Harlan Coben is known for keeping readers on their toes with his killer mystery novels — but how much inspiration does the author take from true crime cases?
“I will see a case, I’ll look at the headline and that’ll maybe spark something. But I never want to dig into it,” Coben exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting his CBS show Harlan Coben’s Final Twist. “That’ll almost influence what I’m trying to do.”
Coben noted his preference for original concepts, adding, “I’d rather — in the case of fiction — make up the story based off a headline or based off something else. I will say, ‘Well, what if …’ And I will have completely changed it around.”
While Coben is aware of true crime cases, he pointed out the major difference.
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“True crime is being devoted to the fidelity of the actual story,” he said. “Our hope [with Final Twist] was being able to work to create a full story that’s absolutely true with the twists and turns in an hour of televised time. That was our challenge.”
Harlan Coben’s Final Twist, which premieres on Wednesday, January 7, is “driven by finding out what makes a killer cross that line.” According to the official synopsis, Coben “steps into these cases himself, following threads that expose the hidden lives of seemingly ordinary people. Each episode is a new mystery, exploring hidden motives, buried secrets and unanswered questions. Coben focuses on uncovering shocking revelations where nothing is what it seems, and reveals that truth is often stranger than fiction.”
After becoming a bestselling author with more than 100 million books sold and a multitude of adaptations for film and TV, Coben was interested in exploring the unscripted genre with his CBS docuseries.
“I’m more intrigued than I’ve ever been [about true crime after this]. It is a fascinating world and they say truth is stranger than fiction. Boy, do these stories prove it,” the author told Us. “If I had written the first episode — or any of the episodes of Final Twist — as a novel or if I made it into a TV show, I would have gotten 8 million emails saying, ‘Oh, this is so unrealistic. This could never happen.’ Of course, this is all true.”
He continued: “Fiction has to follow certain rules. Reality doesn’t. That’s really interesting and I don’t think I quite appreciated exactly how much that goes on. It’s bonkers with the twists and turns. I was even surprised as I’m reading it.”
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Coben appreciated the chance to push himself in a host capacity.
“It was really strange. I am used to being behind the camera so I’d be sitting in the trailer and they’d be like, ‘OK, we’re calling the talent out on set.’ I wouldn’t even budge. I’m like, ‘Oh, wait. This time we’re talking about me.’” he quipped. “It was a very different experience for me. I hope people will be kind because it is my first time doing it. But we felt it was also part of the engine of the show that I would help lead you through the story and keep it grounded in a different way. “
As for whether Coben will sign up for more onscreen opportunities? “Let’s do a step at a time. I still prefer writing,” he told Us. “I still prefer creating things. But I thought this was an interesting experiment and quite fun in its own way. It was interesting to try to do this and try to give people a little bit of something else while we were doing it.”
Harlan Coben’s Final Twist airs Wednesdays on CBS at 10 p.m. ET.