Gone for Good

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!

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.

An ok attempt at drama and intrigue but filled with unrelateable, unlikeable characters. The story way too complex and try-hard. Setting is great in Nice.

Far too many contrived relationships and situations. I haven't read the book but I would guess that it is 100x better than this series.

That said, an ok diversion in times of Covid.

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.

The thing with Harlan Coben stories is they always have a lot going on. You've got your main plot and several other subplots going on. This one didn't have as many subplots, as everything going on was all connected. With all of HC's work you get thrown a lot of information in the beginning which can often be confusing, but everything is alway explained at the end. Apart from The Woods, I've thoroughly enjoyed the Netflix adaptations of HC's novels. (Including the SKY production of The Five which he created). However, Gone For Good has not gone down well with me. It actually started out quite similar to The Innocent (which was fantastic), and there were a few surprises here and there and so I thought it was bound to have this shocking, massive twist at the end, however halfway through the show it started to go downhill and by the end the 'reveal' wasn't really a surprise. I've not read the book and so I cannot make comparisons but the show for me was a huge letdown. Unlike the other shows I've seen, this one became a bit predictable. I was disappointed with it, nevertheless I will continue to watch as Netflix continue to produce HC's novels. 5 down, 9 more to go! Looking forward to Stay Close which hopefully premieres on Netflix later this year.