Author Harlan Coben on Netflix Success, Myron Bolitar Series

Author Harlan Coben and Netflix proved to be a match made in mystery-thriller heaven with the impressive launch of “I Will Find You” earlier this month – and even more so with the series’ limited Week 2 issues.

On Tuesday, Netflix announced via its weekly Top 10 rankings that Coben’s “I Will Find You,” the latest of more than a dozen adaptations of Coben’s work released by the streamer, had the highest second-week viewership for an English-language scripted series launching in 2026, yet. After racking up a whopping 24 million views (making it Netflix’s top TV show of the year) in the first week after its June 18 debut, “I Will Find You” was viewed more than 34 million times between June 22 and June 28.

From showrunner Robert Hull and executive producer Coben (he has been an EP on every adaptation he has made under his Netflix partnership), I Will Find You follows David Burroughs (Sam Worthington), a father imprisoned for the murder of his son, Matthew, who five years later receives evidence from his ex-sister-in-law, Rachel (Britt Lower), revealing that his child may still be alive, forcing him to escape and discover the truth with her.

Netflix has confirmed this Variety that “a lot of people” watch the show in one go. And many viewers then take to social media to rave (and rant a bit) about the ending.

“I think the obvious things that people bring up are the twists and keeping people on their toes and the ability to binge watch – but of course a lot of shows are trying to do that, so we’re not alone,” says Coben. Variety when asked to parse the show’s popularity. “I think in the case of ‘I Will Find You,’ and hopefully other shows of mine, the heart is the heart. You really feel for Sam Worthington, especially, and his character here, and you want to follow him everywhere. The shows tickle your pulse and they stir your mind, but I think ultimately it touches your heart.”

No specific spoilers here, but Coben adds: “I think the comment I get most often is about the surprise at the end of episode 7 – but almost as much about how it ends in episode 8, as we see [some characters] in the future, eight months later.”

The success of “I Will Find You” is not without precedent: between 2023 and 2025, Coben-based Netflix shows, including the 2024 hit “Fool Me Once,” amassed more than 300 million views worldwide and appeared on Netflix’s Global Top 10 list 33 times. Coben’s most recent film adaptation, ‘Run Away’, was viewed 38 million times in its first four weeks.

While some popular shows have been sleeper hits for Netflix, leaving the streamer struggling to capitalize on post-launch popularity (look at the first season of ‘Squid Game’ as a perfect example), the company now knows what it has in Coben and has put a lot behind ‘I Will Find You’ from the start. (They bought the pitch before he even finished writing the book and was only 90 pages into the story.) There was a national TV tour for Coben and stars Sam Worthington, Britt Lower and Milo Ventimiglia, and UV-ink stunt billboards in NYC and LA that revealed a secret message (“What happened to Matthew?”) visible only at night.

Since 2018, Netflix has adapted 13 of Coben’s books for the screen across its international divisions, including “Run Away” (UK), “Fool Me Once” (UK), “Safe” (UK), “The Woods” (Poland), “The Innocent” (Spain), “Gone for Good” (France), “Stay Close” (UK), “Hold Tight” (Poland), “The Stranger” (UK), “Missing You” (UK), “Just One Look” (Poland), “Caught” (Argentina) and “I Will Find You” (Canada).

“I Will Find You” is the first, but not the last, to be handled by the American team, including a previously announced adaptation of its 12-book Myron Bolitar series, following the titular sports agent and mystery solver. Coben is also currently in development on an adaptation of ‘All We Ever Wanted’ and a new British adaptation of ‘The Woods’.

“I think we have a very easy and collaborative working relationship,” said Jinny Howe, head of U.S. and Canadian scripted series at Netflix. “I think we’re very like-minded in the way we put fans first. He’s always thinking about what the fan and audience experience will be, and it’s so deeply woven into the way an audience will experience his stories. It’s very similar to the way we are so invested in our audience and really just want to give them what they want.”

For the Bolitar adaptation, Coben knows that the way he and the Netflix team have approached things thus far will “definitely change,” as that will be the first ongoing series based on one of his works.

“I think Myron, Win and Esperanza are by their very nature harder to cast, which is why you’ll probably want more unknown players [actors]” says Coben. “They probably won’t be household names like the ones we’ve used before. I’m not sure. Maybe it’s a good household name that we’ll find. But I think there’s probably a difference when you tell someone we can get you committed to a TV series that might run for multiple seasons, which is more of a traditional approach than what I usually do, where every other show I’ve done so far has been a limited series, which has had a lot of appeal for someone like Britt Lower, who already has that commitment with “Severance.”

Lower confirms that this is exactly what drew her to “I Will Find You” – and the fact that “when you tell people you’re working on a Harlan Coben project, their eyes just light up.”

“I was excited to dive into something completely different from ‘Severance,’ says Lower. “It’s set outdoors and I spend a lot of time indoors filming ‘Severance,’ so I didn’t have to take as many vitamin D supplements for this project.”

Lower added, “Rachel is a real rocker. She’s on the run with David, and that was a real change of pace for me. I think when I think about what project I want to do next, it’s kind of cross-training, like a basketball player will swim in the offseason. So this was an opportunity for me to try something completely different.”

The only author in history to win each of the top crime fiction awards (the Edgar, Shamus and Anthony Awards), Coben is the author of 35 novels and has published his work in 46 languages. And sales of these titles increase with each new Netflix adaptation.

“Two partnerships this year with Netflix for the works of Harlan Coben are a gift,” said Beth de Guzman, associate publisher of Grand Central Publishing. “The first was January’s ‘Run Away’ and the book saw a massive 633% sales increase following its series premiere. The second is ‘I Will Find You,’ which has seen a 150% increase in sales since the teaser trailer. Now that the series has premiered, we know that number will soar as new audiences discover Harlan’s masterful thriller.”

Penguin’s U.S. senior vice president of backlist, Ben Lee, noted that the publisher is seeing a “more than 200% increase in sales” on Coben’s adapted titles “in the period following the release of the show/movie, regardless of which country the adaptation originates from.”

Overall, Netflix has been working hard in the book-to-screen adaptation industry (“His & Hers,” “Bridgerton,” “The Queen’s Gambit”) and the time spent courting readers has been worth it. According to the streamer, these titles together scored 9 billion global views and represented almost 20% of total viewing hours on Netflix last year. In fact, the Netflix Global Top 10 lists feature a book adaptation every week.

“The main theme to take away from it is not something specific to the show, but really the mentality of honoring when there is an existing fandom,” Howe says. “To be really true and honest about that, and not make things feel like they’re bleeding into each other. Like we’re trying to turn something into something else. I think we really understand and respect that people love this genre, and that there are high expectations in terms of how we can deliver a satisfying adaptation of these books for them. That’s something we think about with every title we program.”