Netflix is turning two more Harlan Coben novels into series as Fool Me Once proves a hit with viewers

Good news for Coben fans: Missing You and Run Away are the next two thrillers to get the Netflix treatment

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Fool Me Once, Netflix’s eighth adaptation of Harlan Coben’s blockbuster murder mysteries, has only been streaming since January 1, 2024 – but it’s doing so well thatNetflixhas announced that two more shows are going into production based on Coben’s books.Missing YouandRun Awaywill be the ninth and tenth on-screen adaptations from the Netflix/Coben partnership.

While reviews ofFool Me Oncehave been mixed – it’s sitting at 67% on Rotten Tomatoes with 46% from the audience – the series is the most watched show on thebest streaming servicethis week. Netflix says it amassed 61 million views globally in its first fortnight, rocketing into the Netflix top 10 in 91 different countries for the past two weeks.

What to expect from Missing You and Run Away

Missing You, which will begin filming in the UK early this year, is about a detective whose fiancé disappears without a trace. Eleven years later, she sees his face in a dating app and her world turns upside down. Oh, and also her father was murdered a long time ago. Could the two events be connected? That’s a rhetorical question.

Run Away,on the other hand, is about someone who, you’ve guessed it, runs away: the eldest daughter of Simon, who thought he had the perfect life until his daughter upped and left. When he finds her, “vulnerable and strung out on drugs in a city park”, his attempts to bring her home go badly wrong and escalate into shocking violence. Once again we’re into long-buried secrets, worlds turned upside down and families torn apart.

If that all sounds rather formulaic, it is a little bit – but as reviewers of both books pointed out, Harlan Coben is really, really good at this stuff: reviewingMissing You,Kirkus Reviewssaid that “the setup is irresistible, the twists generously piled on and the climax suitably pulse-pounding”.

Unfortunately the same site’s review ofRun Awaysays that in that one, “Coben overreaches: the far-flung complications feel forced and schematic rather than nightmarish.” But some of the best TV requires a certain suspension of disbelief – I’m watching Disney Plus’sCulpritsat the moment, which is very silly and one of themost enjoyable Disney Plus showsyou can stream – and forRun Away,writer Danny Brocklehurst is on the case, fresh from adaptingFool Me Once. So I wouldn’t suggest running away fromRun Awayjust yet.

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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir,Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock bandUnquiet Mind.

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