A Grande Ilusão

I've watched a lot of adaptations of Harlen Coben's books, many on Netflix, and have read everything he's written. This is one of the better ones that has been set in Britain.

It has the usual issues in that it's really a story transplanted from America and there are the occasional jarring scenes or bits of dialogue that don't belong in a British thriller, but it does hurtle along and is clearly bingeable having got through it all today.

Michelle Keegan does a good job in the lead role as the tenacious investigating mother although I didn't quite buy into her as a helicopter pilot.

I particularly liked - as I always do - Adeel Akhtar - as the likeable detective, his relationship with his DS was very good and real highlight of the series. Joanna Lumley chewed up scenery with panache and was good at being the particularly unpleasant matriarch.

There's plenty of Coben's trademark misdirection and a plot that keeps you guessing right to the end.

I thought Danya Griver as Abby was excellent and hope we get to see more of her. I do have a big quibble with her accent though. Based and always lived up north in the series, with northern parents, but speaking with a clear southern accent really narked me and was really poor. Same with her brother.

All in all it was an enjoyable romp, clearly preposterous, but all of Harlen's books are and they are always great fun. Definitely would recommend this, especially if you're a fan of his books and other series.

I don't often do reviews on TV shows, but I saw so many negative reviews (maybe because of the success) so had to throw in my 2 cents.

I have to say I really enjoyed this mini series. It's something that really keeps you guessing from start to finish. For me, what I enjoyed was that it didn't feel slow at any point. It went straight into it and nothing felt unneeded.

I will say I had one irritant which is that it did that cliche thing of "let's make this character do really suspect, when they don't have any relation to murder", which in theory makes you think that oh it could be this person. Which keeps you guessing. But, I found it just irritating, because I feel as though they massively overplayed it.

I see a lot of complaints about acting and Michelle Keegan, but honestly I didn't have an issue with it at all. It's not Oscar worthy acting by any stretch, but by no means was it poor. The character Sami I thought was really well acted and constructed, so special mention to him.

The final twists and the solution was really good I thought and it was something I really didn't even come close to getting. It answered all questions which is what you really need with a mini series.

All in all I'll give this a solid 7/10. It's binge worthy, fantastic for a lazy Sunday.

This was fun and binge worthy, but agree with other reviews that the lead was flat and there was too much filler. The entire military angle felt very Americanized. The clues were well sown, and mystery fully resolved, but there were so many ridiculous things happening to keep the story going. Like the interruption to the one time we actually see supposed career woman Maya working...

My advice: watch this for Sami's storyline. His had the most payoff and by far the most emotional weight. Pretend he's the lead and the Maya storyline is the secondary narrative, it helps adjust expectations and suspend some belief.

Really! The first ten minutes were very good, but hindsight now shows me they were very bad and the whole show just stunk !. I must have missed something. I'm not going to watch it again to find out. We are sold a turkey and red herring from the get-go. I watched it last night and can't get it out of my head. Why oh why have they done this to me? Did I spite the script writers, director and actors in a previous life? My advice for all....... AVOID. I wish I had. I am not familiar with the author, but many here rate him highly. Is he better than this or is this his groove ? Oh well, you lose some , you win some.

The story has some nice riddles and twists to it. The characters are pretty stereotypical though.

Everything seems to be comically over the top: the rich-people-houses, the unnecessary flashbacks (in case you forgot that you saw stuff in the previous episodes), the satirically silly film music (*boom* means: this is important).

The female protagonist is always styled to perfection, doesn't take her chique Trenchcoat off at home. Never mind the pouty lips. Her little girl is the worst child actor you have ever seen. The mother-daughter-relationship is nonexistent.

We laughed about these imperfections and enjoyed the story anyway.