User Reviews

This eight part series opens with a young man disappearing after a night out at a club in North West England. This will spark a series of events that involve a wide variety of people. Detective Michael Broome speculates that the case could be linked to the disappearance of another man, Stewart Green, seventeen years previously. On the same day Cassie, a stripper at the club disappeared... she is now a suburban mother calling herself Megan, who has recently got engaged. After being told that Green has been seen again her past starts catching up with her and her family. Also involved is Ray Levine, a photographer, who accidentally took a picture of the recently disappeared man and was once involved with Cassie. Things are made more dangerous by the arrival of a strange pair of killers hired by the missing man's father.

If you don't like stories that feature numerous coincidences and twists then this won't be for you; however if you like lots of twists and turns it is a lot of fun. The three main characters; Megan/Cassie, Broome and Ray are interesting; we are constantly learning more about them, their connections and their pasts as the series progresses. Secondary characters are also fun; most obviously the two killers, who are prone to dancing while doing their work and Harry, the drug addicted lawyer. The cast is solid with Cush Jumbo, James Nesbitt and Richard Armitage impressing as Megan, Broome and Ray respectively. The supporting cast, including Eddie Izzard as Harry is also pretty good. There are plenty of tense moments and not everybody one would expect to survive does.

Overall I found this to be an enjoyable series; well worth watching if you are a fan of previous Harlen Coben adaptions; I've not read the book but somebody who had informed me that there had been quite a lot of changes.

I only watched the first 3 episodes. I really want to like this but it's not my cup of tea.

Plus there's a weird killing duo who dress up like teens straight out of Riverdale and do a musical dance before disposing of the body. What???

The runaway stripper apparently didn't run very far away...so how is it she was able to stay hidden for 17 years just by changing her name and taking off her blonde wig?

It's a weird series. If I watch the rest and like it better I'll come back and edit this, but for now, I'll rate it a 5.

Like most of Harlan Coben's stuff "Stay close" uses the "onion-style of telling a story...and it does great. Solid acting, good script.

If there is something to complain, it's the ridicolous killer couple, didn't fit the tone of the show.

So please stop writing silly, stupid reviews after ten minute of watching, it's like judging a movie by its poster.

You know what you'll get with a Harlan Coben show: someone(s) is missing, a family wih guilty secrets, multiple interconnected stories, and a puzzling plot which will, however, eventually become crystal clear (you can always count on Coben for answers at the end). "Stay Close" gets off to a flying start, with some visually arresting motifs (the green bridge, the giant statue head), a top cast that you are trying to figure out who each character is and how they are connected, and two genuine mind-f twists / cliffhangers at the end of episodes 2 & 3. However, there is a problem with that: it creates the expectation that all episodes will have cliffhangers of this caliber, which is definitely not true. In fact, episodes 4 & 5 slow down a lot, almost to the point where one might even consider not watching the rest. But the series bounces back in episodes 6 & 7, and finally arrives at a GREAT twist in the final episode; this was really the most logical solution all along, in terms of both motive and location, but the viewer, much like the fictional police and the victims, understimates the threat. It's an uneven show, but on the strength of its beginning and ending, which are terrific, I am willing to overlook its slight dip in the middle and award it an 8 out of 10.

To wrap it up they even have a summary at the end to backfill all the plot holes left hanging.

All up an okay program, as long as you accept the many absurd moves and plot twists the characters employ.

The 2 hired killers are silly, dancing their way down the street prior to killing, just too much.

What kind of policeman is sleeping with the strip club owner/witness in the middle of the day and doesn't answer his phone ringing repeatedly? And falls in love after 47 minutes of an episode

What kind of annoying ex-wife leaves her husband by saying she doesn't want kids, then goes and has a kid with someone else, then is so nosey about his personal life and tries to pass it on as friendly?

What kind of home care for elderly allows anyone and everyone in the rooms? Also what kind of elderly home care doesn't hear 2 women screaming and fighting IN FRONT OF THEIR DOOR?

