.png){kind=logo}
MovieStillsDB
Cher Thompson is a Senior Staff Writer at Screen Rant, where she covers everything from explosive reality TV moments to cast interviews about the twists and turns of scripted dramas. With a background in creative writing, marketing, and teaching, Cher knows how to spot both the storytelling genius and the guilty pleasures in pop culture. Her work blends wit with insight, making readers feel like they’re chatting with a friend who just happens to know way too much about TV.
Sign in to your ScreenRant account
Netflix’s Run Away, the most recent Harlan Coben adaptation on the streaming platform, has been another page-to-screen success, leaving viewers looking for more shows like the recent release. Another strong entry in Netflix’s expanding roster of crime thrillers, Run Away is one of many Coben adaptations that the platform has made over the last ten years, positioning themselves as crime thriller connoisseurs.
Run Away follows a father, Simon Green (James Nesbitt), whose life is upended when his teenage daughter mysteriously disappears, prompting him to uncover buried secrets and confront a world of deception that stretches far beyond his own family. The mystery unfolds with emotional stakes and unpredictable twists, embodying what many viewers crave in a crime thriller: a compelling central mystery.
While Run Away is a juicy mystery, the series follows the novel in building morally complex characters, and creates enough narrative misdirection to keep suspense high without losing sight of emotional truth. Like most Coben stories, Run Away is anchored by a protagonist driven by desperation and love, navigating a tangled web where every revelation raises deeper questions about trust, identity, and blame.
A good crime thriller balances procedural intrigue with character-driven drama, often placing ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Viewers want puzzles they can ponder, suspects they can question, and motivations they can second-guess. Ideally, they want all of these elements working together while they root for characters whose flaws make them feel real. A good crime thriller sparks discussion and long-term engagement in ways that casual dramas rarely achieve.
Streaming services have been particularly adept at capitalizing on high-quality thrillers because they offer the freedom to tell layered, serialized stories without the constraints of traditional broadcast schedules. With limited series, streaming platforms have been able to adapt novels faithfully and allow intricate plotlines room to breathe. At the same time, they can also create original thrillers that feel cinematic without sacrificing nuance or character development.
Whether adapted from books or conceived as original screen mysteries, many streaming crime thrillers often push genre boundaries, blending suspense with personal stakes in ways that feel fresh and emotionally resonant. As audiences increasingly seek storytelling that rewards close attention and long-term investment, shows like Run Away demonstrate why the crime thriller remains one of the most compelling forms of entertainment on TV.
10 Missing You
A contemporary mystery series also adapted from a Coben novel, Missing You follows characters searching for answers after another mysterious disappearance. When Detective Kat Donovan (Rosalind Eleazar) sees her fiancé on a dating app, she goes into investigation mode considering he disappeared over a decade prior. With an intense sweeping mystery that also stars Richard Armitage, who appears in several Coben mysteries, Missing You is an intense binge-watch.
Release Date 2025 - 2025-00-00
Network Netflix
Directors Sean Spencer
Writers Victoria Asare=Archer
-
Rosalind Eleazar
Kat Donovan
9 The Perfect Couple
Another page-to-screen adaptation, The Perfect Couple stems from the novel of the same name by Elin Hilderbrand, which quickly became a bestseller. The Netflix miniseries based on the novel stars Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber as the mysterious couple at the center of a larger family mystery. Set on Nantucket, the mystery unfolds as a lavish wedding is disrupted by a sudden death.
Entwining a sense of intrigue with interpersonal drama, The Perfect Couple explores secrets among wealthy families and those who find themselves outside the circle of the drama. Like Run Away, The Perfect Couple uses a suspenseful setup and a series of slow-burn revelations to pull viewers deeper into the story, combining complex characters with fascinating hooks.
-
-
Dakota Fanning
Abby Winbury
8 Safe
Safe, another Coben adaptation, stars Michael C. Hall as Tom Delaney, a widowed surgeon searching desperately for his missing teenage daughter. After a party, Delaney's daughter disappears without a trace, triggering a series of events that bring a whole new sense of understanding to his life as he knows it.
As he pursues clues amid lies and cover-ups, Delaney continues to dig into the affluent community he's come to call home. With multiple storylines intertwining, Safe feels similar to Run Away in the way it uses a suburban backdrop to draw out the mystery. Safe unravels personal secrets, leveraging suspense and emotional investment to keep audiences hooked.
Release Date 2018 - 2018-00-00
7 Bloodline
Netflix’s Bloodline tells the story of a family whose dark past begins to surface when their black-sheep brother, played by Ben Mendelsohn, returns home. When Danny Rayburn (Mendelsohn) comes home for what’s meant to be a family celebration, his dark past with his siblings John Rayburn (Kyle Chandler), Meg Rayburn (Linda Cardellini) and Kevin Rayburn (Norbert Leo Butz) comes to light.
