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This series, adapted from the book of the same name, sees teenager Mickey Bolatar moving to New Jersey to live with his aunt after his father is killed in a car crash and his mother is institutionalised due to her drinking. On his first day at his new school be befriends Ashley, a new girl, but shortly afterwards she vanishes, he suspects foul play. Things get stranger when the local 'crazy old woman, known as 'The Bat Lady' addresses him by name and tells him that his father is still alive. With new friends Ema, a goth girl, and the somewhat nerdy Arthur 'Spoon' Spindell he starts trying to find what happened to Ashley. Inevitably several old secrets are exposed as well as dangers being encountered.

I read the book some time in the last year so was interested in seeing how it would transfer to the screen. For the most part it is fairly faithful to the source material. There are some obvious changes. The fact that Mickey now lives with his aunt rather than Uncle Myron this is kind of understandable given that Myron is the protagonist in many of Coben's books so he is unlikely to want him introduced on film/television as a secondary character. The second change is less explicable; Coben's books, even the ones aimed adult readers, don't contain much swearing but the amount in this series is somewhat ridiculous; there would scarcely have been more if Quentin Tarantino had been brought in to work on the script! Mickey is a likeable protagonist although his character seems bland whenever Ema or Spoon are around as these characters are so much more fun. The cast is sold although those playing the high school jocks look too big and too old to still be at school... obviously this is hardly the first show to make such casting decisions. The story provides a decent number of twists and there is a nice sense of danger even if we know certain characters are highly unlikely to be harmed. Overall I enjoyed it but wouldn't recommend it as family viewing due to the excessive swearing.

Hmmm just started to watch the first 3 episodes so far I like it. It's interesting. I like all the characters. Again mind you. I have never read the novel so I really didn't know what this was about until recently.

I do like the entire cast my favorite would be the most know. Of all actors which is Constance Zimmer even though. Kristoffer Polaha was in the first episode and I really liked him. Anyhow I am looking forward. To seeing more episodes and seeing how this unfolds. I really like it. I would definitely recommend anyone that wants to spend a couple of hours entertained.

Kind of reminded me of the Goonies the way they stick together....

Harlan Coben is a fabulous writer with really interesting characters and great stories. I've read all his books about Myron Bolitor and his nephew Micky Bolitor, including the books upon which this series is based but I don't recall any ascerbic aunt! Where's Myron?? What the hell? I am Halfway through episode 1 and I just can't do it. Sigh. I have such high hopes when my favourite authors get their books made into movies or television series and, inevitably, such disappointment when I watch. I'll stick to the books. (I cannot watch Tom Cruise play Jack Reacher either.). It's probably a good show, based on other reviews, but it's not for me.

The series on whole for story telling is average and surprisingly enough for Harlan Coban very predictable.

That said though I think the hype around the writer is why other reviews are negative as people expect brilliance from this type of show.

It's a good show and with obvious flaws, it has two fantastic positives in Adrian Greensmith (Spoon) and Abi Corrigan (Ema). I found the pair of them so interesting, funny and lovable. They carried the show from start to finish by pulling on your every emotion during the journey.

Don't be put off by the negativity but instead go into without expectation and just enjoy the show.

Not sure why people are saying there's so much profanity in this series. It's honestly not that much, the first f word wasn't until 19:50 minutes and the first s word was at 17:23 minutes (not like another review said there was so many within the first 15 mins - no clue what show that reviewer was watching...as reading that review I thought it was going to be very liberal with the profanity), as it honestly wasn't that much profanity, only 9-10 instances in the whole first episode, and they were very spread out within the episode and then had 2-3 within two or three sentences of dialogue. Also they're teenagers - maybe spend some time with them, as they curse a lot when not in the company of adults, so yeah...I found that it was actually pretty realistic. The background music has a bit of profanity, but the character's dialogue isn't bad...at least in the first episode.

Also if you've read the novel, yes some characters have been changed a bit, but Harlan Coben was HEAVILY involved in the production. I've only watched one episode so far but this seems to be ramping up to definitive Coben's twists and turns. Can't wait to see what else is in store.