Harlan Coben says ‘quite a bit of tragedy’ in his 20s made him a better writer
American thriller writer Harlan Coben said experiencing “quite a bit of tragedy” in his 20s made him a better writer.
The bestselling author, who wrote the Myron Bolitar thriller series and novels turned Netflix shows such as Fool Me Once and Missing You, said he was in his 20s when his father died of a heart attack at the age of 59 in 1988.
He told the Big Issue this was “the most traumatic” loss, adding: “Maybe because it was the first one. It came out of nowhere.
“I had quite a bit of tragedy in my 20s. Things moved along fairly smoothly until then, I led a fairly normal American suburban life, but I did something like seven eulogies that decade. My dad died, my mum died, and a lot of people in my life died. So that probably also shaped me. Tragedy is a very cruel but effective teacher. I think that helped push me and made my writing better.”
But he added: “I’ve come to the conclusion with grief that it’s like you lose a limb, right? You lost your arm. You can learn to go on without that arm, you’re going to learn to do things with the other arm and still have a happy, productive life. But that arm’s not growing back.”
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Coben has more than 80 million books in print worldwide – including Win, The Boy from the Woods, Run Away, and Tell No One – and is a producer on Netflix adaptations of his work.
His other Netflix projects include Stay Close, about a husband who goes missing, with James Nesbitt and Cush Jumbo; blackmail story The Stranger, with Richard Armitage and Siobhan Finneran; and Safe, starring Michael C Hall and Amanda Abbington, about a surgeon whose daughter goes missing.
Coben said he continues to get “excited about my books being adapted for television” as he enjoys seeing directors bring his creations to life, and actors taking characters in new directions.
He added: “When Netflix pushes a button, it will be in 230m households in 190 countries. This is not my first time, but that still jazzes me. I hope it always does.”
Coben’s most recently released adaptation, Missing You, which stars Armitage and Sir Lenny Henry, focuses on a detective whose fiance returns under strange circumstances.
Fool Me Once is one of the streaming firm’s most-watched programmes, and stars Michelle Keegan as a military combat pilot who suffers from PTSD when her husband (Armitage), who comes from a wealthy family, is murdered.
