Love Harlen Coben and this is a great book to start his foray into YA. Fun, good mystery.

SHELTER, Harlan Coben’s first young-adult novel, is a spinoff from his Myron Bolitar series, adult novels. Now we have the beginning of a new series based on the exploits of Myron’s 15-year-old nephew, Mickey Bolitar. As was Myron, Mickey is a high school basketball player. And as was Myron’s series, Mickey’s series is mystery/thriller.

Mickey and his mother were introduced in Coben’s last Myron Bolitar (adult) novel, LIVE WIRE. All you fans of Coben’s Myron Bolitar novels who are unhappy that this was Coben’s last because he has switched to YA and feel that Coben has abandoned the readers who made him--not totally. In this first installment of the Mickey Bolitar series, Mickey lives with Myron. Mickey’s father (Myron’s brother) is dead, and his mother has been an inpatient at a drug rehabilitation hospital. Mickey dislikes his Uncle Myron because of the way Myron treated Mickey’s mother. (And you know that can’t last. We love Myron)

Now Mickey is a new student at the high school that had been attended by his father and uncle. He’s a hunk so right away attracts girls and is attracted himself to one in particular, Ashley. But soon, without a goodbye, she disappears. This is the setup for one mystery.

As faithful Coben readers already know, his books are always mystery upon mystery upon mystery. Here’s another.

An old woman who lives down the street from Myron’s home opens her door one day to smile at Mickey and tell him his father isn’t dead. In Mickey’s quest to learn more from her, you guessed it, he runs into even more mysteries.

And just as Myron had his sidekick Win, it looks like Mickey has a sidekick, or maybe two or three. Maybe we’ll see more of “Spoon,” the announcer of random facts, and Ema (with a long e), the fat girl in black. There’s also another gorgeous 15-year-old girl for Mickey who may be a regular.

I am one of the fans of Coben’s adult novels, his standalones as well as his Myron Bolitar series. I wasn’t happy about his switch to YA and figured that LIVE WIRE was not only his last Myron Bolitar novel but, also, Coben’s last novel that I would read. Then along came an advanced reader copy of SHELTER (through librarything.com Early Reviewers program).

My primary concern with this new book was not whether it would appeal to young adults. Personally, I don’t care. But because I’ve loved and bought every one of Coben’s adult novels and felt I was rudely abandoned when I read about his switch to YA novels, I cared about whether they might be suitable alternatives for his adult fans.

I’m here to tell you that Coben hasn’t completely abandoned us. This YA novel still contains recognizable Coben elements. I enjoyed it, although I wish I hadn’t been able to guess who some people really were early on. That’s a deviation from Coben’s adult novels.

I was also surprised at the violence in this YA novel, but what do I know about that? Maybe young adults nowadays are desensitized to violence.

So, although I expected to dislike SHELTER, I didn’t. But I do still think Coben owes us more adult novels. And he can do that without giving up Mickey’s series. SHELTER is a quick read, and I’m sure other books in the series will be, too. Coben will have plenty of time.

Since I wrote the above review, I received an email update from Coben's Web site. Apparently, he DOES plan to continue writing adult novels as well as this Mickey Bolitar series. He even has a standalone coming out next spring. And, surprise, he MAY write more Myron Bolitar books.