HC: A normal child who wants to do want is right, but sometimes is unable to. I enjoyed giving her a romance.ĮC: How would you describe Matthew, Hester’s grandson? I gave her the last name of Crimstein because it has “crime” in it. He said he based the Jewish grandmother voice on Howard Stern’s imitation of his mother.

Steven Weber did her voice for the audio book.

HC: She is Jewish and based on a number of women I grew up with including my mother, basically a tough broad. I think he is quiet, fiercely loyal, caring, strong, athletic, and anti-social.ĮC: You have more of Hester Crimstein’s backstory, a character that has been in previous books, a Judge Judy type? HC: He is most comfortable in the woods, since he does not connect very well. After being found he was compared to a Tarzan or Mowgli. Even thirty years later, no one ever claimed him. He basically raised himself and is kind of feral. The “what if” took over and I thought about a boy who would come out of the woods and not remember anything. I saw a 5 or 6-year-old boy walking around. They are deeply invested and want to know what will happen to them next.Įlise Cooper: You wrote a Jungle Book Mowgli type of character? Readers easily can connect with the engrossing characters and will want more stories involving Wilde and Hester. Now as an adult, he still remains somewhat reclusive and continues to live in the forest in an eco-friendly but technologically advanced pod-like structure that can be moved around at will.Īlthough this book has a hodgepodge of sub-plots the main plot is riveting. Raised in foster care, he excelled in school and even more so in the military where he was a member of an elite group taking part in secret missions, after graduating from West Point. In 1986 a boy approximately six years old is found living on his own in the woods near Westville, N.J. Readers will enjoy learning about Wilde’s backstory. As Wilde and Hester ratchet up their investigative skills to find Naomi, another youth goes missing as the plot thickens.

Worried about a bullied classmate, Matthew approaches his grandmother, Hester, and Wilde, fearing that something disastrous has happened to Naomi. After David died in a car accident Wilde became a “step-father” to Matthew. He became friends with David, the son of Hester Crimstein, a television criminal attorney. Thirty years ago, a boy who was eventually named Wilde was found with no memory of his past as he came out of the woods.

The book opens with a character resembling a Jungle Book personality, Mowgli. It touches on politics, power, romance, bullying, guilt, family, and how social status can either help or hurt a person. The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben has many ingredients to it.

The Woods by Harlan Coben