Harlan Coben’s Run Away Review: When his older daughter, struggling with addiction, runs away from home, Simon is shocked to find her in an unlikely location. However, things take a turn when he clashes with her problematic boyfriend, and he ends up murdered.
Run Away Netflix Cast
James Nesbitt, Ruth Jones, Alfred Enoch, Tracy Ann Oberman, Ingrid Oliver, Amy Gledhill, Annette Badland, Mark Bazeley, Maeve Courtier-Lilley, Jon Pointing
Run Away Series Directors
Nimer Rashed, Isher Sahota
The series has 8 episodes, each with a runtime of around 50 minutes and is based on Coben’s 2019 novel of the same name.
Harlan Coben’s Run Away Review
It’s 2026, and the first day of the new year brings us another Harlan Coben adaptation that takes us on a wild journey full of shocking twists, turns and revelations and leaves us feeling a hundred shades of confused before reaching the finale. Following a desperate father’s attempts at locating his addict daughter, who has run away from home, he comes across many more problems than he could have ever imagined. The series has its moments and is enjoyable for the most part, but it’s the ending that makes us roll our eyes.
Firstly, the series’s early episodes are quite gripping, and the compelling family tragedy element is emotional and drives the plot forward. It’s hard not to root for James Nesbitt’s Simon, who only wants to see his daughter home safe. I think it works so well because the fear of losing your child to addiction is a horrifying reality that can happen to anyone, and watching it unfold before our eyes leaves a heavy impression on us.
It’s this emotional core that works well for the series and the sole reason why you want to keep watching, even when things go off the rails. Run Away showcases how secrets can destroy a family and fracture lives, sometimes beyond repair, and it adds depth beyond the surface-level twists and unnecessary plot elements.
On that note, true to Harlan Coben, the series has some very effective twists and turns that leave you on edge, waiting for something to happen. You can clearly see the effects of a thriller book translated to screen here, although I think some of these twists feel more at home in the pages of a book rather than in a miniseries. Some twists and turns, when you see them on screen, feel extremely over the top and improbable, but it rolls out consistently and creates an ambience of thrill.
However, that’s where the positives mostly come to an end. It’s one thing to bring forth thrilling twists and turns; it’s a completely different thing to bring improbable stuff to the forefront that is just so egregious that you can’t help but laugh at the absurdity. It’s convoluted, and you have to jump through some crazy hoops to make it all make sense. I mean, some things come completely out of left field and make you question your logical reasoning skills!
This also results in some very unnecessary plot details being added for the sake of being added instead of making sense in the plot. The pacing is all over the place and uneven, and it’s a chore to watch. James Nesbitt is the only reason to watch this after a while, but he, too, has a limit of holding this mess on his shoulders. Minnie Driver is a wasted opportunity, while the others are fine as well. The performances are the best part of the series, but it’s the insane ending that takes away from the experience of watching this crime-thriller unfold.
Final Thoughts
Harlan Coben’s Run Away is enjoyable up to a certain limit, and then it completely becomes unhinged and will make you want to question your life choices. The series is fine to watch for the performances, but there’s hardly anything else for me to suggest this for any reason.
What are your thoughts on Harlan Coben’s Run Away? Let us know in the comments below!
Also Read: Harlan Coben’s Run Away Ending Explained: Who Killed Aaron? What Was the Greene Family Secret?
Very disappointing plot behind some great performances, and gruesome murders that hopefully would not happen in England. The story was set in New York and American gun culture. The character of Ruth Jones was inexplicably lured to her execution , – totally out of character, an unnecessary evil death and made the whole series a complete waste of time at that point. Absolutely terrible series.
Wretched. Plot, dialogue, production, sets, lighting, music, amateurish. Police duo looked were more like estate agents than police. Ruth Jones, bless her, leading a SWAT team! Ha! Dad searched for 7 episodes to find his daughter to get her into rehab, when she was…er, in rehab, as his wife well knew. What happened to Henry? Dad paid £60,000 for the information that his daughter had… caught a bus. And he was a finance director. Could go on, but life is too short.