"I decided during my senior year that I wanted to write a novel," Coben said. "I was working summers as a tour guide in Spain, and Americans at the time were acting so bizarrely on vacation that I wanted to write a book about them. I wrote a novel and it was atrocious, but from there I got the writing bug."
Drawing on experience
Since that first novel, entitled "Play Dead," all of Coben's works have been set in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City. He finds that the suburbs are the easiest setting to use in his works. "I view the American suburb as the last battleground of the American dream. It is where we go and live our lives and try to be happy, but things never go as they are supposed to, and I find that interesting," he explained.
It is also easy for Coben to relate to the setting. He grew up in the New Jersey suburbs and currently lives there with his wife, Anne Armstrong-Coben '85 and their four children. Like most authors, he writes what he knows. In the majority of his books, a strong relationship between father and son emerges. Coben said that he was very close to his father, who died young. "The loss of parents is something I've enjoyed exploring in different realms in different books," he said.
The College also appears in a number of Coben's works. In his newest crime thriller "Gone for Good," the main character is an Amherst graduate. "In one particular scene he remembers taking his girlfriend and sitting with her on the hill," Coben recalled. A number of other characters are based upon people he met while at Amherst as well.
"People often ask about inspiration," he said. "Yes, inspiration is a part of writing, and perspiration is a part of it, but I think the most important part of it for me is desperation. If I was not a writer, I'd have to get a real job and do work. At this point, I am probably unfit, despite my Amherst education, to do anything else but write."
Amherst inspiration
Majoring in political science has contributed a great deal to Coben's success as an author. He recalled that many of his classes were writing intensive. "There was a lot of analytical thinking, realizing what arguments were and finding ways to solve them and fix them. That definitely helps a crime fiction writer," he said. "I had some great professors at Amherst and being in their classes, being able to see ahead and solve the problem, really helped," he said.
Professor of History and American Studies N. Gordon Levin and Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science Austin Sarat were two of Coben's favorite professors. "I can recall taking at least four classes from each of them. They were definitely my favorites. I think I might have taken all of Professor Sarat's classes," he said.
Coben and Sarat have stayed in touch since Coben's graduation. "I remember that [Coben] was a very bright and engaged student," said Sarat. "He also had a tremendous and very winning personality. The combination of his intelligence and his personal attractiveness made him quite a compelling character."
Sarat has been following Coben's literary career as well. "His success in the world comes as no surprise. He left his mark on Amherst in a way that made it pretty predictable that he'd make a mark in the world beyond Amherst," he said. Coben will be at the College in April for a convention Professor Sarat has organized.
Roommates' recollections
Coben chose to attend Amherst because of its size and reputation, and, like so many Amherst College students, his experience at the College expanded far beyond the classroom. Coben was a four-year member of the basketball team and was a starter beginning his sophomore year. In addition, he was a Psi Upsilon fraternity brother and spent one year as opinions editor for The Amherst Student.
Coben's ties to the College are quite close to home: his wife is an Amherst graduate, as are a number of his closest friends, many of whom he met during his first year at the College.
"The first time I saw Harlan he was playing his desk as if it were a piano and singing into his lamp like a microphone," said Lawrence Vitale '84, one of Coben's closest friends. "Harlan is the funniest person I know. After moving from the fourth floor of Stearns to the first floor because of an ankle injury, Harlan terrorized the {resident counselor (RC)]. The RC went on to become an FBI agent and shows up in many of Harlan's books," he added. "I think I have laughed every time I've been with him."
Classmate and friend James Bradbeer '84 agreed. "Harlan was and is one of my closest friends. He is very much the same today as he was at Amherst," he said. "He has a tremendous sense of humor, which is an essential ingredient to his success as a writer. The voice in his books is very much the voice of the banter in our dorm rooms."
Bradbeer lived next to Vitale and Coben first when they were sophomores in the Psi U House (now Seelye House), when they were juniors in Stone Dormitory and seniors in Taplin Dormitory. He remembers the day Coben declared he was going to write a book. "We were a pretty unmotivated senior group, watching TV one evening, just hanging out, when Harlan stood up and said he was going to write a book. This was the PoliSci guy who was going to be a lawyer," he remembered. "When the laughing died down from the room group, Harlan trudged off and started to write. For the entire second semester, while the rest of us did very little, he wrote his book. Our room group was all there to witness it first-hand."
Vitale also recalled Coben's writing process. "He made a concerted effort to actually come up with something readable," he said. "He would sit in front of the television and write and write and write. We were there from the beginning."
Bradbeer, Vitale and Coben are friends to this day. "Harlan is a great man, a great husband, a great father and the most knowledgeable person about Batman that I know. He is the godfather to my third child and I am grateful to have him as a friend," said Bradbeer.
Vitale talks to Coben often as well. "I see him a lot," he said. "We get our kids together every now and then, mostly for Superbowls and birthdays. I am proud of my friend, to see that he has done well at what he likes to do."
"I just took James and Larry to a [Bruce] Springsteen concert," said Coben. "They aren't the only ones I see, though. I will get an e-mail, or I'll be touring in San Francisco or Los Angeles and someone from my Amherst days will show up and we'll talk."
Past awards and future plans
Since he started writing, Coben has won three awards, authored a New York Times Bestseller, and has been nominated for four other awards. Signed editions of his novel "Play Dead" sell for up to $700.
Coben is the first individual to win all of three prestigious awards: the Edgar Award for the best work in mystery writing, the Anthony Award for outstanding achievement in the mystery field and the Shamus Award for the best private-eye detective fiction. In addition, he has been nominated for the Dilys Award, for the book which member sellers most enjoyed selling, the Macavity Award for best mystery novel, the Agatha Award for best first mystery in a series and the Barry Award for the best work of crime fiction.
"Awards are such a subjective, objective and every other kind of thing. You are never as good as your best review and never as bad as you worst," Coben said. "It was a thrill to win the Edgar Award. It was a thrill when I first hit the New York Times Best-seller List. Every step of the way you try to enjoy every good thing in your career, be it a review or a best-seller list."
Writing is not always an easy task. "Some days, the actual writing process is fun and fantastic but some days it is torturous and nothing is coming out," he said. "Luckily, after I write, I can't tell which kind of day it is. The lines become very, very blurry, which is good."
In his days at Amherst, Coben never would have believed that he would be supporting himself and a family as an author. However, "The truth is, I can do this as a living, and a good living," he said. "Every part of it is just great. I just got the jacket of my next book that will be out in the spring and seeing my name is still a thrill. There is a small fame angle, and that's fun too. It's just the greatest job in the world."