The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben

Published by Grand Central Publishing on March 17, 2020

Harlan Coben seems to alternate between novels that are so-so and novels that are pretty good. The Boy from the Woods falls into the “pretty good” category. Since his last Myron Bolitar novel in 2016, he’s focused on writing stand-alones. The Boy from the Woods is a stand-alone at the moment, but the book sets up some mysteries about the protagonist’s past that invite resolution in future novels.

The Boy from the Woods imagines a senator named Rusty Eggers who is running for president. Eggers claims he wants to rebuild the country when he is only capable of pulling it apart. His rhetoric makes him popular with low-information voters while forcing everyone to choose a side instead of coming together as a nation.

The novel’s star, however, is a mysterious fellow who is aptly named Wilde — apt because he was discovered at the approximate age of six living by himself in a state forest. Since Wilde had no childhood memory of anything other than living in the woods, he believes he lived there for years until he befriended another child named David. That doesn’t seem plausible, but as events unfold, Coben sold me on the premise.

Wilde eventually went into foster care, but as an adult has continued to live in the woods, sheltered by an eco pod. David’s mother Hester has not seen much of Wilde in the six years following his involvement in a car crash that killed David. David married a woman named Laila and had a son named Matthew. Wilde is Matthew’s godfather. Sometimes he stays overnight with Laila, who keeps her distance from Wilde when she’s not using him for comfort. The relationships in this book are complicated, but they are not far-fetched.

Matthew becomes concerned about a classmate named Naomi Pine, who is always being bullied by popular kids, including Crash Maynard, whose father Dash is a documentarian. Naomi was placed for adoption by a biological mother she never knew, which gives her a bond with Wilde. The plot kicks off when Naomi disappears and ratchets up when Crash disappears. At least one of those disappearances seems to be related to pressure that Dash is receiving to release a rumored tape that shows the kind of wrongdoing that might bring down Senator Eggers. As a favor to Matthew, Wilde goes looking for Naomi, whose teacher happens to be another woman with whom Wilde has kept company at night.

I’m particularly impressed with the way the story imagines Eggers’ ability to manage obvious evidence of his unsuitability for office by denying and deflecting. Bots attack social media in ways that change the public's focus. He has bots call the evidence fake news. He has bots fabricate defenses that paint him as a victim. He has bots assert that damaging videos were obviously photoshopped. He has one set of bots make social media comments that appeal to the right and another set of bots make social media comments that appeal to the left. Then he has the bots attack each other while he stands aside and waits for a new controversy to occupy the public’s attention. So it goes in the age of easily manipulated social media.

To his credit, Coben avoided the outlandish plot development that often mars thrillers, including some of his own. The facts twist at the end, revealing a surprise in what otherwise might have been a predictable story. Another surprise follows, this one a little too manipulative, but it deals with a collateral plot thread and doesn’t overwhelm the story. The central plotline is believable, and all the more entertaining because it is convincing. Wilde has an air of mystery that substitutes for a personality (he’s a strong, silent type). I expect his personality to grow, much as Myron Bolitar’s did, as more novels explore Wilde’s past. On the strength of The Boy from the Woods, I am optimistic that those novels will be worth reading.

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