Harlan Coben on imposter syndrome and why only bad writers think they are good

Casey Cooper-FiskeSun, October 25, 2026 at 3:35 PM UTC

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The author Harlan Coben has admitted to experiencing "imposter syndrome", despite a prolific career behind popular book series including Myron Bolitar.

The 64-year-old writer, whose works such as The Stranger, Fool Me Once and Safe have been brought to the screen by Netflix, suggested self-belief is a quality found exclusively in poor writers.

Speaking to Lauren Laverne on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, he said: "I actually think only bad writers think they’re good.

"We all have a little bit of that imposter syndrome, and what’s interesting is it sounds like a paradox, but it’s not.

"Because on the one hand, I’m always like, ‘I suck, I’m terrible, I hate this’, but at the exact same time I have the hubris to think ‘you’re going to spend 20 pounds, and you’re going to spend five or six hours reading it, or listening to it on audio, and you should’.

"And those seem to be a complete contradiction, but they’re not inside of a writer."

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Rather than categorising his stories strictly as crime or thrillers, he prefers to call his work "the novel of immersion rather than crime or thriller".

Harlan Coben has written his first non-fiction book: a memoir-meets-writing manual ((Pip Cowley/PA))

He explained: "I want my novel to be the one you take to bed tonight, it’s 11 o’clock, ‘I’m just going to read for 10 minutes’, and the next thing you know, it’s four in the morning, and you’ve been reading.

"And I love that feeling as a reader, and I love to give that feeling as a writer."

His music selections for the broadcast included Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road, Ain’t Nobody by Rufus And Chaka Khan, and Teddy Swims’ The Door.

Coben’s book The Woods will be the latest to be adapted by Netflix next year, featuring former Coronation Street actor Michelle Keegan.

The broadcast can be heard in full on BBC iPlayer.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”