Did you read The Match by Harlan Coben? Need a plot summary? Confused about all that DNA stuff? (I was!) Want to know how are Wilde and Peter are related in the Match (one of my super-smart commenters figured it out!) Looking for a character list for The Match? Let’s talk all about in my Spoiler Discussion for The Match on Jen Ryland Reviews!
Spoiler Discussion for The Match
Table of Contents
UPDATED with new Harlan Coben statement on the DNA connection!
- Character List for The Match by Harlan Coben
- Plot Summary for The Match by Harlan Coben
- The Ending of The Match Explained
- Spoiler Discussion for The Match
- How are Wilde and Peter and Silas Related in the Match – with information from Harlan Coben himself!
The Match by Harlan Coben was published in 2022 by Grand Central Publishing. Disclaimer: I received an advance copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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Check out all my Harlan Coben Discussion Posts!
Character List for The Match by Harlan Coben
Wilde – the book’s main character, first introduced in The Boy From the Woods by Harlan Coben. He was found abandoned in the woods as a child and therefore does not know anything about his family.
Hester Crimstein – a criminal defense lawyer and mother figure to Wilde. He was friends with Hester’s son David, who died in a car accident that also involved Wilde.
Rola – Wilde’s former foster sister and investigator.
Laila – widow of David Crimstein.
Matthew Crimstein – college-aged son of Laila and David.
Oren – Hester’s boyfriend.
Daniel Carter – the man who claims he is Wilde’s father.
Sofia Carter – Daniel’s wife and Wilde’s mother.
PB/Peter Bennett – reality TV star who matches with Wilde on a DNA database.
Jenn Cassidy – the woman who chose and married Peter on a reality show, Love is a Battlefield.
Marnie– Jenn’s sister, who accused Peter of drugging and raping her.
Silas Bennett – Peter’s older brother (really his uncle) who also matches with Peter on a DNA database.
Vicky Bennett Chiba – Peter’s older sister, who turns out to be his mother.
Kelly Bennett – Peter and Silas’s sister who is not really in the book
Chris Taylor/The Stranger/Lion – one of the animal vigilantes.
Henry McAdams – former police officer and owner of a bot farm. He is murdered by Vicky in revenge for attacking her brother online.
Katherine Frole– an FBI agent who is also Panther, a member of the vigilante group and is also murdered by Vicky.
George Kissell – US Marshal who is assigned to protect the Baker family in witness protection.
Big Bobbo– the other contestant on the reality TV show who was competing for Jenn. He and Jenn are secretly involved, as the producers of Love is a Battlefield forced Jenn to choose Peter.
Plot Summary for The Match by Harlan Coben
Wilde Finds His Father
As a child, Wilde was found living alone in the woods. At age 40, Wilde finds his father using a DNA/ geneology website. Wilde messages the man through the website but he has deleted his profile. Hester discovers his identity and Wilde flies to Nevada and confronts him. His name is Daniel Baker and he is married with children. Daniel says he didn’t know about Wilde and explains that he must have fathered Wilde during a time he was stationed with the Air Force in Europe.
Meanwhile, a group of anonymous people disguised with animal avatars meet on a zoom call to discuss their vigilante justice group.
Hester Crimstein is a criminal defense lawyer and longtime friend of Wilde’s. She goes looking for Wilde, who has retreated back to the woods. He was in a car accident that killed Hester’s son David eleven years ago.
Wilde Gets Contacted By Another DNA Match
Wilde gets a message on the DNA site from “PB,” who thinks they are related through their mother. He messages the guy back but also asks Hester to try to find out who PB is.
Hester does and Wilde goes to New York to track PB down at an expensive hotel. PB isn’t there but Wilde leaves him a note.
Wilde and PB Both Have A Secret
Wilde is secretly involved with Hester’s daughter Laila, whose college aged son, Matthew, says PB is famous. He’s Peter Bennett, winner of a huge reality show. Wilde asks his associate (and foster sister) Rola to investigate.
