Five Harlan Coben shows to watch on Netflix if you loved ‘Run Away’
The thing about Harlan Coben adaptations on Netflix is that you can never really stop at one. Subsequently, if the recently released Run Away left you craving for more, we totally get it.
The good part about this yearning is that Netflix has just what you want. In fact, more than what you want.
Coben’s partnership with Netflix has been set in stone for years now. And the collaboration has been fulfilling for the audience in more ways than one.
So, in case you still have room for more secrets and mysteries to unfold, here are five Coben shows to watch on Netflix to beat the blues you’ve been feeling after the completion of Run Away.
Five Harlan Coben shows to watch on Netflix if you loved Run Away
The Woods (Leszek Dawid and Bartosz Konopka, 2020)
Everybody loves a Harlan Coben mystery that makes them race against time, and The Woods on Netflix is certainly one to give you a run for your money. The Polish mystery thriller, adapted from Coben’s 2007 novel of the same name, unfolds in two different timelines: August 1994 and September 2019.
The Woods begins in 2019 when Warsaw prosecutor Pawel Kopinski is summoned to identify a murder victim, whose body was discovered under mysterious circumstances, attached with newspaper clippings of him. But the present-day crime appears to have links to the far-flung ghosts of his past, precisely to the 1994 summer camp where Pawel served as a chaperone, where two people were killed and two, including his sister, disappeared into thin air.
The Stranger (Daniel O’Hara and Hannah Quinn, 2020)
Secrets can make or break lives. And if we have learned anything from Harlan Coben’s mystery novels, secrets are always at the centre of every mystery. The Stranger on Netflix, adapted from Coben’s 2015 novel, centres on an enigmatic woman in her 20s, always wearing a baseball cap, who, one fine day, approaches Adam Price to tell him a secret.
In the aftermath of her divulgence, Adam’s wife goes missing out of the blue, leaving the husband on a hunt for answers. But as The Stranger progresses, we learn that Adam is not the only target of this secret-sprinkling entity. More people within the community have connections to this stranger, and with that, there are more secrets awaiting disclosure.
Stay Close (Daniel O’Hara, 2021)
The more you run from the past, the more it tends to catch up with you, and all of that stands true for the characters at the centre of Stay Close, the Netflix mystery series based on Harlan Coben’s 2012 novel. The eight-episode series is set in the fictional suburb of Livingstone, and it follows not one but three people – suburban mom Megan, Detective Broome, and paparazzi Ray.
Although they seemingly have nothing in common, when a new disappearance takes place in the neighbourhood, echoing a cold case from 17 years ago, each of their pasts begins to haunt them. Not only do the happenings force them to confront the dark secrets they had been hiding from all this time, but with it, the case unpacks a complex cobweb of deception and a murder spree.
Just One Look (Marek Lechki and Monika Filipowicz, 2025)
Disappearances aren’t new in Harlan Coben mysteries. But the one at the crux of Just One Look is definitely not ordinary. Adapted from Coben’s 2004 novel, the six-episode thriller tells the story of a Polish woman, Greta, a jewellery designer, who comes across an old picture in a school picture album for her children, only to discover one showing her husband with unfamiliar faces, with one of them marked out quite violently.
Soon after, Greta’s husband, Jacek, disappears without any clues left behind. But it doesn’t take long for Greta to realise that Jacek has probably been abducted as she receives alarming threats against her children. While Just One Look primarily revolves around this pulsating investigation, the deeper she digs, the more she’s forced to confront things from Jacek’s past that collide with her own traumas, ultimately breaking down the façade of the happily married life she thought she had.
The Innocent (Oriol Paulo, 2021)
To end the Harlan Coben mystery marathon on Netflix, we’ve reserved the best for last: The Innocent. The Spanish mystery thriller, adapted from Coben’s 2005 novel, follows Mateo Vidal, who accidentally causes a man’s death, ultimately serving prison time, and later, starting his life anew with his wife, Olivia.
But one fine day, a mysterious phone call causes his married life to come crashing down, unravelling a complex cobweb of conspiracy, ridden with secrets from the past. However, it turns out that Mateo’s tragic past is not the only thing hovering like dark clouds over their heads; someone close to him might not be just as innocent as it seems.