Harlan Coben’s new Netflix thriller hailed ‘hard to resist’ after all 8 episodes drop

Another New Year’s Day, another new Harlan Coben show on Netflix.

The January 1 drop of an adaptation of the writer’s twisty thrillers has become something of a tradition on the super-streamer, and the latest addition from Coben’s extensive portfolio is Run Away, based on his 2019 novel of the same name. 

The new eight-parter stars James Nesbitt – whose hangdog you’ll recognise from The Missing – as Simon Greene. Who is this generically-named man? Well, you’ll start to understand why they hired the star of The Missing for the part.

Simon and his wife Ingrid (Minnie Driver, fresh from a scene-stealing turn on Emily in Paris, so no stranger to Tudum) are in search of their daughter Paige, played by Ellie de Lange, who’s in the throes of drug addiction, with a boyfriend who’s moonlighting as her dealer.

Except, unlike The Missing, Paige has run away. Get it? Like the title of the show. Or…maybe Paige has been kidnapped after all?! It’s Harlan Coben, so quite literally anything within the realms of possibility is possible. 

It starts to look like Paige might just be a small cog in a larger, more nefarious-looking clock. 

To make matters even worse for Simon and Ingrid, they aren’t the only ones on the lookout for Paige. There’s also coppers Isaac Fagbenle (Alfred Enoch) and Elena Ravenscroft (Ruth Jones of Gavin and Stacey) on the case. 

What can go wrong? With the rate at which Coben fires off twists and turns, much. 

The show has racked up an 86% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with the Financial Times writing in their review: ‘The series twists and turns, often to the point of dizziness.

‘Yet it slides down easily, and the compulsion to stick around and see how it all slots together is hard to resist.’

The Evening Standard write-up noted that the show has some ‘gaping’ plot holes, but episodes move at such a pace you’re able to miss them. 

It was a similar take in Variety, writing: ‘Full of shocking twists and turns and gruesome violence, which are par for the course with all of Coben’s works.

‘The show is an entertaining maze from its opening scene until the close.’

Run Away is available to stream on Netflix.

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