Harlan Coben Reveals Which of His Novels Deserves an Adaptation Next: "I'm Really Anxious To Get Started"

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In over three years at Collider, senior author Jake has now penned over 2500 articles covering a wide range of TV and film for the resources, lists, utilities, news, and interview teams. Alongside interviewing stars such as Selin Hizli, Rose Ayling-Ellis, and Chelsea Peretti, Jake was lucky enough to visit the set of Aardman and Netflix's Wallace and Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl in 2024, getting the chance to chat with four-time Academy Award winner Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham. Jake has also worked for other publications, including Agents of Fandom.

The most famous crime writer today, Harlan Coben has carved out an impressive catalog of beloved novels packed with twists and turns that have inevitably caught the eye of the biggest TV producers. After making the move into television a decade ago with The Five, his work has now been adapted countless times and Coben has made a name for himself not just behind the pen but also behind some of our favorite crime TV series.

With a prolific production of mystery tales in his back pocket, Coben is now ready to try something new, as he makes the inevitable move into true crime. Harlan Coben's Final Twist lets the mystery author continue to expand his reach across the crime genre. Ahead of the series' debut, I spoke with Coben about the series, as we discussed his choice to move into true crime, how he balances such a busy schedule, and even the advice he was given by none other than Reese Witherspoon's mother.

True Crime is Even Stranger Than Anything Harlan Coben Could Write

"I was actually really thinking lately more about how truth is stranger than fiction."

COLLIDER: Given that your name is at the top of the crime genre, this move into true crime felt somewhat inevitable. But what made you make the move now, and why?

HARLAN COBEN: I’ve always been fascinated by true crime. It’s always something I’ve been influenced by. But I was actually really thinking lately more about how truth is stranger than fiction. These stories, especially what we’re covering in Final Twist, if I had written them as a novel or if I had made them into a Netflix TV series, I would’ve gotten eight million emails saying, “Oh, that can’t happen. That’s so unrealistic.” They would’ve thrown the book out the window at me or hit me or something. But all these are true. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction, and you can’t get away with that with fiction, so I thought it’d be interesting. Fiction has to follow rules; Reality doesn’t. So I thought it’d be a really interesting way of telling stories. I got a really great documentary filmmaker who has won tons of awards. I thought together we could really make something interesting in the true crime space.

True crime is so popular and seems to be getting more so. From your particularly unique position, why do you think that is?

COBEN: In the same way crime is. Crime fascinates us. It tests our human condition. It tests how far we will go. One of the real interesting questions we try to ask in all the shows is, "What made that killer cross that line? What made them go too far?" And having the reality of it is I think really enticing. And the emotion is so raw and real. These are real people suffering real tragedies, and some of them want to have a voice, and it’s really important we’re able to give them that. The reason we called it Final Twist was because we tried telling the story in the same way that I try to do with the novels or TV shows, where you don’t really know where it’s going because, in reality, you don’t until that very, very final twist when you see who did the crime and what happened that day.

I saw the pilot episode, and it’s really—

COBEN: Isn’t it crazy?

It’s stranger than fiction. It’s an incredible story.

COBEN: Jake, you’ve probably seen some of my stuff; you’re a Collider guy. If I had written that and presented that as truth, people would say, “Oh c’mon people won’t fall for that.” I sort of smirk when people write me those things, because reality is always stranger. Of course, that could happen. Weirder things than I could write happen.

Being the Star of the Show Was a Strange Experience for Coben

"I’m still trying to figure out how much I enjoy it or not."

From the episode I saw, I was impressed that the show gave agency to the victims of the crime, as I believe true crime documentaries and shows often miss this. What was it like moving from a medium in which only small details are inspired by real life to one where the entire story is sensitive and has real-world consequences?

COBEN: They’re completely different. One I’m making up, I just sit in my room, and I make stuff up, and if it doesn’t work out, I can just change it around. With this, you want to be sensitive to what’s going on, and it has to be the truth. You can’t make it up and say, “We want a twist at the 25-page mark,” that’s too bad, there’s not a twist there. It has to follow reality. And that presents challenges, and what makes this interesting, it’s more of a documentary style, but trying to tell it in a very powerful and gripping way that honors and respects the victims, and asks the questions a lot of them are asking, as you’ll see in different episodes, where the families are still asking these questions. They’re still looking for some kind of closure. And I hope one of the things these shows will do is bring that to them.

How involved in the production of this series were you?

COBEN: I’m certainly involved, working closely with a guy named Jeff Zimbalist, who is one of the top documentary filmmakers in the world. He makes really good quality material, and that’s what we wanted to aim for here in one hour of televised time. To be able to tell this sort of complicated story. Getting the emotion, getting the twists and turns, and, not only seeing the human condition, but people also have really wrong ideas about how law enforcement — I think from TV shows, although hopefully not mine, because mine aren’t great — but we have this idea that they find a little something under a microscope, and they find out who the killer is. This show is going to show you how our legal system, our justice system, and how our law enforcement works. It’s quite flawed, quite human. These people really do care.