Peter’s reputation was ruined online when he was accused of drugging and raping his wife’s sister. Tola thinks Peter committed suicide afterwards. Wilde wonders if he faked his death.
He visits Peter’s sister Vicky, who thinks he’s dead.
Wilde hacks into Peter’s IG and finds a threatening message.
Another DNA Match!
Wilde calls Silas, Peter’s brother, who says he used a different DNA site and also got matched with someone.
Rola gets the address of the person who sent Peter the threatening message. Wilde drives there, breaks in, and downloads evidence for the computer. He also finds the dead body of Henry McAdams, a former cop who owned the house.
Chris Taylor, one of the vigilantes, reads about Henry’s murder and is alarmed.
Hester sets up a meeting with Jenn, Peter’s ex. The two discuss Peter and Marnie, Jenn’s sister.
Hester asks why Marnie didn’t tell Jenn that Peter had been sending her nude pics. Jenn says that Peter admitted raping Marnie and that his being adopted complicated their infertility struggles.
Someone visits Katherine, an FBI agent. She broke protocol to help Peter find his online harasser. The mystery visitor is here to tell her that he or she killed Henry. He or she asks Katherine for the other names she found. Katherine gives him the names and is also murdered. (We’re now calling this person the Mystery Killer.)
Wilde learns an important new fact about Peter
Wilde confronts Vicky, who didn’t tell him Peter was adopted. She says Peter only found out when he had to do medical testing for the reality show.
The animal vigilantes meet online. Panther is missing and the rest think he or she killed Henry, a potential target they decided not to pursue.
Hester and Wilde review the case. Peter was adopted as a baby. Peter is somehow related to Wilde. They decide to talk to Marnie.
Wilde gets abducted and beaten by vigilante cops from Henry’s force. They let him go and he shows up at the home of Oren, Hester’s boyfriend.
Owen is a police officer who told the Hartford police about Wilde. They discuss how Henry ran a bot farm that could be hired to attack people online. Wilde wants Oren to find out who hired Henry to attack Peter online.
Wilde tracks down Marnie and tells her he knows she lied. Marnie says that another girl came to her with the roofie story about Peter, and she pretended the story happened to her.
Wilde’s new theory
Wilde thinks someone on the reality show set up Peter to boost ratings. He and Rola are followed by FBI.
Hester helps him escape and Oren tells them that the gun that killed Henry was also used to kill Katherine Frole, an FBI agent. The FBI thinks Peter committed suicide. Oren and Hester tell Wilde he either needs to turn himself in or go on the run.
The vigilante animals meet and think Panther has been acting on his/her own. They agree to find out Panther’s identity: Katherine, the murdered FBI agent.
The FBI questions Wilde and asks why he visited Daniel in Las Vegas.
Chris deletes the entire vigilante website.
Hester and Wilde visit Jenn and Marnie, who admits she lied. Jenn says Peter found his birth family and didn’t want anything to do with them.
Wilde logs into all the DNA sites as Peter and finds another match.
The mystery killer strikes again!
The mystery killer shoots Marnie.
Chris contacts Wilde and tells him that Panther (Katherine) might have reached out to Peter and that someone in the group is also killing people, including Katherine.
Wilde meets with Vicky and Silas and they conclude that Silas and Peter and Wilde are actually half brothers. Wilde suggests to them that Peter faked the accusations but his siblings disagree.
Chris contacts Wilde with news that someone hired Henry McAdams to ruin Peter. Matthew calls to say he found a parent match to Peter on a DNA site.
They message the person who calls them back. They trace the call to Memphis, where Peters family lived when he was a baby.
Rola calls and tells Wilde to head to the Mandarin Oriental hotel. Big Bobbo, Peters rival on the reality show is there with Jenn. (Wilde reveals he had dropped a tracking device in Jenna’s purse.)
