Harlan Coben is an American writer of mystery novels and crime thrillers. Born into a Jewish family, Harlan grew up in Newark, New Jersey. He studied political science at Amherst College, where he also played basketball. Harlan has been inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame. During his senior year he realized he wanted to become a writer, but after graduating in 1984, Coben worked for a travel company owned by his grandfather as a way to make a living and began writing.
“I wrote on the side, which is frankly how I recommend people start,” Harlan says. “You always have time to write. If you don’t have time to write, it means that writing isn’t that important to you.”
His first novel, Play Dead was published in 1990 when he was twenty-six and still working at the travel agency. Miracle Cure followed in 1991 and just before his first Myron Bolitar novel Deal Breaker was released he quit work to write full-time. He returned to writing standalone thrillers with Tell No One, which was released in 2001 and made into a highly successful French film.
In recent years, Harlan has produced and adapted several of his popular thrillers for Netflix as part of an overall development deal. Fool Me Once, Stay Close, The Stranger, Safe, The Five, The Innocent, and The Woods have all been made into series. His young adult series featuring Mickey Bolitar is appearing on Prime Video. He is also the showrunner and executive producer for two French TV mini-series based on No Second Chance and Just One Look.
Harlan is the first author to win the Edgar Award, Shamus Award, and Anthony Award. He has received a number of awards from around the world, including the prestigious Vermeil Medal of Honour for contributions to culture and society by the Mayor of Paris. He has won the El Premio del Novela Negra RBA in Spain, the Grand Prix de Lectrices in France, and the CWA/ITV3 Bestseller Dagger for favourite crime novelist in England.
He has written over 36 books and sold nearly 100 million books worldwide. Harlan still lives in New Jersey with his wife, Anne Armstrong-Coben MD, a pediatrician, and their four children and dog Laszlo.