What kind of police station doesn't notice a detective missing and dead in their own basement for days?

What kind of girl "forgets " a guy in the trunk of his OWN car that she hides?! Honestly this death was unfair

What's with wannabe psycho Bonnie and Clyde? Why would they kill Harry? Why do they think they're in a murderous musical? They're not even scary it's ridiculous. Also if you want to include their back story, maybe give a bit more than a smile they shared during a musical?

Also Lorraine bringing up Stewart to talk to Megan again after 17 years was ... why again? Just pop up and talk like you LITERALLY did without bringing up the dead man.

Also, how did it take everyone 17 years to bump into each other again in the same neighborhood?

Worst Harlan Coben work yet... (haven't read the book so only judging the series)

So you're either here because you want confirmation that what you watched was absolute drivel (correct it was, in droves) or you are lucky and are here to see if it's worth watching (it's not, by any stretch, don't believe the paid for, 'Oh watch it and decide for yourself' reviews.). Do yourself a favour, go watch some 10/10 crime thriller like the original Scandinavian versions of The Bridge or The Killing.

So let's start with the worst culprit, The concept. A girl, madly in love with a fella, is being harassed by another fella. She finds him dead. Instead of rejoicing and marrying her fella, she decides to 'disappear' and never contact the love of her life again. (By disappear we mean changing her name, stop wearing a wig and buying a house in the same town, having kids and never bumping into anyone from her previous existence in 17 years lol).

Next up. The script, consistently has characters doing irrational things to justify and set up scenes or to muddy the waters of the plot. The list is exhaustive so here's just one example. Girl visits bar, gets told fella is looking for her, gets offered his card with phone number and company name on, but girl refuses it. Next episode girl wants to contact fella, completely ignoring previous episode goes to find fellas best mate instead and begs him for fellas phone number as she's desperate. I mean, really, writer, editor, proof reader, beuller, beuller, anyone, anyone. The literal list of un-fathomable actions goes on and on.

Then we have the depiction of the police. As a writer/producer you could do various things, ranging from from visiting an actual police station to watching an episode of the bill. Or you could just make stuff up. So while we are on the subject let's discuss sets. Who ever decided, after making stuff up, that a police station is an office with one guy in fancy dress police uniform, a flat screen TV, a PC and a couple of partitions, you need to be fired. Along with the person that thinks UK police officers take random pot shots at unarmed suspects running along a populated beach, also fired. I can't go on with the faults of this program it would be twenty pages long.

And then there is the acting, it's just terrible. If you're a coronation street soap opera fan, maybe you won't mind so characters, although Cassie might even test your forgiving nature.

The sound is shocking, inappropriate segments of loud music inserted to indicate mystery where there is none. Be gone art student fool.

So the script, acting, sets and sound are terrible, but they are not the biggest crime committed. The story itself, with its twist and turns would have been good, with just a bit of craft. But alas it was butchered with a blunt cleaver.

This is so bad that it's laughable. Definitely the worst Harlen Coben adaptation yet. I honestly did not realize how much of an impact that sound editing can have until I watched this show. The background sounds are unnecessarily harsh and narrate everything as if to tell the audience how to feel. It made it difficult to focus on the actual story, which itself was too implausible to be engaging. The theatrical assassins? A woman who changes her identity only to stay in the same town for 17 years? And also somehow has the defense skills to swiftly take down two men at the same time? Not to mention the glaring continuity gaps and plot holes, lack of character development, and constant on-the-nose dialogue. Overall too silly and soap opera-like to take seriously as a thriller.

Where do I even start? I gave it a six because I actually liked watching it, it was captivating etc. But when it ends and they even give you the quick explanations of some loose ends (but it would take at least one more episode of explaining to catch them all)... you start remembering all the details that were conveniently pushed under the rug, hoping that no one would care to ask.

