Harlan Coben is an American crime and mystery writer born in 1962 in Newark, New Jersey. After his first novel was published when he was only 26, Coben enjoyed great success and recognition for this and the rest of his gripping mysteries that followed. He first appeared on the New York Times Best Seller List for his 2001 thriller Tell No One, while in 2008 he topped the list with his new project Hold Tight. With 32 individual novels, two anthologies and a picture book to his name, Coben has clearly revelled in the literary world, but has also been the driving force behind many successful TV endeavours. While a few of Coben’s earlier novels have simply been adapted for the television screen, Coben himself has ventured into the creation of television shows, without a novel being the basis. This is often a natural progression for successful authors, and nothing unusual. Nonetheless, there is a curious and noticeable pattern that occurs in all of Coben’s television projects. The setting. While all Coben’s novels are set in and around New York and New Jersey, none of his television ventures are centered around an American location. In fact, all TV projects in which he has creator or executive producer credits have British settings. This observation may not be groundbreaking journalism, however, it is intriguing that an American novelist with novels set in America, should have TV series with recognisably British settings and British actors.
Coben’s most recent TV smash hit comes in the form of Netflix series The Stranger. With a 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes the series has enjoyed rave reviews and a stable position in the UK top 10 on Netflix. Coben has creator credits on The Stranger, and the series is based on his 2015 novel, also titled The Stranger. This is interesting as the original novel is set in New York, but the television adaptation is set in the north of England. Furthermore, Coben’s first collaboration with Netflix was the eight part series Safe, which is set in an English gated community. Although none of Coben’s novels inspired Safe, as creator, he would have been involved heavily in the initial collation of ideas, specifically the setting. Finally, Coben’s first venture into television was the 2016 mini-series The Five. Once again, this was not based on a specific Coben novel, but, you guessed it, has a British setting.
Now that the facts are established, it’s undeniable that there is a recurring theme in Coben’s TV ventures, but the question is: what changes? Why do his novels still require an American setting, yet his TV projects do not? Now, you could argue that a large portion of his novels are continuations. His Myron and Mickey Bolitar series feature recurring central characters and themes, so in this case he is tied to a single corresponding setting. However, Coben also has 18 standalone novels, and still, none of these feature anything but a New York or New Jersey setting. So why are Harlan Coben adaptations and TV creations made to be relatable to a British audience?
The answer could lie in an interview Coben did with Loaded in 2016 while on the publicity trailblaze for The Five. In the interview Coben admits that for some time he enjoyed the simplicity of exchanging a sizable cheque for the rights to his book, and that he was consistently promised that movie and TV adaptations would continue to flow. Yet, the only successful adaptation was Tell No One, adapted into the French blockbuster ‘Ne le dis à personne’. Despite a number of promises from Hollywood, Coben recalled a stream of attempts at film adaptations that either never got off the ground or were so poorly made he had to put a stop to them. It was at this point he decided he wanted to bypass Hollywood and venture into creating stories for screens himself. Creating TV series rather than writing movies allowed Coben to extend the stories he couldn’t fit into books, avoiding the need to condense them to an hour and forty minutes. However, in the interview Coben remained very nonchalant about the decision to set The Five in England.
To conclude, we may never know the reason for Coben’s change in settings between his literary and TV universes. However, I would like to think that Coben’s frustration at Hollywood’s failure to transform one of his books into a blockbuster film led him to take matters into his own hands, and as an homage to Hollywood’s failure, he made them British TV series to contrast the giant American films they almost were. If this were true, it is safe to say, the success he has received would be revenge enough. Nonetheless, it is undeniable that Coben has an incredible talent for writing, whether it be for page or screen, and his stories can be enjoyed by all, no matter what form they come in.
By TILLY O’DONNELL
