Refugio

Really enjoying this show. Usually I get lost with Harlen Coben's series but this one I can follow. Maybe because I'm actually watching it and not on my phone. Trust me you DO NOT want to be distracted during this show. Something big happens in every scene, and the series moves very fast. The acting is great, with lots of fun characters. (The nerdy kid with glasses is really funny, and all the main actors are very good.) Can't wait to see what future episodes bring! If you want more, hey, hit pause and Amazon will even sell you the book! I have to write 600 characters so here you go Internet Movie Database.

This series, adapted from the book of the same name, sees teenager Mickey Bolatar moving to New Jersey to live with his aunt after his father is killed in a car crash and his mother is institutionalised due to her drinking. On his first day at his new school be befriends Ashley, a new girl, but shortly afterwards she vanishes, he suspects foul play. Things get stranger when the local 'crazy old woman, known as 'The Bat Lady' addresses him by name and tells him that his father is still alive. With new friends Ema, a goth girl, and the somewhat nerdy Arthur 'Spoon' Spindell he starts trying to find what happened to Ashley. Inevitably several old secrets are exposed as well as dangers being encountered.

I read the book some time in the last year so was interested in seeing how it would transfer to the screen. For the most part it is fairly faithful to the source material. There are some obvious changes. The fact that Mickey now lives with his aunt rather than Uncle Myron this is kind of understandable given that Myron is the protagonist in many of Coben's books so he is unlikely to want him introduced on film/television as a secondary character. The second change is less explicable; Coben's books, even the ones aimed adult readers, don't contain much swearing but the amount in this series is somewhat ridiculous; there would scarcely have been more if Quentin Tarantino had been brought in to work on the script! Mickey is a likeable protagonist although his character seems bland whenever Ema or Spoon are around as these characters are so much more fun. The cast is sold although those playing the high school jocks look too big and too old to still be at school... obviously this is hardly the first show to make such casting decisions. The story provides a decent number of twists and there is a nice sense of danger even if we know certain characters are highly unlikely to be harmed. Overall I enjoyed it but wouldn't recommend it as family viewing due to the excessive swearing.

Interesting plot and characters. I always enjoy the mysteries that have a historical element to them. Cold cases, unsolved disappearances, wrongful convictions. I have to say though - the language in the thing is exaggeratedly foul. Gratuitous use of the f-bomb. Coben didn't write that way. He didn't need to throw in excess bad language in order to make his point or create the mood of the scene. To me - not an informed critic - just an avid reader and viewer - it takes a LOT away from the show. The screenwriters make it sound like they can't write a sentence without using the word f--. Pretty disappointing.

As some others have said, there were drastic changes from the book adaption and they weren't good changes! The book doesn't even have an Aunt Shira so that threw me off immediately. Then there's a whole separate storyline of her becoming a lesbian? I guess they felt they needed to diversify the characters, but it felt really unnecessary to me and didn't add anything of value to the story. On a positive note some of the episodes were very suspenseful and there were some good twists. Another thing mentioned by other reviewers was the foul language. The cursing was really excessive which surprises me because it was supposed to be targeting young teens so I thought it would be a bit more family friendly. I have enjoyed the adaptation of other Coben books, but this one was overall a big disappointment. Read or listen to the book instead! Not sure if there's going to be a season two, but if there is, I hope they clean it up! So much potential from the book for the screen adaptation to be good. Such a waste.

The series on whole for story telling is average and surprisingly enough for Harlan Coban very predictable.

That said though I think the hype around the writer is why other reviews are negative as people expect brilliance from this type of show.

It's a good show and with obvious flaws, it has two fantastic positives in Adrian Greensmith (Spoon) and Abi Corrigan (Ema). I found the pair of them so interesting, funny and lovable. They carried the show from start to finish by pulling on your every emotion during the journey.

Don't be put off by the negativity but instead go into without expectation and just enjoy the show.