Finally entering the world of Harlan Coben’s crimes. I already had 3 of his books on my bookshelves and I knew I wanted to see the adaptations, too. Because I’ve been told The Stranger was the best series based of his books (out of the ones I already had), I’ve decided to read and watch this one first.
The Stranger was written by Harlan Coben and published in 2015. The stranger, whose name we don’t get to know initially, is a man going around and blackmailing people in exchange for big sums of money. Everything changes the day Corinne, wife of one of the stranger’s victims, disappears. Adam Price starts looking for her and for answers and slowly comes to realize something really dark is going on.
Created by the book’s author, The Stranger was adapted into a limited series by Netflix. The 8 part series was released in January 2020 and it did rather well, judging by how many other books of his were adapted by the same streaming service: Fool Me Once, The Innocent, Safe, Stay Close, Gone For Good, The Woods, and Hold Tight. I cannot be too upset at the differences between the book and the series, given that the author was involved in the creation process, but also because the book did not have a very shocking ending.
Sometimes memories hold us back. They force us to live in the past instead of the present.
The main differences between the book and the series:
· the book is set in America, but the series is as British as it can get
· the stranger is a woman in the series and has a strong link to the main character, but in the book the stranger is a man with no direct links to any of the characters
· Thomas has a girlfriend in the series
· Adam receives a video message from Corinne only in the series
· that whole bonfire party and storyline doesn’t exist in the book (thank God!)
· Ransky is made some kind of a psycho villain in the series and I still didn’t understand to whose benefit that served
· Johanna’s past relationship is explored only in the series
· in the book, Johanna and Hedi are not planning a trip
· the Teacher of the Year award scene doesn’t exist in the book
· Adam leaves a voicemail for Corinne only in the series
· Adam’s father doesn’t exist in the book
· Katz is still a police officer in the series, but in the book he is a retired cop
After episode 3-4 I’ve stopped taking notes because the changes were quite big and there was no point in transcribing full episodes here. However, the ending was identical to the one in the book. But overall the series was up to a 7/10, I thought it was slightly boring at times and there were aspects that I found quite exaggerated for the purpose of… drama, I guess. It didn’t really work for me.
Trailer:
The Stranger is streaming now on Netflix.
