College summers, tourist tactics and favourite places
Author Harlan Coben has travelled the world but his heart belongs to New Jersey, says
In a previous career, bestselling thriller writer Harlan Coben would set up dream travel trips for holidaymakers. Through his eight years in the industry, he travelled the world, learned how to cope with tourist disasters and crossed many bucket destinations off his list.
“The whole world fascinates me,” says the top novelist whose books have sold over 75 million copies worldwide and been adapted into a raft of Netflix series including Stay Close, The Stranger and Safe. Yet many of his stories are set in New Jersey, where he was born and raised and where he still lives now.
Coben, 60, is hoping his latest novel, The Match, which sees the return of Wilde, a decorated former soldier who as a boy was found living alone in remote woodland in New Jersey, not knowing how he’d got there, will be adapted for screen.
“The idea for Wilde came when I was hiking in the woods in Ramapo. People don’t really think of New Jersey as having woods, but the Appalachian Mountains come through New Jersey and the Ramapo Mountains are rather scenic and only a 15-minute ride from my house.
“But here’s the kicker: I hate hiking in the woods. I find it really boring. You see a tree and another tree and another tree. I much prefer walking the streets of New York City and seeing people’s faces and browsing bookshops and window shopping.”
How did your tourism career start?
“I spent two college summers in the Costa del Sol in Spain, where I took care of the tourists. Every week a group of 50 Americans would arrive in Fuengirola, Torremolinos or Marbella and I would be the guy who helped them check in and do the optional tours.
“The first thing some people do when they check into a hotel room, no matter where it is, is to complain to get a better one. I’ve experienced every ploy. When I graduated from college I worked eight years in the travel industry. My grandfather and my mother founded Club ABC Tours. They needed some help. I was on my way to law school in Chicago, but I also wanted to be a writer.
“They asked me to work with them for a couple of years and try to write while I was working, which is what I did. I travelled all over the world. I never went to law school. It’s what we call dodging a bullet.”
Most memorable childhood trips?
“In around 1970, when I was eight, I did my first trip to Italy. I remember everything. The moment I looked up at the Sistine Chapel, the moment I walked into the Vatican, the moment I walked into the Academy in Florence, turned right and saw the statue of David. I remember the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. I remember when we drove down and I saw Pompeii for the first time.”
Favourite destination?
“I know it’s a cliché, but Paris. I have a real love affair with France in general. I go at least twice a year (although not in the last two years). I love the attitude, I love the people, the food, the wine and the joie de vivre. They have a great attitude. Everything is raised to the 10th power. It’s also a ridiculously beautiful country.”
And sightseeing go-to?
“Nothing tops Egypt, on the Luxor River, seeing the temples of Luxor, the great pyramids, Abu Simbel, the Fallen Ramses, all of those sights to me are the most awe-inspiring sightseeing I’ve ever done.”
The Match by Harlan Coben is published by Century, priced £20. Available now.