Wilde accuses Jenn of masterminding the cheating accusations and paying Henry to attack him online. Jenn says the show made her pick Peter.
Wilde heads downtown to meet his “father.” A woman named Danielle shows up saying she’s a retired police officer representing “RJ.”
Wilde tells her he thinks RJ is posing as someone else on DNA sites. Danielle tells him about a religious leader who raped female parishioners. The police put his DNA on databases to try to find his children.
Jenn calls Wilde to say Marnie is missing.
The Ending of The Match Explained
Wilde goes to see George, the guy who posed as FBI to question him. He is actually a US Marshal. Wilde infers out that his father Daniel must be in Witness Protection and asks if he can pass messages to him.
The mystery killer wants to kill Jenn, but gets caught by Wilde.
The mystery killer is unmasked!
It’s Vicky, Silas and Peter’s sister. Yes, she’s the killer, but is she Peter’s sister?
Wilde has figured out that Vicky is actually Peter’s mother. Vicky was raped by Pastor Paul and her family then pretended the baby was Vicky’s brother, not her son.
Peter and Vicky sent Peter’s cyber bullying case to the vigilante group. Katherine wanted to help and gave them Henry’s name, then Vicky killed him.
Wilde finally finds out why he was lost in the woods
Wilde gets contacted by Kissel who summons him to a meeting with his mother – Daniel Carter’s wife Sofia.
She tells a looooong story to explain how Wilde got abandoned in the woods: she got involved with a crime boss, also got pregnant by Daniel, then tried to leave the crime boss. (That did not go well.)
Finally, after Wilde was born, she decided to run away with Daniel and become an informant. But the crime boss found out and came after her.
She hid Wilde in the woods to keep him safe, but when she came back for him, he was gone. She looked for him, but eventually had to stop and go into witness protection. (This part of the story was a bit out-there for me.)
Silas and Peter are uncle and nephew. I don’t understand how Silas and Wilde are related. Or who Wilde is related to. Let’s discuss this in the comments.
Peter is alive. Wilde proposes to Laila. Silas sends Wilde a photo of some woman who is his (their?) mother. Confused!
Spoiler Discussion for The Match
Overall, I quite enjoyed this one. It was fast-paced and kept me guessing. All the secret babies and the animal vigilantes were a little wacky for me, but Harlan Coben can be like that.
Maybe I need to do more reading on DNA, but I was super confused by all the relationships:
Vicky is Peter’s mother. Peter’s father is Pastor Paul. Paul sexually abused Vicky and she became pregnant. Vicky’s parents pretended that the resulting baby (Peter) was theirs.
Silas, Vicky, and Kelly are full siblings (as far as we know) and Silas and Peter are uncle and nephew.
Wilde is the son of Daniel and Sofia Carter (probably not their real names, but okay.)
Wilde and Peter are second cousins (this is where I’m getting confused.)
I was very confused about the DNA/familial connection between Wilde and Silas, and between Wilde and Peter. Daniel comes up as a paternal match for Wilde. Then, when Peter initially contacted Wilde, he said they were connected “through their mothers.”
We learn that Vicky is Peter’s mother. Which of Wilde’s parents, Daniel or Sofia, is the connection to Silas? Silas says his father’s name was Phil. And Michele, in comments, says the Bennett siblings’ mother is Shirley.
Spoiler Discussion Theory on the DNA Connection Between Wilde and Silas (Thanks to Charlie!)
You should read all the comments for the full conversation, but Charlie suggests that Sofia is probably the younger sister of Silas and Vicky’s mother, Shirley.
YES, a possible solution. Charlie, you are the best!
So Silas, Vicky, and Wilde are cousins. But are they first cousins, second cousins, or cousins removed? Does the fact that Peter is both Silas’s half-brother and nephew mess up the generational stuff, Chinatown style?
