Making a killing

2023-04-10

Making a killing: The king of crime Harlan Coben on why grisly murder isn’t the key to his phenomenal success

New Jersey-born Harlan Coben opens up about being the ‘king’ of crime stories
He tells Weekend Magazine how he’s sold more than 80 million books
READ MORE: WHAT BOOK would thriller writer Harlan Coben take to a desert island?

Harlan Coben is the king of crime. He’s sold more than 80 million books, his TV dramas are worldwide hits and he has production companies clamouring for him to come up with more ideas. Interestingly though, he’s not a fan of killing people off. Even when people die in his thrillers, they don’t always stay dead.

In Safe, his first drama for Netflix, he focused on a missing teenager who turns up alive. His latest book I Will Find You follows a father whose son – who he’s been found guilty of murdering – may not be dead after all, while his next Netflix drama Fool Me Once is about a husband who’s meant to be dead but reappears on a baby monitor.

‘I find disappearance more interesting than murder because there’s hope in it,’ says New Jersey-born Harlan, 61. ‘Hope can take your heart, put wings on it and let it fly away, or it can crush your heart like an eggshell. That’s the dynamic I like.’

Filming started earlier this year in Manchester on Fool Me Once – his latest show to transpose an American story onto a British environment.

The show is made with It’s A Sin producer Nicola Schindler, who first convinced him that his stories could be retold over here. Their first project together, The Five in 2016, was set in Britain’s north-west and was a hit.

Harlan Coben (pictured) has sold more than 80 million books. His TV dramas are worldwide hits and he has production companies clamouring for him to come up with more ideas

The new show stars Joanna Lumley, Michelle Keegan and Richard Armitage, who’s become a fan favourite in the Coben world. This will be his third appearance in one of the dramas after Stay Close and The Stranger.

Joanna plays Michelle’s mother-in-law and Richard the husband who’s presumed dead.

‘Because each of Richard’s roles is different it works having him back,’ says Harlan. ‘We have a relationship I treasure. And I think people are going to be surprised by Joanna in this role, it’s a different one for her. She’s fantastic.’

Harlan’s TV dramas are strikingly different to other crime stories.

They’re often set in gated mansions and with an aspirational aesthetic that feels more American than British, but he insists that doesn’t make them any less authentic.

‘One of the funniest things is when people say to me, ‘No one lives in houses like that,’ and I say, ‘Well those homes aren’t lying empty; people are living in them.’

Harlan likes to work with a team he can trust – alongside Nicola he co-writes with Brassic’s Danny Brocklehurst, but this time he’ll be without a key team member – his daughter Charlotte.

‘She’s written one of the episodes of Fool Me Once but she’s become so in demand that she’s gone off to write her own series,’ he sighs. ‘As a father I’m pleased, but I’m also kind of sad to be losing her.’

Harlan’s hit series Gone For Good, based off his book, was adapted into a five-part drama set in France

His other works with Netflix include The Stranger, starring Jennifer Saunders, right, and The Woods, starring Hubert Milkowski, left

Harlan co-writes and produces his shows and was on set last month in England, combining it with a tour for his new book, I Will Find You.

In that story, a father has been jailed for killing his young son, after a neighbour claims to have seen him burying the murder weapon. Although he has a history of sleepwalking, he’s convinced he didn’t do it.

Harlan has four grown-up children himself with his wife Anne.

He became a literary sensation with his 2001 book Tell No One and it changed his life.

He’s now estimated to be worth £20 million but still turns out roughly one book a year.

In Safe (pictured), his first drama for Netflix, he focused on a missing teenager who turns up alive

His main TV home is Netflix, with whom he has a 14-project deal, but he also has an unnamed project with Apple TV+. Pictured, a stock image of a typewriter

‘I grew up with a good work ethic. It’s like being a plumber, I wouldn’t just suddenly decide, ‘I can’t do pipes any more.”

His main TV home is Netflix, with whom he has a 14-project deal, but he also has an unnamed project with Apple TV+, and a show in the works with Amazon Prime Video called Shelter, in which a school caretaker learns that his father might not be dead.

‘I think part of the reason why I don’t kill the loved ones is because I lost my parents at a fairly young age – they were both dead by the time they were my age,’ he says.

‘If a person dies there’s no coming back, they will never be part of your life again. So I think making someone who’s dead return is a great wish-fulfilment; hope is a powerful thing.’

I Will Find You by Harlan Coben is out now in hardback and eBook.

Source: Read Full Article