Disparu à jamais

I enjoyed aspects of this series, but felt there were just too many things going on, too many layers, plots and sub-plots, some relevant and some not. Developing every character in detail, when there are already other important threads to sustain in the story web, can detract from the story, in my opinion. Just too much going on for me to score this higher.

There was so much going on, that it was difficult to understand who was the titular "gone for good". Corben's melodramatic plotting that originally took place in New Jersey fits poorly with heavy-handed social commentary on French immigrants, social work, Neo-nazism and whatever else thrown into the mixer, all struggling to advance the story and drifting the focus away from it.

Casting is another problem. Finnegan Oldfield in the lead is stuck with one expression on his face, and his chemistry with Nailia Harzoune doesn't register at all. The only standout is Guillaume Gouix but that only makes things worse as his storyline is an unrelated add-on to fill in the runtime.

Towards the end, the plot becomes increasingly jarring and haphazard. Then it all crawls to a lazy wrap-up, with not much feeling for the surviving cast members that pretend everything was solved.

I have been reading Harlan Coben's books since he started publishing them. I rated this book on GoodReads at 5 stars. I'll be honest, I didn't recognize the plot at all. At times I was talking to my tv because I was so confused at times. But. That didn't keep me from binge watching the whole series tonight. One episode slid effortlessly right into the next so there was no question I was watching it all in one sitting.

It's a story of two brothers, one good and one bad. It's also the story of the night the main character loses both his ex-girlfriend and his brother. When the main character's now girlfriend goes missing after his father's funeral, he's pulled into the mystery of where she went and has to do more than a few illegal things while on his hunt. The man that employs both main characters is on the hunt with him at times and actually had quite the messed up backstory.

There was a lot going on in this series. Lots of subplots, some of which were not that important. One major free for all fight was really poorly done. So unrealistic. Still it kept me interested from beginning to end and I'm glad I decided to watch. If you like suspense with a bit of romance thrown in, this just might be the series for you to watch next!

Disparu À Jamais (or Gone For Good for the English title is a French mini-series (five episodes) based on a novel from Harlan Coben. The last series I watched based on a novel from Harlan Coben was the German series The Woods, another one that was worth watching. Sometimes his stories are a bit far fetched, with all kind of characters that know each other, when the chances that that would happen in real life are pretty slim. So was it also in Disparu À Jamais. Nevertheless the episodes are full of mysteries which keeps you guessing and interested. Decent acting from the entire cast, although some were better than others. It's not always easy to follow so you have to be concentrated. A good mini-series that you can finish in a couple days.

I found this show entertaining, BUT the series was filmed in France with French actors. I recommend watching it in its native language with subtitles if you don't speak French. The dubbing is horrible and annoying.