Read further and you will get not one but TWO possible theories on the DNA matches between Silas and Wilde, and Peter and Wilde!
Here are my notes from the book on Vicky and Silas’ family:
Vicky and Silas lived outside of Memphis with their parents and then moved to Pennsylvania after Vicky gave birth to Peter at age 14 to 15. Their father, Phil, worked at Penn State.
We don’t know Sofia Carter’s real name because she had to change it for witness protection. Sofia tells Wilde her father was dead when she took up with “the vile man” (as she calls him over and and over).
As for the mystery photo that Silas finds in the basement, the book says it’s from a) the early 70s, b) of three girls at a wedding c) that Silas didn’t know who the girl in the green dress (Sofia) was.
(Edited: In comments, Nancy points out that their mom, Shirley, has dementia and is living in a care home, which is tragic for Shirley but convenient for the story, since they can’t ask her about the photo.) Thus, Shirley must either be a great deal older than Sofia, who is in her early 60s, or have some kind of early onset dementia.
Let’s talk about the ages of the characters:
Wilde is 40, so he would have been born in the early 1980s. Daniel Carter is 61 when he meets Wilde, so around 21 when Wilde was born.
I am assuming Sofia got pregnant with him around age 20 as well, so both she and Daniel would have been born in the early 1960s. So this means Sofia is young in the picture, like ten or twelve.
Maybe this photo depicts the wedding of Silas and Vicky’s parents, Phil and Shirley? If Shirley is getting married, she must be 10-15 years older than Sofia. Hmmm….
Harlan Coben Addresses the DNA issue on Twitter!!!
Edited on May 23:
Okay, he doesn’t reference us directly but I’d like to think he read this post. Here’s what he said:
Okay, so…
Does THEY means Peter and Wilde? Please, Harlan Coben. I know tweets are short, but some specificity would help us!!
I have just researched cousins removed all morning and I think I see what he’s getting at. I think a visual is going to work best so here goes:
Charlie’s Theory of the DNA Connection:
This was Charlie’s theory of the Wilde/Silas/Peter relationship based on the minimal information we had in the book:
Wilde is the “you” in our chart. We know his parents are Daniel and Sofia. We’re putting Sofia’s sister Shirley in the aunt category.
Silas, Vicky and Kelly are Shirley’s children. This we also know.
Peter is Vicky’s son and Shirley’s grandson. Also, not disputed.
In this theory, Shirley and Sofia are sisters.
But provided this chart is correct (because the first-second cousins vs cousins removed might be the most confusing thing I ever tried to understand) the diagram above does NOT reflect what Harlan Coben just tweeted about the characters being second cousins sharing a great-grandparent connection.
So let’s try something else:
Theory #2 Reflecting Harlan Coben’s Tweet:
This suggests an alternate scenario:
I think that this chart might better reflect Harlan Coben’s explanation. That would mean that Shirley and Sofia are not sisters, but perhaps that Shirley is Sofia’s aunt?
That would explain the age difference between Shirley and Sofia.
The facts of the book (Sofia’s age of early 60s and Shirley having dementia and being in a care home) do suggest a greater age difference between Sofia and Shirley than typical siblings.
Wilde would be first cousins once removed with Vicky and Silas, and second cousins with Peter, just as the tweet suggests.
Could this be the solution? Please feel free to disagree with me in comments but do NOT make me research cousin relationships anymore.
Am I monitoring Harlan Coben’s Twitter for further clarification? You bet I am!
Spoiler Discussion for The Match: my remaining questions:
Why doesn’t Silas recognize Sofia in the picture? Yes, the photo was from before he was born, but wouldn’t he still recognize her?
Will there be a Wilde book #3? Will the “vile man” show up in it? And will all this DNA finally be explained once and for all?
