I Will Find You is Netflix’s best Harlan Coben adaption in years after two key changes

Anyone who has Netflix is likely to have seen at least one of its 12 Harlan Coben series that are available on watch on the streamer.

2018's Safe, with Dexter star Michael C. Morgan, was the first of Coben’s books to be adapted for a TV series and boasts 73 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The Stranger followed suit two years later in 2020, as did a Polish adaptation of The Woods.

The most recent Netflix series was Missing You, starring Richard Armitage (yet again), Adolescence actor Ashley Walters, and Roslind Eleazar.

If you read the reviews of the adaptations that have been released over the years, you’ll see them begin in plummet. Missing You has just a 32 percent Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes and was described as being ‘forgettable’ by The Guardian, while 2024’s Fool Me Once had a slightly more positive rating of 45 percent.

Sam Worthington and Britt Lower star in Harlan Coben's newest Netflix series (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

While Rotten Tomatoes isn’t the be-all-end-all of reviews, I’d be lying if I said I’d watched them all for myself. I streamed The Stranger and enjoyed it, but ended up abandoning the shows that followed because I found them to be too corny — but my faith in Netflix and Coben’s colossal 14-book deal has been renewed with the help of I Will Find You.

Sam Worthington gives a stellar performance

One notable difference to the series is that I Will Find You is the first of Coben’s Netflix adaptations to be filmed outside of the UK or Europe. The storyline is based in Boston, US, as well as parts of New York, but it was largely shot in Canada, according to IMDb.

The eight-part series’ synopsis reads: "A father imprisoned for his son's murder receives evidence suggesting his child may be alive, compelling him to escape and uncover the truth."

The second key change is a star-studded American cast including Severance favorite Britt Lower, Milo Ventimiglia, and Gotham’s Erin Richards. Leading the cast is Aussie actor Sam Worthington (who is best known for the starring in the critically acclaimed Avatar franchise).

All the cast are totally new to Coben's world, with Netflix having recycled some actors in previous seasons. Richard Artimage, for example, has been in four of his series, while James Nesbitt starred in both Missing You and Stay Close.

Peaky Blinders star Emmett Scanlan has starred in two Coben adaptions as well.

It has you hooked from the very first episode

Worthington gives a stellar performance in the program. In comparison to Coben’s previous TV series, I Will Find You was strong enough to be a blockbuster movie – but I’m not complaining about it being broken down into eight episodes for Netflix instead.

It has you hooked from the very first episode, something I find to be quite rare these days. The storyline is gripping and, in true Coben fashion, you never really know where the story is going to take you until it’s all pieced together in the very final episode.

I was glued to my seat the moment Worthington's character David Burroughs broke out of jail with the help of Warden Phillip Mackenzie (played by Peter Outerbridge). Of course the warden has family ties to him, having once worked in the police force with David's father.

David was convicted of killing his son Matthew five years ago, but he's adamant that the youngster is still alive.

Britt Lower stars as Rachel Mills in 'I Will Find You' (Netflix)

While he always maintained his innocence, David had accepted his fate behind bars until his ex sister-in-law Rachel Mills visits him and shows him a recent photograph of a young boy that had an uncanny resemblance to Matthew. It's this that sparks David to plot his escape from prison to find his son.

Each episode then follows with yet more twists and turns and, of course, drama – so much so that by episode four you'll probably have whiplash.

Basically, I Will Find You isn’t the type of TV show that you can simply have on in the background; you’ll have to put your phone down and lock in to keep up with every twist and turn. Not only do you have to put your phone down to keep up with I Will Find You – you’ll actively want to forgo your evening doom-scroll on TikTok to watch this instead.

★★★★

I Will Find You is now streaming on Netflix.