You know you’ve really made it as a writer when Stephen King decides to cast you as a character in his novel. Author Harlan Coben was stunned when King phoned him one day, asking permission to use Coben’s name in his 2018 novel, The Outsider, but even more so when he read the final book.
‘Steve had sent me a digital copy, so the first thing I did was check to see where my name was, thinking it would be a passing reference,’ says Coben. ‘But I was mentioned about 53 times as an alibi for one of his characters! They recently announced plans to make it into a TV series, so I asked Steve if I could play me. He told me, “I don’t think you’d be that convincing.” ’
Coben, however, certainly convinces as a thriller writer. He has more than 70 million books in print worldwide and a net worth estimated at £19 million, and his fan base is enviable.
Thriller writer Harlan Coben (above) has over 70 million books in print worldwide and an enviable fan base including names such as Bruce Springsteen, Liz Hurley and Julia Roberts
Michael J Fox, Bruce Springsteen and Liz Hurley are longtime readers (‘Elizabeth Hurley always sends me a note after reading one of my books – she’s a voracious reader’) and the day his 2016 novel, Fool Me Once, came out, Julia Roberts got on the phone to say she wanted to star as the novel’s protagonist Maya. ‘Luckily my agent warned me beforehand,’ says Coben, ‘otherwise I might have put the phone down, thinking it was a prank call.’
He has even done the impossible by uniting Democrats and Republicans on the hugely partisan US political spectrum: both the Clintons and the Bushes are avowed admirers of his work.
‘I had lunch with President George Bush Snr,’ he says, ‘and when the desserts came round, he said to my wife, “Are you going to eat that?” When she said no, he looked left and right, put his finger in the whipped cream to taste it and then put the dessert under the table for the dog to eat, saying, “Don’t tell [my wife] Barb.” ’
In his latest, Run Away, financial expert Simon Greene believes he has the perfect family until his daughter, Paige, addicted to drugs, runs away, setting off a chain of revelations
Coben’s domestic noir novels are impossible to put down. In his latest, Run Away, financial expert Simon Greene believes he has the perfect family until his daughter, Paige, addicted to drugs, runs away, setting off a chain of revelations. ‘I don’t write books about serial killers who hack up people for no reason,’ says Coben. ‘I like to put ordinary people in the ultimate predicament and say: what if this happened?’
His 2015 bestseller, The Stranger, is being filmed in Manchester as a series for Netflix and stars Downton Abbey’s Siobhan Finneran and Jennifer Saunders. ‘I wrote a letter to Jennifer asking her to play the role,’ says Coben. ‘I loved her in Absolutely Fabulous and even though Heidi is a serious role and she’s not all “Dahling, dahling” as in Ab Fab, it needed someone likeable and a little quirky. I was nervous about casting Jennifer because of all the comedy she’s done, but she’s a really good actress.’
The Stranger follows The Five and Safe – two of Coben’s previous television series, which were also made in the UK. ‘I go where the talent is and where it’s possible to make something a little different without someone constantly looking over my shoulder,’ he says. ‘And I love British shows – things like Happy Valley, Broadchurch and Luther.’
His 2015 bestseller, The Stranger, is being filmed in Manchester as a series for Netflix and stars Downton Abbey ’s Siobhan Finneran and Jennifer Saunders
Raised in New Jersey, Coben initially worked for his family’s travel company before turning his hand full-time to writing. His first successful book series featured sports agent-cum-private investigator Myron Bolitar, ‘and I always joke that for my first Myron Bolitar book my advance was $5,000, but by the time my fourth came out, I was all the way up to $6,000. I was not an overnight success by any means’. Nowadays, the 57-year-old is said to earn about $4 million per novel.
Yet there is one good reason why success will never go to Coben’s head. As a student he briefly shared a frat house with Dan Brown, whose novel The Da Vinci Code, has sold more than 80 million copies alone. So regardless of how many books he has sold, he laughs: ‘I’m still not even the best-selling author in my fraternity!’
‘Run Away’ by Harlan Coben is out now (Century £20). Coben is appearing at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in July. harrogateinternationalfestivals.com