It’s been a full year since we had a new Harlan Coben Netflix show to watch, but that changed on New Year’s Day with the release of Missing You, which is currently the second-most popular Netflix show in the world behind Squid Game season 2.
Honestly, Netflix probably can’t make shows based on Coben’s book fast enough with how quickly fans binge-watch these shows. We fully expect Missing You to be a huge hit for the streamer.
As many fans finish up Missing You or just find out that it’s on Netflix and start watching, we wanted to take some time to share the other Harlan Coben Netflix shows to watch right now. There are nine of them now, and even more are on the way either later this year or next year.
Unfortunately, not all nine of the Harlan Coben Netflix shows are probably worth your time, so we also shared the shows you can probably skip, too.
Let’s get the list started with Missing You, which we’re definitely recommending you watch right now!
Missing You
Recommendation: Watch
As mentioned, Missing You just premiered on Jan. 1, 2025. The series is based on Coben’s 2014 novel of the same name and adapted for a British setting. Rosalind Eleazar stars as Kat Donovan, the head of the Missing Persons Unit. As Kat’s latest investigation leads to few leads, it turns into a doozy with many twists and turns and more missing people.
Richard Armitage, who appears in many shows of the Harlan Coben Netflixematic Universe, stars as Stagger, Kat’s frustrated and perhaps a little shady boss, who discourages Kat from discovering the truth about her past, her murdered father, and her ex-fiance, Josh (Ashley Walters) who disappeared without a trace 11 years ago. When Kat matches with Josh on a dating app, she starts to spiral.
I was so impressed with Eleazar in this series! She’s so good as Kat Donovan. There are so many scenes that she steals, even as the lead character.
Missing You is only five episodes, so you can watch this series in a weekend easily. And once you’re done, you watch the other good Netflix shows based on Coben’s stories.
Fool Me Once
Recommendation: Watch
Fool Me Once is absolutely a must-watch series for fans of Netflix’s Harlan Coben collection. The series premiered on Netflix on Jan. 1, 2024, so exactly one year before Missing You. It was a great time to drop this show because it quickly became one of the most popular Netflix shows of all time last year. In fact, it still ranks No. 8 on the all-time Netflix Top 10, one spot behind The Night Agent season 1 and one spot ahead of Stranger Things season 3. That’s how many people watched Fool Me Once!
The series tells the story of Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan), a wife and mother who is grieving after her sister and husband were murdered. Maya tries to move on, but when she sees her dead husband alive on her nanny cam, she tries to find him and get to the bottom of how he could be alive. Richard Armitage also stars in Fool Me Once as Maya’s husband, Joe.
Fool Me Once isn’t the perfect story, but Maya is a super compelling character. Once you start, you won’t be able to stop watching. You’ll have to find out how this mystery ends.
Hold Tight
Recommendation: Skip
Hold Tight is unfortunately the first skip on the list of Harlan Coben Netflix shows. Personally, it’s still watchable if you just need a new mystery or if you’re a die-hard Coben fan. Otherwise, the show just doesn’t quite live up to the hype of many of Coben’s shows.
Hold Tight is based on Coben’s 2008 novel of the same name. The Polish Netflix original series premiered on April 22, 2022, so the Harlan Coben craze hadn’t really started when the series premiered.
In the series, which is only six episodes, Magdalena Boczarska stars as Anna Barczyk, a mother who goes on a wild search for her daughter when she goes missing.
Missing kid shows just aren’t as good, to me, as some of the other compelling mystery shows, but there is one exception on the list.
Stay Close
Recommendation: Watch
Stay Close premiered on Netflix on Dec. 31, 2021. This is the show that kind of started the New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day drops for the new Netflix shows based on Coben’s books. And, Stay Close is a great one! It’s far-fetched and weird in a lot of ways, but in terms of twists and turns, Stay Close has it all!
The series stars Cush Jumbo as Megan, a mother and soon-to-be wife who becomes pulled into a new missing persons investigation when details from her past come into the present. After a man goes missing on New Year’s Eve, Detective Broome (James Nesbitt) tries to get to the bottom of the mystery, but he can’t shake something larger, bigger than this investigation, is going on.