Set in the Florida Keys, the series blends family drama and a slow-burning mystery that spans across its three seasons. Bursting with criminal intrigue, deception, and betrayal, Bloodline thrives on character complexity and layered secrets that are slowly uncovered throughout the show’s run. It’s slow unraveling of long-buried truths and the tension between the family make it similar to Run Away.
Release Date 2015 - 2017-00-00
Network Netflix
Writers Arthur Phillips, Bill Cain, Lizzie Mickery, Addison McQuigg, Ashlin Halfnight, Lucas Jansen, Barry Pullman, Melanie Hoopes, Dani Vetere
-
Kyle Chandler
John Rayburn
-
6 The Innocent
Netflix2021’s The Innocent is a mystery thriller miniseries adapted from a Harlan Coben novel. Following Mateo (Mario Casas) as he tries to restart his life with his wife after a tragic accidental killing, his past unexpectedly resurfaces and leads him into a new web of secrets and danger.
The Innocent balances suspense with personal redemption arcs and dark twists, using a premise rooted in unexpected consequences to explore the ripple effects of past actions. The series draws viewers in with twists that continuously reframe what they think they know about the characters and their sins.
Release Date 2021 - 2021-00-00
Network Netflix
Writers Jordi Vallejo
-
-
-
Alexandra Jiménez
Lorena Ortiz
-
5 The Survivors
The Survivors is an Australian murder mystery miniseries, adapted from Jane Harper’s novel, following Kieran Elliott as he returns to a seaside town haunted by a past tragedy. Fifteen years after a deadly storm and unsolved disappearances, a new death ignites long-buried secrets and reignites community tensions. The series blends emotional trauma with investigative suspense, much like Run Away, where personal history and unresolved mysteries collide.
The Survivors uses layered storytelling and character motives to deepen intrigue, making it compelling for fans of slow-burn thrillers that reward audiences with emotional depth alongside murder mysteries. Much like Coben adaptations, the slow-burning story allows viewers to lock in with the show’s mystery.
Release Date 2025 - 2025-00-00
Network Netflix
-
-
Miriama Smith
Detective Senior Sergeant Sue Pendlebury
4 The Stranger
Another Coben adaptation, The Stranger takes an intriguing mystery from the page and brings it into a limited series format. The Stranger is about a mysterious figure who reveals devastating secrets to seemingly ordinary people. When the Stranger (Hannah John-Kamen) tells Adam Price (Richard Armitage) a secret about his wife’s life, his reality unravels into disappearance and deeper conspiracy.
The series hinges on how one revelation can cascade into life-altering events in the way Run Away does, combining character-driven tension with mystery. Its layered plot and multiple interconnected revelations keep the suspense high as personal and communal secrets come to light.
Release Date 2020 - 2020-00-00
Network Quibi
-
-
-
-
Roxana Brusso
Captain Vasquez
3 The Beast In Me
Courtesy of NetflixA recent Netflix hit, The Beast In Me stars Matthew Rhys and Claire Danes in a psychological crime thriller where a famous author becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, especially since he’s suspected of having killed his wife. The Beast In Me explores suspicion, truth and manipulation as the main character digs deeper into possible hidden violence.
Like Run Away, the show interweaves mystery with character psychology, using tension between appearances and reality to sustain intrigue. Its focus on unraveling secrets within personal relationships anchors its suspense, appealing to viewers who enjoy character-based thrillers where multiple layers of truth are revealed over time.
Release Date 2025 - 2025-00-00
Network Netflix
2 Fool Me Once
Another Coben adaptation, Fool Me Once is based on the bestselling novel that tells a story of murder and conspiracy. When a woman sees her supposedly murdered husband alive on a nanny-cam, she begins to dig into a deeper conspiracy. Featuring Michelle Keegan as Maya Stern, the series combines grief, mystery, and shocking revelations as she unravels disturbing possibilities about what really happened.
Fool Me Once transforms personal loss and uncertainty into a compelling crime puzzle, maintaining suspense and emotional complexity throughout. Its slow-burn unraveling of clues and personal stakes makes it just like Run Away, appealing to fans of adaptation-based thrillers with twists and high emotional stakes.
Release Date 2024 - 2024-00-00
Showrunner Danny Brocklehurst
Directors David Moore, Nimer Rashed
-
Michelle Keegan
Maya Stern
-
-
Richard Armitage
Joe Burkett
-
Joanna Lumley
Judith Burkett
1 Adolescence
Netflix’s limited series Adolescence focuses on the aftermath of a teenager’s arrest for murder, exploring how the community and family grapple with guilt, blame, and identity. Shot in intense long-take episodes, the drama focuses on emotional and procedural impacts of the crime.
While more character drama than a typical thriller, its exploration of mystery, consequences and social unraveling mirrors Run Away’s ability to intertwine mystery with deep emotional storytelling. Its acclaim and thematic focus on hidden truths and ambiguous morality make it appealing for viewers who like thought-provoking, character-focused mysteries.
Release Date March 13, 2025
Network Netflix
Directors Philip Barantini
English (US) ·