Best-selling author Harlan Coben has provided ample material for Netflix’s original series library.
The crime and thriller novelist has written 35 novels, with 12 having been adapted for film and television. Currently, Coben has a deal with Netflix to pump out these heaters for years to come.
With his latest adaptation, Harlan Coben’s Lazarus, already topping the charts, Watch With Us is ranking the five best Coben shows on his home streamer.
Read on to see if your faves made the cut!
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5. ‘Safe’ (2018)
Safe stars Dexter’s Michael C. Hall as Tom, a widowed surgeon struggling to raise his two daughters by himself. However, things otherwise seem to be going well for the family, who live in a luxurious gated community and rely on help from friends and neighbors — plus, Tom has begun seeing a lovely police detective. But everything falls apart when Tom’s eldest daughter and her boyfriend go missing. He enlists the help of his new girlfriend, but falls down a rabbit hole surrounding secrets hidden in his wealthy neighborhood.
While Hall was skewered for his interpretation of a British accent, Safe received largely positive reviews from critics who praised the series’ characters, cliff-hangers, and the intrigue of the overarching mystery. While heavily reliant on formula, Safe is excels as a pulpy mystery-thriller with high entertainment value, but it’s also a fascinating look at a grieving parent and its effect on his community.
4. ‘Fool Me Once’ (2024)
Former military pilot Maya Burkett (Michelle Keegan) is still reeling from the murder of her husband. But after installing a nanny cam in her young daughter’s room, who should appear on the footage one night but her supposedly deceased husband, Joe (Richard Armitage). The discovery leads Maya to unravel a tapestry of lies and secrets, both linked to Joe’s rich family and the company they own, and also the prior death of her sister, Claire. The man Maya thought she loved was, in the end, perhaps a man she didn’t know.
Heavy on the twists and turns, Fool Me Once is a rollercoaster ride of a British thriller series with fantastic performances from Keegan, in addition to Joanna Lumley as Joe’s mother, Judith Burkett. It received one of the largest debuts ever for Netflix during its first week, and for good reason. The narrative is captivating and keeps you guessing, so you won’t be able to stop watching until it’s already over.
3. ‘The Stranger’ (2020)
Adam Price (Richard Armitage) is a loving husband and father, and he is the first person in The Stranger to be approached by a mysterious woman wearing a baseball cap (Hannah John-Kamen). The woman discloses a secret to him, and soon after his wife, Corinne (Dervla Kirwan), disappears. It is progressively revealed throughout the series that The Stranger harbors more secrets, and Adam is soon sent on a journey to untangle the web of lies surrounding those closest to him.
Critics and viewers praised The Stranger for its supremely engaging, suspense-filled plot, and at only eight episodes, the series is more than binge-worthy. With high emotional stakes and an increasing sense of danger, it will be impossible to stop watching. While perhaps a little on the ridiculous side, The Stranger is adept at doling out its secrets only when it absolutely must, and it’s all masterfully performed by its talented cast.
2. ‘Stay Close’ (2021)
A suburban mom of three hiding her shady past is set to marry the man of her dreams; a once-promising photographer was forever changed by losing the woman he loved; and a detective continues to be haunted by a cold case from many years ago. These three stories intertwine and overlap in Stay Close, in the aftermath of a tragic event — the disappearance of one of the key players from the detective’s cold case — and things get even more complicated with the appearance of two psychopaths with their own suspicious agenda.
Stay Close has superb acting, twists you won’t see coming and patient, careful plotting, even if you find the writing to be a little frustrating at times. But the series is adept at keeping viewers on their toes and keeping the “Next Episode” button queued up. Stay Close is a little trashy, but it’s more like “prestige trash,” and it earns that moniker in all the best ways. It helps that the characters are also well crafted, their stories empathetic, giving them plenty of depth and complexity.
1. ‘The Innocent’ (2021)
This Spanish series centers on Mateo (Mario Casas), who attempts to start anew with his wife, Olivia (Aura Garrido), nearly a decade after getting into a fight and accidentally killing a man. Now, nine years later, Mateo’s plans to begin again are thwarted when he receives a phone call that changes everything, and he is suddenly sent down a dark hole of murder, intrigue and secrets hidden in both his and his wife’s pasts. Mateo is thus forced to confront the life he thought he left in the rearview as he descends into this new mystery.
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This adaptation of The Innocent retains all the elements that made the novel a best-selling hit, and in turn, it becomes the best, most well-acted and well-written of the Harlan Coben Netflix series. The complex and suspenseful plot, skillful writing and character depth make The Innocent not just good entertainment value, but genuine prestige television. The Innocent is a gripping psychological thriller that completes itself with some genuinely haunting performances.