Thanks for reading this Spoiler Discussion for The Match
Want to see all my spoiler discussions? You can find them here. Also be sure to subscribe to my mystery and thriller newsletter
If you’re a Harlan Coben fan, please come check out my new post that looks at the April 2022 Netflix adaptation of Hold Tight. You can find my Page to Screen: Hold Tight post here! Why is Coben called “Harlana Cobena” in the credits? That is a lot easier to explain than DNA, though Hold Tight does have a bit of a scientific moment there too…
Finally, PLEASE leave a comment. Without my amazing commenters, I’d still be puzzling over that DNA stuff!
Several things that bothered me:
1. Unclear how Wilde and Peter are related – the DN A match is what brought them together. I think the proposed theories make sense but they are not clear from the book
2. No verdict from Hester’s case
3. How was Sophia held captive by the “ vile man” but met and became pregnant by Daniel?
4. Why was Wilde’s mother but not his father present at the meet when all was revealed?
I was disappointed that these were not wrapped up. Not up to Corbin’s usual standards.
Hello Kate!
1. I agree that the DNA was murky, but I think we figured it out (or Charlie did!)
2. Also agree it was odd to give so much detail on Hester’s case and then leave it hanging, but this is now a book series, so maybe that has something to do with it.
3. YES this was bothering me but I didn’t mention it. It didn’t make a lot of sense that she was so terrified of the “vile man” and he was so controlling and she was practically a captive and yet she was able and willing to sleep with Daniel and get pregnant.
4. I did wonder that too. And for a while I thought that Sofia was going to tell him that Daniel wasn’t his father and he was the son of the “vile man.” But if Daniel’s daughters submitted his DNA and got a match with Wilde, that can’t be the case.
#1 is the whole thing. It’s crazy that it’s never clear how they match. It’s the name of the book! Decent book, but that is inexcusable. 🙁
It makes sense that Sofia is the sister of Shirley Bennett, Vicky, Silas, and Kelly’s mom; however a sister to Shirley is never mentioned in this book!
That would, I think, make Wilde, Vicky, Silas and Kelly first cousins, and Wilde and Peter first cousins once removed. I certainly hope Harlan clarifies this in a third book!
Thank you Michele for contributing Shirley’s name, which I missed. I will add it to the explanation (with credit to you!)
First cousins once removed vs. second cousins confuses me so thanks for also sorting that out!
Thanks! I thought I’d missed something, but I hadn’t.
I feel as though Coben hasn’t wrapped up the story lines in this one to his normal excellent standards.
A lot of people seem to feel that way. Christine, who has read all the Cobens, agrees!
I’ve read all of Harlan’s books (excluding 2 & 3 in the Mickey B series)…as always anxiously awaited the arrival of The Match but when book was in hand I was actually disappointed it was about Wilde since “The Boy in the Woods” was my least favorite read by me of any Coben book. Now I can honestly say The Match is my totally least favorite Coben book ever. I’ve written up almost 2 pages of points and questions as to why the story was confusing and such a let down. I’m glad I found this website for it makes me feel like I am not alone in my feelings. (My husband got about 50 pages into the story, with me saying nothing to him, and he turned back into the library unfinished.) All these comments make such valid points and ask such good questions. I understand Coben does not plan on writing a third installment to Wilde’s story and if that is true, then shame on him! He really did go SyFy on The Match.
Christine – thanks so much for stopping by and sharing this information.
I hadn’t read BitW book one and found book #2 easy to follow, except for all these loose ends. I am shocked that there will be no third book, given the things that seem to have been left unresolved, like the mystery surrounding David and Wilde’s accident (did book one say anything about that?) and the whole DNA thing, Wilde’s family, the vile man, etc. etc.
I am planning to do a new feature called Read and Rank where we discuss ALL a mystery/thriller writer’s books and decide which ones we like best. I hope you will join us for the Coben feature. You can subscribe to my monthly Mystery and Thriller newsletter here OR in the box at the top of the page if you want to know who we are discussing. I think I am starting with Peter Swanson, coming soon!
