Missing You

Lots of familiar traits from Harlan Coben's characters in this adaptation of his book, and similarly as with so many of his books, it would be good to not have as many twists that you can see a mile off, once you've read other stories.

The series does rattle along at a decent pace, with Steve Pemberton doing his usual creepy character best, in some scenes that are quite unexpected.

Pemberton's strand through the story provides the best amd most engaging part of it all with the odd unexpected twist.

All in all, if you've seen other Netflix adaptations of HC's books you know what to expect. Not the best thing you'll ever see, but fine for binging on a new year's day. Good, too, that it didn't have too many episodes and get bloated.

The leading actress was all that kept me hooked, but the rest of the acting was so patchy and unconvincing - even from the bigger names. There were plot lines that led nowhere, explanations not given, superfluous characters that just cluttered things up, and lots of truly incredible events and coincidences. The locations were good, but there was the increasingly annoying and inexplicable decision to use the 'teal and orange' colour scheme throughout - which is SO irritating and crops up all the time (The A Word, Ludwig etc) for no good reason whatsoever - and once you notice it it's SO distracting.

Average.

This is the first time I've written a review but I felt I had to as it definitely wasn't as bad as people are saying.

I am notoriously hard to please and never watch anything under a 7 but I really wanted to like this as I like so many of the actors.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was bright and glossy and pretty easy to follow. The actors all did a great job but it had enough twists and turns to keep me guessing.

The main characters did an especially good job and didn't disappoint me at all.

Definitely give it a go and go into it with an open mind.

I have now learnt that I should watch more things with a rating under 7.

Decent enough Harlan Coben thriller drama set in Manchester and surrounding countryside with a well known and familiar cast, weaving intertwined plot themes, it's well paced and improbable fun, entertaining enough to keep you glued in but definitely a bit far fetched in places - some excellent names in there and well acted but gritty believable realism it ain't. Perhaps that's not the point anyway and if you can turn a blind eye to the very visible plot holes and rather unlikely criminal and police prodecural situations then it's width one's time. But it's a fast food style criminal thriller - enjoyable but ultimately unsatisfying, not a gourmet offering you might be hoping for.

Here's a proofread and polished version of your update:

Just binge-watched all five episodes. I wasn't really feeling it by episode two but decided to see it through.

Cohen adaptations seem to follow a pattern of largely unrelated or overly complicated story threads that all neatly come together in the final episode. While previous ones have been quite good, this one felt really weak in comparison.

There wasn't much of a storyline in this one, and all the "aha" moments were crammed into the last episode-typical Cohen from what I've seen.

The acting was okay, and the characters weren't terrible, but the story just wasn't compelling or engaging. It felt more like a matter of simply getting through to the end.

I wouldn't say don't watch it, but if you have other options in your queue, I'd definitely put those ahead of this one.

Let me know if there's anything you'd like adjusted further!