Play Dead

They were looking for a miracle cure... Sara and Michael, the ideal celebrity couple, darlings of the media - until their lives are shattered by a mystery illness. Dr Harvey Riker, his clinic has found the miracle cure that millions seek. One-by-one his patients are getting well. One-by-one they are targeted by a serial killer more fatal than the disease. Lieutenant Bernstein, his true desires make him a perfect choice to track the killer - or a perfect victim.

Eight years ago David Beck was knocked unconscious and left for dead, and his wife Elizabeth was kidnapped and murdered. For the next eight years Dr Beck re-lived the horror of what happened that day every day of his life. Then one afternoon, he receives an anonymous e-mail telling him to log on to a certain web-site at a certain time, using a code that only he and his wife knew. The screen opens on to a web cam - and it is Elizabeth's image he sees. Is it a practical joke?

Dr Marc Seidman is living in New Jersey with his new wife, Monica, and their baby daughter, Tara, when the shocking attack occurs. When he wakes in the hospital, he learns that Monica is dead, and Tara is missing from her crib.

Matt Hunter's life has already been blown away once. At the age of 20, he got into a fight outside a party and accidentally killed someone. That momentary lapse of reason cost him four years in gaol and a small sliver of his soul.

On October 17, 11 years ago, Julie Miller was found brutally strangled in the basement of her house in the township of Livingston, New Jersey. On that day, Will's brother, Ken Klein, became the subject of an international manhunt accused of the crime. He has not been seen since. Will has tried to get on with his life in the intervening years. He has a beautiful new girlfriend, Sheila, and a job working with the homeless.

Myron Bolitar might have a slightly dubious past, but he knows how to handle himself and is doing just fine as a sports agent. And then he meets Brenda Slaughter, one of the hottest female sports stars around. She's gorgeous, funny and single, and also seems to have mislaid her agent. But when her father disappears, and the Mob starts leaning on her, it soon becomes apparent that potent forces are at work. And the more Myron tries to help, the closer he gets to losing his heart - and his life.

The Stranger appears out of nowhere, perhaps in a bar or a parking lot or at the grocery store. His identity is unknown. His motives are unclear. His information is undeniable. Then he whispers a few words in your ear and disappears, leaving you picking up the pieces of your shattered world. Adam Price has a lot to lose: a comfortable marriage to a beautiful woman, two wonderful sons, and all the trappings of the American dream - a big house, a good job, a seemingly perfect life. Then he runs into the Stranger.

Harlan Coben was voted winner of the Bestseller Dagger, at the 2009 Crime Writers' Association's Crime Thriller awards .

Twenty years ago, four teenagers at summer camp walked into the woods at night. Two were found murdered, and the others were never seen again. Four families had their lives changed forever.

She's smart, beautiful, and she doesn't need a man to look after her. But sports agent Myron Bolitar has come into her life, big time. Now Myron's next move may be his last. Brenda Slaughter is no damsel in distress. Myron Bolitar is no bodyguard. But Myron has agreed to protect the bright, strong, beautiful basketball star. And he's about to find out if he's man enough to unravel the tragic riddle of her life.

Three people living lives they never wanted, hiding secrets that even those closest to them would never suspect, will find that the past never truly fades away. Even as the terrible consequences of long-ago events crash together in the present and threaten to ruin lives, they will come to the startling realization that they may not want to forget the past at all.