Amazon.com (ISBN 0440225442, Mass Market Paperback)

As readers who have enjoyed his appearances in original paperbacks already know, Harlan Coben's former professional basketball star Myron Bolitar is not your everyday testosterone-enriched jock. Myron is a mild-mannered guy who drinks chocolate soda and until very recently lived at home with his parents in suburban New Jersey. In his hardcover debut, we find Myron sharing a New York apartment with his longtime lady friend, writer Jessica Culver, and still running MB SportsReps, where he ostensibly manages the careers of other athletes, but really spends most of his time playing private eye. The arrival in Myron's life of rising pro basketball star Brenda Slaughter seriously tests his commitment to Jessica, who is in Hollywood working on a movie. It seems that Brenda's father Horace--Myron's old coach--has disappeared, and Brenda is receiving death threats that might involve a gangster family's plans for a new female professional basketball league. Or the threats might have something to do with Brenda's mother's connection to a wealthy New Jersey political family. Myron and his banker friend Win, a preppy with a penchant for violence, are more than enough to double-team the bad guys. Previous Myron Bolitar games in paperback include Backspin, Deal Breaker, Drop Shot, and Fade Away.