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WIN (Windsor Horne Lockwood III - #1) by Harlan Coben

Synopsis /

Over twenty years ago, heiress Patricia Lockwood was abducted during a robbery of her family's estate, then locked inside an isolated cabin for months. Patricia escaped, but so did her captors, and the items stolen from her family were never recovered. Until now.

On New York's Upper West Side, a recluse is found murdered in his penthouse apartment, alongside two objects of note: a stolen Vermeer painting and a leather suitcase bearing the initials WHL3. For the first time in years, the authorities have a lead not only on Patricia's kidnapping but also on another FBI cold case - with the suitcase and painting both pointing them towards one man.

Windsor Horne Lockwood III - or Win as his few friends call him - doesn't know how his suitcase and his family's stolen painting ended up in this dead man's apartment. But he's interested - especially when the FBI tell him that the man who kidnapped his cousin was also behind an act of domestic terrorism, and that he may still be at large.

The two cases have baffled the FBI for decades. But Win has three things the FBI does not: a personal connection to the case, a large fortune, and his own unique brand of justice.

My Thoughts /

This was my first Coben read and either, it wasn't the best choice to start on, or, this author is not for me. I waited a couple of days after finishing before putting pen to paper as it were. It looks like just about every person that has picked up this book, loved it. It seems that, once again, I’m hanging out with the minority � well, there’s nothing wrong with that!

At the start of my read I could only devote minimal reading time, so, maybe, I didn’t ‘u²Ô»å±ð°ù²õ³Ù²¹²Ô»åâ€� the plot as much as if I would have if I had read large chunks at each sitting. Maybe, but I think not.

Let’s start with the plot � it’s ho-hum (there, I said it, and I feel better now!). It just plods along sloooowly, he finds a bunch of people, asks them a bunch of questions, and, then finds out the answer, and that's it! It’s also unnecessarily convoluted, too involved and even, a bit confusing.

Let’s move on to our protagonist, Windsor Horne Lockwood III, or Win for short.

Here’s what’s to like:
�

Here’s what’s not to like:
� I can’t think of any other way to describe Win other than to say he’s totally up himself;
� he is devoid of empathy and basically, doesn’t care about other people at all � even worse than that, he holds himself high above everyone else as some kind of moral arbiter, deciding for himself who lives and dies (yeesh, this guy is a creep);
� he answers the phone by saying “articulate� � is that supposed to be humorous? who does that?
� he uses an App to decide which woman he will have sex with, Oh, and have I mentioned that the women on the other end of this App have to be at least 10s, otherwise he won’t bother;
� this guy was born will ALL the advantages and what does he do? he
� he’s insufferable;
� and I’ve left the worst for last, he used the word "methinks� several times in the book.

He has NO redeeming character traits and comes across as an entitled bully and bore.

Win is a one-percenter, UBER wealthy, fantastically good looking, witty and charming (all in his opinion) � if that’s your bag, go for it, you’ll love this book.