The Boy in the Woods before reading this. Another highly enjoyable book by Harlan Coben.

I love Harlan Coben and this book did not disappoint. It is the second in the series with Wilde, the man who grew up in the woods. I actually like this book better than the first. True to fans of Coben, this book is highly entertaining and a quick read. Thanks to @netgalley for the eARC.

Wilde is back in town, still trying to come to terms with his life and the open questions about his parents and how he came to be left abandoned as a little boy in the woods, but now he’s got some matches on a DNA site. Of course, nothing is as straightforward for Wilde as he hopes; if it were, he likely would have met his parents a lot sooner in life. When his “investigations” start leading to some very strange behavior, and then even murder, he realizes he’s not the only one looking for these people. Harlan Coben is a standard for me; I rarely need to even know what the book is about before diving right in. Is some of the dialog a little hard to believe? Yep. Does it stop me from wanting to read his next book? Nope. Here’s hoping to more from Wilde in the future!

Special Note: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review -
A little boy grows up in the woods - How did he end up there? How did he survive?
When grown he wants to know the answers so enters in a DNA and there is a match - so he begins the search for his father - and just as quick there is a killer after him - why? How is it related to the search for his father?

Author Harlan Coben is a master at creating compelling characters that jump off the page and into the reader’s mind, full-blown entities ready to engage fully with their stories. Wilde is one of his most creative, the child found living in a forest on his own, something akin to a Jungle Boy, abandoned and left to his own devices, inconceivable in modern times. THE MATCH combines an origin story for Wilde with a mystery involving reality programming and social networks, something Wilde clearly knows nothing about; it’s a great juxtaposition of concepts. The adult Wilde is curious about his past and may have some new information about relatives through DNA, but secrets are always tricky. This is one excellent mystery. I received my copy from the publisher through Netgalley.

I had not realized until I had it in my hands that Harlan Coben’s THE MATCH was a sequel/continuation of ‘The Boy From the Woods’. More than that, it is now listed as a series. My problem with all this is that as much as I enjoy Coben’s work, TBFTW was the most lackluster, disjointed, and disappointing story I’d ever read from the author.

That being said, I was willing to give this second ‘Wilde’ book an honest chance. It was a great improvement over the first, imo; and much more concentrated on Wilde. This was a better story, the reader learns much more about Wilde and how he came to be left in the woods. The story was interesting in places, but far too long and drawn out.

I’m sure I’ll give the next book in the series a read, but not with the same anticipation as with the author’s excellent domestic thrillers. This series honestly doesn’t read like something Coben really wrote himself. It certainly fails to reach the excellence he’s known for.

Harlan Coben’s books are delicious reading…like junk food. Is there better writing in the thriller/mystery genre.? Definitely. But his writing is for when you’re in the mood for familiar comfort food versus elevated cuisine. Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Wilde is back and Harlan Coben has done it again. The Match is utterly compelling with his complex characters, suspense, and plot twists we’ve come to love… and a little bit of romance sprinkled in.

While this can technically be read as a stand-alone, I highly recommend reading book #1 first, The Boy from the Woods.

Overall it’s absolutely worth the read and you should definitely pre-order it if you’re a Coben fan, or interested in his work.

4.5/5 ⭐️

I read this as soon as I got it- a great author is always a treat. This is the same...Wilde is a miracle child that moved from abandonment to a full, if odd, life. His connections with his family/attorney, foster family and past help him begin to search for his origin story.
He finds he may be related to a high profile reality star who is facing some heinous accusations. Peeling back the layers reveals complication after complication while the bodies begin to pile up.
The action moves swifty, and while there seemed to be a cast of thousands, it all get sorted and explained in a most satisfactory manner. Really enjoyed reading this, can't wait for the next Wilde adventure.

Pub date: Mar 2022
4.5 A great follow-up to The Boy in The Woods! This one has Wilde (one of my favorite Coben characters) solving some of his own mysteries, which was fascinating and compelling! It wrapped up a LOT more than I expected, so I hope that it's not the last Wilde book 😱 A previous book's character is also included, and I had mixed feelings about it, since it was the ONE Cohen book of which I wasn't a huge fan. But it turned out ok! Highly recommended, but definitely read the awesome first book in the series first!

The Match by Harlan Coben is his 2nd book with Wilde, the Boy From the Woods.

"Wilde puts his DNA into some of the geneology sites hoping to find his biological parents. He gets couple of hits. One might be his parents - another is possibly a half brother. When Wilde finds out the brother may be in trouble, he looks for him. But when people start showing up dead - and the FBI starts tracking Wilde - he's not sure how much he really needs to find any family."

Coben takes two current issues - DNA matching and influencers - and throw his characters headlong into them. Wilde just wants to know why he was left in the woods and who left him. And the reality TV "stars" want a piece of the influencer fame.

Wilde is an interssting character. He's at home in the woods and also in the streets of NYC. He struggles with close relationships but he's trying. Hester Crimstein is a character that any reader can visualize and certainly one you want on your side.

The Match is full of the twists and turns we expect from Coben. I did get a little confused at all of the DNA matching percentages and family connections - just slow down and pay attention and you should be fine.

This is another fast-paced, fantastic read from Coben. Thriller fans should definitely add this to their reading list.

Always entertaining to see what Coben has up his sleeve, and the latest doesn’t disappoint. I really enjoy the WILDE books, and so glad that he spun a tale bringing in Wilde’s roots, but giving it his usual suspenseful twists and turns. Another happy, wild ride for sure.

Published on instagram.com @Tiffany_is_reading

I have so many ARCs to read that publish before this one, but I could not help myself and dove right into this one. I loved reading about Wilde again! I really felt like I was left hanging on some things after book 1, so I loved seeing them addressed in book 2. I also really like all of the other returning characters, so that was nice too. I love ancestry, so that aspect added a lot for me. I am definitely making this author an auto-buy author!