Gosh you are just making my day! I loved your synopsis of The Match and then there are all the comments and discussion and I just love this! I am such a fan and I have signed up for your monthly newsletter! I cannot believe that The Boy from the Woods came out in 2020…I thought it was at least a few years ago that Harlan disappointed me with such a far-fetched storyline. Being I did not care that much for it I basically put most of the story out of my mind (this kid who raised himself in the woods–what bunk!–suddenly becomes a detective looking for a missing little girl!) but I do remember the car accident was brought up and Hester did visit where the car crashed but that was it…perhaps Harlan doesn’t know the answers to so many questions The Match has caused?! Oooh, I cannot wait for your new feature Read and Rank! (I’m also into chicklit!) Thanks for what you do and what fun it is for those of us who love to read!
I do love some chick lit, especially the thrilling kind! I read pretty widely, and in the past few years have found my way back to mysteries and thrillers. There are so few blogs/discussion options for thriller and mystery readers so I am very happy to find fellow readers to talk to, especially since books like that so much to figure out, debate and discuss (and in some cases, complain about).
Glad you might join us for a Read and Rank – I am excited about it – if anyone has authors to nominate, please let me know.
Authors to Nominate: Susan Hill, Catriona McPherson, Alex Gray, Louise Penny, Elly Griffiths, Lisa Jewell, Kate Atkinson, Dean Koontz just to name a few. Thank you!
Thanks for that!
Elizabeth George
I was SO obsessed by the Lynley books back in the day. Has she written anything besides that series?
Thank you. I kept thinking my brain was slowing down. I don’t usually have trouble following a book but this one actually gave me a mild headache. So glad I decided to search answers on my computer. Again, thank you for your insight.
Very pleased to find this website, I was very confused about how Wilde was related to Peter Bennett, but understand it better now.
Thanks, Carol. I hope you’ll come back. Would love to hear what you (and everybody) is reading now. You can tell me here, or find me on social media or just email me at yaromantics at gmail.
Charlie gets ALL the credit on figuring out the relationships. I was pretty confused but was able to check his theory against the clues. Thanks so much, Charlie!
Except.. that’s just a theory from Charlie, and not really supported by any of the actual writing. From a DNA perspective, it makes sense, but there is nothing in the book to point to that!
For Pete’s sake, the name of the book is “The Match”. But, they never tell you how they match? Ridiculous.
I started googling, because I thought I’d missed something. Thank goodness for this discussion, so I now know I’m not losing it.. lol.
You’re right. It’s a theory that most people agree fit the facts in the book, but it takes some knowledge of genealogy and some thinking to get there. Glad you joined us and hope you’ll come back for another discussion!
See my last post: Harlan Coben just posted his answer
Thanks so much for this!
Thank you!! I was so confused by Silas and Wilde’s relationship! That theory makes a lot of sense. We need another Wilde book!
I completely agree, but another commenter above you said that there won’t be another one.
Side note: I used to have email notification of replies to your comments and I am trying to get that set up again, so I hope everyone will check back (or subscribe to my weekly or monthly newsletters here!)
So, I had a theory. What if Wilde’s mom Sofia is Vicky’s, and Silas younger sister ( Kelly Bennett) who is only mentioned by name in the book. And there isn’t much back story in her.
Hi Maria, you are right about there not being much backstory on Kelly, which is very interesting. Why put her in the book at all?
I agree we need to know more about Kelly, but I don’t think the genealogy link between Wilde and Silas works if Kelly is Wilde’s mother and Kelly is also a full sibling of Silas. I think for it to work as stated in the book, Silas and Wilde need to be second cousins (or cousins once removed). If Wilde’s mom is Kelly (Silas’s sister) then I think Wilde is Silas’s nephew and Silas is Wilde’s uncle.
DId he ever say if Hester won her case?
No, he did not! A commenter above you had a theory about this.
Did Hester win or lose the case?
The book doesn’t say!