Book Club Night Kit

Plot Twist

Harlan Coben

Cozy night

Harlan Coben steps out from behind the thriller curtain to talk about the kid he was, the people who shaped him, and how a suspense novel actually gets built. It is an unusually warm, chatty read from a writer most of us know only through his cliffhangers.

Pull Up a Booth: A Cozy Night with Harlan Coben

Baked ziti, bottomless coffee, and the man behind all those cliffhangers telling on himself for once. Come as you are, finish the book or don't, just bring one story of your own.

Reading level: Easy

Best for: A club that likes the author as much as the book, and would rather trade stories than dissect chapters

Discussion

Warm-up

1.Before opening this, what did you picture Harlan Coben was like as a person? Did the voice on the page match the voice in your head?
2.Was your first Coben a book, a Netflix binge, or this one? Tell us how he first showed up in your life.

Digging in

1.He writes so much about ordinary suburban life before everything goes sideways. Which detail of that ordinary world felt most like the street you grew up on?
2.Which piece of his growing-up made you want to call someone from your own childhood? Who, and what would you say?
3.There is real tenderness in how he writes about the people who believed in him early. Who was that person for you, and did they ever know?
4.Reading about how he builds a character, did you feel let in on a secret or did a little of the magic go out of it for you? Be honest, there is no wrong answer here.

Going deep

1.He is candid about the parts of a writing life that are not glamorous. Did any of that honesty land close to home with your own work or creative thing you keep meaning to do?
2.A person who writes about secrets for a living chooses what to reveal about himself. Where did you feel him being most generous with you, and where did you feel him gently keeping the door shut? How did that sit with you?

On the table & to sip

To eat

Jersey diner grilled cheese with tomato soup in mugs

Coben is famously a New Jersey guy and his stories live in diners and kitchens. Griddled sandwiches cut into halves, soup in mugs so people can hold it while they talk.

A big sheet pan of baked ziti

The classic Jersey family-table dish. Make it the day before, reheat, serve in bowls. One pan feeds everybody and nobody has to plate anything carefully.

Black and white cookies plus a bowl of pretzels

East Coast childhood snacks, and the black-and-white cookie is a quiet nod to a writer who lives in the gray in between. Store bought is completely fine.

To sip

Bottomless diner coffee with real cream (no alcohol)

Poured from a carafe you leave on the table, refilled without asking, exactly like the booth where half his scenes could happen.

Hot spiced apple cider (no alcohol)

A non-alcoholic option that smells like the whole house is being kind to you. Cinnamon stick, orange slice, keep it warm on the stove.

Amaretto or bourbon added to the coffee, offered on the side

The grown-up upgrade for the back half of the night, set out in one bottle so people help themselves.