Like, the whole series is based on the premise that some horrible man who did horrible things to Megan, previously known as Cassie, is back and ready for revenge. We never ever see this man. At the end, it turns out he was dead all the time anyway, and all of this is happening because his killer had an inexplicable urge to catch up with Megan/Cassie and she couldn't just invite her over for a coffee instead, like normal people do. She also claims she killed this man because he was violent towards Cassie, but we did see that she, Cassie and the owner of the club took this man's money prior to his killing - so was he killed for the money or for the violence? Is Cassie just an innocent victim, or in fact the three of them are simply thieves and that went wrong? And we never find out where the money came from, how did they know for it, how and why they managed to take it prior to his killing etc. So many questions nobody cares to answer. Ok, so Lorraine killed him and put him in this hidden tomb - how is it even possible that, since we saw how easy was to find it - nobody found it before? How did she manage to put all the bodies there, not being a specially trained athlete with some superpowers? Who made this tomb anyway? How is it possible that two cops open the door, almost faint from the smell and just casually enter like it suddenly stopped smelling - and of course, they both go inside, not calling anyone for back up? When Lorraine confesses, she asks Broom to call off the back up, but they come anyway.

Now about Goldberg and the father of the missing young man. How are they connected? Why is chief of the Police (or this department) involved in some parallel, illegal hiring of private detectives - dancing killers ? Did he just casually give their number to the missing boy's father, because he happens to know them from the time they were all in the same circus? How did he even came to this position? Didn't he know they kill people? And when he himself gets killed in the Police station basement, after he locked Cassie and her daughter there - nobody just cares to walk around the station to find him?

Cassie. How credible that she came to this secluded spot in the woods and managed to free her daughter and run away. Also, how logical, when you hear your abuser who you're hiding from for 17 years is back, the first thing you do is go to his house and the basement he might be hiding in?

Also, detective never picks up the phone and spends half of their shift in a whirlwind romance with their long lost and found again lover (killer).

Everyone living in the same town and never saw each other for 17 years and they just all happen to reconnect?

Tawny gets killed and they never mention her again.

I could go on for another 10 pages of thing that make no sense or are left unexplained, but I think this will be enough.

But after a couple of episodes, it started to fall apart.

Cush Jumbo did her best but the script was a limp noodle and even though the camera fell on her face just about all the time, she registered very little emotion.

James Nesbitt, the copper, was totally inappropriate with the wife of a supposed victim and then again with a suspect.

Plot holes and raised eyebrows everywhere.

And a constant irritant: these huge immaculate homes with perfect cupboards and well stocked fridges and clean floors and made beds and everybody living in it is running around elsewhere all the time. Who's doing all the work?

Problems: (1) Police who never answer their phones (2) A policeman who cries all the time and can bang out a lovesong on a piano to a witness.

(3)Holy suspects, Batman! Lost track (4)Why does the photo-journalist not spot anomalies in his work unless he prints them out?

(5) Why is the ex-wife copper so nosy about her ex-husband? Why are they working together?

(6) That home care place though - letting in anyone and everyone to prey upon an elderly resident?

(7) One of my faves - the dead police chief in the basement of the police station and no one notices the smell after a few days?

(8) Tawny something was never missed after her murder?

(9) Ken and Barbie were totally extraneous.

(10) Why wasn't everyone banging into each other in the supermarket as they all basically lived a hand's throw away from the Viper Club for 17 years.

(11) Why was the massive bridge always devoid of traffic?

(12) Why would the coppers enter a killer's dungeon together? Without putting one outside as lookout?

(13) How could Lorraine carry those bodies down a long ladder to the dungeon?

(14)Why wasn't a victim's wife upset that a cop had broken into her house and broke down a door in her basement without a warrant or permission?

(15) How was Harry supporting his junkie habit and his business with all the pro bono work?

Far too many more to list but you have it.

An awful let down after investing a couple of good intense hours at the beginning.

I gave it a 5/10 for the beginning which had me gripped but it fell into its own miasma of holes and too many characters and flat, flat dialogue. And that music was interruptively harsh and an obvious time filler.