Especially in that first episode. It seems they have so little to work with.

COBEN: Yeah.

Holt McCallany and Jonathan Groff show a crime scene photo to someone off-screen in Mindhunter.

Does the reality of law enforcement today surprise you?

COBEN: That doesn’t surprise me because I know it, but I will tell you, as someone who is pretty good at being able to pick up and see, because I’ve created plenty of them, twists and turns, these cases I had no idea… even as you’re going through it, and I was reading the cases as they were presented to me, I had no idea where they were going. I think that’s especially true of this first case with Billy and Billie, where you just can’t believe where it keeps going. And I obviously find that fascinating, and people will too. Hopefully, we’ll use a bit of critical thinking here when we’re online, social media, and that sort of thing, which can be a tremendously destructive force, which I think is another thing this episode dives into a little bit.

I know you have made small cameos in your work before, but what was it like being the face, front and center of a show?

COBEN: It was really strange. I’m still trying to figure out how much I enjoy it or not, but it’s weird after all of these years. First we’re on set, and they were calling for the talent, and I’m sitting there like, “Oh, wait. They’re talking about me.” I have to go out now and do something, and usually I’m the one lagging behind. So it was very, very different to get in front of the camera. I hope everybody will be kind; it’s my first time. Trying to lead you in this investigation is hopefully one of the things that hopefully, Final Twist will do differently than other crime shows.

Coben Reveals Which of His Novels He'd Love to Adapt Next

"I have a tremendous passion for Final Twist. I really can’t wait for people to watch it and experience it."

Not only do you have this true crime series debuting, but Run Away has just been released and is already proving really popular. What’s it like balancing so many projects at once?

COBEN: It’s funny. I was just on the road with Reese Witherspoon for a book tour, and Reese is a pretty busy person too, and we were quoting Reese’s mom, who says, “If you want something done, ask a busy person.” It seems to me the more I get thrown on my plate, the busier I get, the more I’m able to focus. I have a tremendous passion for Final Twist. I really can’t wait for people to watch it and experience it, and hopefully be deeply moved by the story of Billy and Billie and the other stories that we have. I also don’t know what else I’d do with myself if I didn’t. I’m thrilled to have Run Away out all over the world right now, and I know it’s number 1 there in the U.K. and in the U.S., which is a big surprise to us. People are really embracing this show, with James Nesbitt back, and Minnie Driver, and Ruth Jones, and Alfred Enoch. It was just an honor and a privilege to make it, and the fact that people are binging it so quickly is very satisfying.

I’ve already binged it myself! It was a great New Year’s Day activity.

COBEN: [Laughs] Oh, great. I appreciate that, thank you!

'Run Away' Review: Harlan Coben's New Netflix Thriller Is a 'Bosch' Replacement That Needs More Grit

A father's desperate search for his runaway daughter uncovers a sinister web of secrets and betrayal.

With the release of Lazarus and now this true crime move, you seem to be really expanding your horizons. What else in the TV world would you love to do that you haven’t yet?

COBEN: I don’t know. I always say “never,” and then I end up doing things. I said I’d never collaborate on a novel and then I did it with Reese Witherspoon. I really just want to make better and better shows in terms of the TV world. Longer and shorter stories, I want to work with other writers, and actors, and creators. I want to do some material that’s not strictly my own as well. I’d love to help some other novels get adapted that haven’t seen the light of day. We’ve just finished filming the next Netflix American show, which is called I Will Find You, with Sam Worthington from Avatar, Britt Lower from Severance, and Milo Ventimiglia from This is Us as our three leads. That’ll be the next project that’s coming out.

You’ve had a lot of your novels now adapted into television. Which of your novels not yet adapted would you love to be, and, if you could pick any crime literature that wasn’t your own to be adapted into TV or film, what would you pick?

COBEN: Let’s start with the first one. I think the novel that hasn’t yet been adapted that I’m really anxious to get started… well, there’s two. I’ll cheat. I’ll say Six Years, which is sort of a love story and a thriller built into one, and The Boy From the Woods. Those are the adaptations I’d love to work on next. I’m afraid to answer the second one, because I have so many friends who are writing great novels, and they’ll all get angry at me that I didn’t pick theirs. But I’ve always loved Lawrence Block’s Matthew Scudder series, which I kind of grew up on, and I’d love to update that maybe and bring something by Lawrence Block back.

Starting Tuesday, January 13, Harlan Coben's Final Twist will air on Tuesdays at 8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT in CBS.