Back Spin (myron Bolitar, #4)

The fourth installment in Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar series follows sports agent Myron Bolitar as he is drawn into a kidnapping case that spirals into murder during the US Open golf tournament at Merion Golf Club in Philadelphia.

Myron, who runs his sports agency, MB SportsReps, in New York City, attends the Open at the urging of his college roommate and business associate, Windsor Horne Lockwood III (Win), a wealthy investment banker whose family has deep ties to Merion. An elderly club member named Bucky Buckwell approaches Myron with an urgent plea: Bucky's daughter, Linda Coldren, the top-ranked female golfer in the world, and her husband, Jack Coldren, are in serious trouble. Jack is a journeyman golfer who famously blew a six-stroke lead at the same course 23 years earlier and has never won a professional tournament since. Now, improbably, he holds a commanding nine-stroke lead in the current Open.

At the Coldren house, Linda reveals that their 16-year-old son, Chad Coldren, has been kidnapped. She received a threatening call that morning but has heard no ransom demand. The kidnapper warned that contacting police would get the boy killed. Bucky explains that Win's mother, Cissy Lockwood, who is Bucky's sister, suggested they seek Myron's help. Win, estranged from his mother since childhood, flatly refuses to get involved.

Myron begins investigating with his assistant, Esperanza Diaz, a former professional wrestler who handles research and operations for MB SportsReps. He learns Chad's ATM card was used the previous evening in South Philadelphia, near a seedy motel called the Court Manor Inn. The withdrawal was only $180, a suspiciously small sum for a kidnapper.

A second kidnapper call, recorded on tape, escalates the threat. The caller, using an electronically altered voice, is furious that Esme Fong, a young marketing executive from the sportswear company Zoom, visited the Coldren house. He demands $100,000 as a "penalty price" and forces Chad to scream over the phone. Myron traces the call to a mall pay phone, where teenage witnesses describe the caller as a skinny man with a shaved head and a swastika tattoo. Myron deduces the scream was likely pre-recorded.

Staking out the Coldren house that night, Myron spots a figure in black climbing out of Chad's bedroom window. He gives chase, but the figure vanishes toward the heavily fortified estate of the Squires family. The patriarch, Reginald Squires, is a wealthy eccentric with criminal connections, and his son, Matthew, is Chad's best friend.

Myron shows the Coldrens a bank security videotape from the ATM. The footage reveals Chad as the driver, smiling and relaxed, with an unidentifiable passenger. Jack believes the kidnapping is a hoax; Linda refuses to accept this. She privately promises to sign with Myron as her agent if he keeps investigating. Myron also makes progress toward signing Tad Crispin, the talented young golfer in second place, who is the centerpiece of Zoom's new golf campaign.

Myron follows the tattooed neo-Nazi drug dealer from the mall, whose real name is Tito, to an abandoned building where Tito and two accomplices ambush him with tire irons. Myron fights free. Esperanza reports that Jack's former caddie, Lloyd Rennart, the man blamed for Jack's historic collapse, apparently died by suicide eight months ago by jumping off a cliff in Peru, though his body was never recovered.

The crisis deepens when a manila envelope appears on Linda's car seat containing Chad's severed finger and a threatening note. Linda identifies it as her son's and tells Myron to stay away. During the final round, Jack's lead collapses. On the 16th hole, the same hazard that destroyed him 23 years ago swallows his ball. Crispin takes the lead. But on the 18th green, Jack sinks a 22-foot putt to tie the score, forcing a playoff. Behind forced smiles for the cameras, Jack looks terrified.

That night, Myron finds Tito dead in his pickup truck, shot twice in the head, with Chad's gold ring in the seat cushion. He decides not to report the body and intercepts Linda during a late-night walk to warn her. The next morning, police summon Myron to Merion, where Jack Coldren's body lies in the stone quarry, shot dead with his own .22-caliber handgun. Linda becomes the prime suspect. Victoria Wilson, Linda's sharp attorney and childhood friend, takes charge and makes Myron co-counsel to ensure attorney-client privilege covers everything he knows.

Linda receives a call: Chad has been freed, abandoned on Porter Street. Victoria and Myron pick him up. Chad initially lies about his captivity, but Myron confronts him with the ATM video. Chad admits the truth: He was at the Court Manor Inn voluntarily with Esme Fong. Matthew Squires adds a crucial detail: He saw Jack sitting in his car at the motel parking lot the night before the kidnapping, right next to Chad's car.

Myron pieces together two critical discoveries. A maid at the Court Manor confirms that Jack visited the motel with an older man matching the description of Norm Zuckerman, the Zoom owner. Jack was gay, and his marriage to Linda was a cover. Second, while searching the belongings of Lloyd Rennart's widow, Myron finds Lloyd's old wedding album revealing that Lloyd's first wife, Lucille, was Asian. The resemblance to Esme Fong is unmistakable.

Myron confronts Esme at her hotel with his theory: Esme is the daughter of Lloyd and Lucille Rennart. Lucille died in Lloyd's drunk-driving crash after the Open debacle. Raised by her mother's family, Esme joined the golf world to destroy Jack Coldren. She seduced Chad and brought him to the Court Manor Inn so he would witness his father's affair with Norm. When Jack spotted Chad's car and left the motel, Esme kidnapped Chad to force Jack to lose the tournament. When Jack kept playing well, Tito cut off Chad's finger. When Jack tied the score, Esme killed him. Police burst in and arrest Esme. She admits she killed Tito with a .38 after he became uncontrollable and began making rogue demands.

However, the .22 that killed Jack and the .38 that killed Tito are different weapons. After Linda's release from custody, Myron confronts her with the truth. He replays the kidnapper's recorded call, pointing out phrases proving a prior ransom demand had been made: The kidnapper told Jack to lose the tournament, or Chad would die. Jack hid this because he could not bear to lose.

Linda confirms everything. After learning the truth from the recorded tape, she followed Jack to Merion, where he had brought his gun. She confronted him, knowing that if Jack won the playoff, Chad would die, but also knowing Jack could not make himself lose. She fired during a struggle, intending to wound him enough to prevent him from playing. The shot killed him. She buried the gun, erased the tape, and released news of Jack's death early so the kidnappers would free Chad.

Myron tells Linda he is her attorney and cannot reveal her confession. Chad runs out to greet his mother as they arrive home. Myron backs out of the driveway without watching their reunion.

In a final thread, Win's dying mother, Cissy Lockwood, confesses to Myron that she paid Lloyd Rennart to sabotage Jack at the Open 23 years ago, as revenge for a prank Jack pulled that caused Win to discover Cissy's infidelity and severed their relationship forever. Cissy dies days later with Win at her side. Afterward, Win asks Myron to play golf at Merion. They play 36 holes a day for three days. By the third day, Myron is starting to get it.