Harlan Coben

Of all the accomplished thriller writers out there - and this is a golden era for crime fiction - Coben is probably the best at the device called "the plot twist." Hell, he's so good at the plot twist that he includes about, oh, 17 in each book. I've thought more than once, reading one of his novels, that he'd have been better off leaving off the last two or three because it was getting ridiculous. Except ... dammit, he does it so well! And so it goes with "Missing You," a typically multi-layered story starring third generation New York City detective Kat Donovan. Cute but world-weary and vulnerable, she comes across her great lost love through an online dating service - and we're off and running. The ex-boyfriend suddenly vanishes; Kat learns upsetting new info about her murdered father's mysterious and unresolved past; a precocious teen convinces Kat his mom's a victim of foul play; and a spectacularly vicious pimp-turned-extortionist/kidnapper/murderer is definitely getting rich. Somehow, Coben will tie it all together - and it's like Ricky Jay throw a playing card through a brick wall. You think: How the hell does he do that?!

- RICK KOSTER