Stay Close is definitely a must-watch if you haven’t seen it yet! It reminds me of Missing You in a few ways, including its tone. Both shows are serious, of course, but there are also some comedic beats. Oh, and Richard Armitage stars in this one, too!
The Innocent
Verdict: Watch
The Innocent is a Spanish original series based on Coben’s novel of the same name from 2005. The series is excellent, but it does deal with some very heavy issues and subjects. Viewer discretion is definitely advised in this one!
The Innocent tells the story of Mateo, played by Mario Casas, who serves time in prison for accidentally killing a person during an argument and fight. After getting out of prison, Mateo puts his life back together the only way he can. When his wife, Olivia (Aura Garrido), goes missing, Mateo does everything he can to try and find her. He learns that she’s been leading a double life for many years.
If you like suspenseful dramas and thrillers, The Innocent is a must-watch on Netflix. Mario Casas is also a great performer. He’s great in the Netflix original series.
Gone For Good
Recommendation: Skip
Gone for Good, on the other hand, is a skip for most Harlan Coben fans. Of course, you may want to watch this one if you’re a fan of the book or you just absolutely love these kinds of shows. If that’s you, okay, give it a watch. If not, move on to a different one of Coben’s Netflix shows!
Gone For Good premiered on Netflix on Aug. 13, 2022. The French Netflix original series is based on Coben’s novel of the same name published in 2002.
In the series, Finnegan Oldfield stars as Guillaume, a young man whose life begins to unravel when his girlfriend goes missing. Wounds from Guillaume’s past reopen as he tries to find out what happened to his girlfriend and find her before it’s too late.
The Stranger
Verdict: Watch
The Stranger is another great Harlan Coben Netflix show! It’s based on the novel of the same name by Coben and published in 2015. The Netflix series premiered on Jan. 30, 2020. Looking back, The Stranger is probably the show that started it all for Netflix and its partnership with Coben.
The Stranger stars Richard Armitage as Adam Price who has his world rocked and turned upside down when a mysterious stranger reveals intimate secrets about his wife, Corinne (Dervla Kirwan), who goes missing shortly after. As it turns out, Adam isn’t the only person this stranger has contacted. When law enforcement gets involved, not everyone is interested in finding Adam’s wife as they are interested in finding this mysterious secret-revealer.
The Stranger is one of the most addicting of Coben’s Netflix shows. Once you start watching, you’ll have to finish it! Luckily, The Stranger is one of the Harlan Coben Netflix shows with eight episodes, so you can savor it a little more.
Safe
Recommendation: Watch
Safe starring Michael C. Hall is probably the best of the Harlan Coben Netflix shows! The series premiered on May 10, 2018. It’s actually the one show on the list that’s not based on a book written by Coben. No, Coben actually teamed up with Danny Brocklehurst to create Safe. Even though it’s not based on a book of Coben’s, it is quintessential Coben!
In Safe, Hall stars as Tom Delaney, a widower who is trying to care for his two teen daughters after the death of their mother. When one of his daughters goes missing, Tom enlists the help of Sophie, a detective played by Amanda Abbington, to get to the bottom of the mystery and get his daughter back home safely.
Like The Stranger, Safe also consists of eight episodes, but I bet you’ll watch this series in two or three days. It’s that good!
The Woods
Recommendation: Skip
Last and actually least, we have The Woods, which is based on the novel of the same name by Coben. The Woods premiered on Netflix on June 12, 2020. It’s another Polish Netflix original series.
The Woods is definitely the most confusing of the Coben Netflix shows. It takes place in two timelines, which isn’t the most confusing thing I’ve seen on TV, but it doesn’t help when the structure of these shows withholds information to set up the twists and turns. The story revolves around a summer camp murder that happened decades earlier and a quest to connect the dots.
Unfortunately, The Woods just isn’t as good as the other Coben shows. As recommended for the other two SKIPs on the list, Hold Tight and Gone For Good, you should watch if you’re a huge fan of these shows. If not, you can skip them!
That’s the list of Harlan Coben Netflix shows to watch with a few exceptions. If I were you, I’d start with Missing You, the newest release, and then continue with the other shows from there! You’ll definitely be hooked.
We’ll share more news about the upcoming Netflix shows based on Coben’s books when we find out. Happy streaming, Cobetrotters!