For more than three decades now, Harlan Coben has held readers captive with his mystery and thriller novels — twisty tales of suburban families undone by long-buried family secrets, mysterious disappearances, suspicious reappearances, and threats from strangers who know too much.
And lately, Coben has been expanding his empire to television, both with series he created for the medium — e.g. Safe and The Five — and those adapted from his novels for markets around the world.
In 2018, Coben signed a multi-million-dollar, five-year deal with Netflix to turn 14 of his books into movies and TV shows for the streaming platform. He and Netflix extended the deal last year, adding four more years and a dozen more titles to the original agreement, according to Deadline.
And now, Coben has a new show on Prime Video, Shelter (episodes drop Fridays through September 22), in which Jaden Michael, Adrian Greensmith, and Abby Corrigan play teens investigating the possible abduction of a classmate. Scroll down to learn more about that show’s source material and many other Coben stories that have hit the small screen.
No Second Chance
In this 2003 novel, a doctor is shot, his wife is murdered, and his daughter is kidnapped… and all the doc has to piece his life back together is a ransom note. Une chance de trop, a miniseries based on the book, aired on France’s TF1 in 2015, with Alexandra Lamy starring as the gender-swapped protagonist.
Just One Look
As this 2004 novel starts, Grace Lawson finds a decades-old family photo with a man who looks just like her husband, and though her husband denies it’s him in the picture, he vanishes that night. TF1 turned that story into the miniseries Juste un regard, which aired in 2017 and starred Virginie Ledoyen in the lead role.
The Stranger
Adam Price, the protagonist of this 2015 book, has his comfortable life turned upside down when a stranger tells him a devastating secret about his wife, who soon goes missing. Netflix produced a screen version in 2020, shifting the action from the U.S. to the U.K. and casting Richard Armitage as Adam and Siobhán Finneran as a detective sergeant on the case.
The Woods
Two decades after his sister and three other teenagers went missing at a summer camp, prosecutor Paul Copeland’s world is rocked when a body is found in the woods. Netflix gave the 2007 novel a Poland-set adaptation, W głębi lasu, in 2020, with Grzegorz Damiecki playing prosecutor Pawel Kopinski.
The Innocent
Nine years after going to prison for an accidental murder, Matt Hunter is finally getting his life on track, getting ready to welcome a child and move into a new home with his wife. But one phone call upends those best-laid plans. This 2005 novel became the 2021 Netflix series El inocente, a Spanish production starring Mario Casas as Mateo Vidal.
Gone for Good
This 2002 novel follows Will Klein as he deals with the possible reappearance of his older brother, Ken, who disappeared years earlier after becoming the prime suspect in the murder of a young woman in the neighborhood. Netflix retold the story in the 2021 French miniseries Disparu à jamais, starring Finnegan Oldfield and Nailia Harzoune.
Stay Close
The past returns to haunt three people living lives they never wanted: Megan, a woman dissatisfied with her soccer-mom existence; Ray, a documentarian-turned-paparazzo; and Jack, a detective hung up on a years-old cold case. This 2012 book became a 2021 Netflix miniseries starring Cush Jumbo, Richard Armitage, and James Nesbitt.
Hold Tight
The 2022 Netflix series Zachowaj spokój, another Polish adaptation starring Damiecki, was based on Coben’s 2008 work Hold Tight. In that novel, Tia and Mike Baye install a spy program on their son Adam’s computer following the suicide of his classmate Spencer — while Spencer’s mom realizes Adam might be implicated.
Shelter
The latest Coben adaptation is a Prime Video series based on the author’s 2011 foray into YA literature, the first book in his Mickey Bolitar series and a spinoff of his adult-geared Myron Bolitar series. In the story, Myron’s nephew Mickey uncovers a conspiracy while searching for his missing girlfriend.
Harlan Coben’s Shelter, Fridays, Prime Video
