Missing You on Netflix review: a brainless, satisfying New Year's treat from Harlan Coben
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If you’ve had your fill of warm and fuzzy Christmas TV then consider Netflix’s latest Harlan Coben novel adaptation Missing You a palate cleanser. The streaming platform knows that New Year’s Day is for hangover TV binges, and Missing You’s five 45-minute episodes will fill the void, offering enough action and twists to keep you watching until the bitter end.
Marking the ninth in Netflix’s collection of limited series adaptations of books from American mystery writer Coben, it has all the hallmarks of its predecessors: plenty of cliffhangers, gratuitous gore and juicy family revelations. The series relocates the original plot from New York to the much more glamorous... Manchester, allowing for an all-British cast of familiar faces from prime time TV and pop culture to head it up.
There’s an unexpectedly serious turn from Lenny Henry, and an aptly silly cameo from Matt Willis in the second scene. And in other key roles are Ashley Walters, Steve Pemberton and Brigid Zengeni, as well as the stars of previous Coben adaptation Stay Close, Richard Armitage and James Nesbitt. Slow Horses star Rosalind Eleazar heads up the cast as the detective inspector with many unanswered questions from her past.
We quickly find out it’s been 11 years since DI Kat Donovan (Eleazar) was abandoned by her fiancé Josh (Walters) shortly after she lost her beloved detective father, Clint Donavan (Henry). And now out of the blue, when her friend implores her to download a dating app (the nauseatingly named and music-themed HarmonyCupid), who should she match with than her ex? As the series unfolds, her pursuit of closure leads her to uncover even more unanswered questions, but also sees her become entangled in a case of multiple sinister disappearances.
