At least in the Myron Bolitar series, Harlan Coben's stock-in-trade is slick, entertaining mysteries with broadly drawn characters, fast-moving plots, and large quantities of smartass dialogue. "Fade Away," the third installment in the series, offers all that . . . plus a surprisingly poigniant subplot about Myron coming to terms with his lost professional basketball career.

Myron, a college superstar and first-round draft pick, never played professionally. His knee was damaged in an on-court collision during a preseason game and never recovered. Now, nearly ten years later, he's hired by the owner of the New Jersey Dragons, whose star player (Myron's college rival both in sports and in love) has mysteriously disappeared. The mystery unfolds with Coben's usual verve, though readers looking for a conventional whodunnnit where it's actually possible to guess the solution ahead of the detective will probably be disappointed. Myron is in fine form, and the usual supporting cast (his friends Win and Esperenza, his NYPD nemesis, his girlfriend) make satisfying appearances along with a variety of new characters . . . including a veteran female sportswriter who bears a more than passing resemblance to Lesley Visscher. Though not overtly comic, the book has its share of funny moments, supplied mostly by the dialogue between Myron and his firends.

What sets the book apart, however, is the way Coben shows us the major characters--Myron, of course, but also Win, Esperenza, and various others--responding to Myron's belated chance at a pro career. Their reactions are believably varied and (gratifyingly) make Myron a seem a little less glib than he usually comes across. Solving the mystery turns out to bring Myron face-to-face with things he might have preferred not to know about himself, and although it's hard on him it's good for the book.