Harlan Coben is an author from New Jersey who has been publishing books since the 90's. He has dozens of books under his name, but only one of them has been adapted into a series set in the United States. The nearly dozen others have been set in other countries, mainly the United Kingdom. The last one was Fool Me Once (2024), which was about a woman investigating the loss of a man she loved and with whom she was romantically involved. That story is kicked off with that lost loved one's unexpected reappearance. Fool Me Once was a hit online in terms of viewership. This series is a good follow-up because it's essentially the same premise with just as many twists and turns, but with perhaps an even more ridiculous, over-the-top ending.
Rosalind Eleazar (Slow Horses and Class of '09) stars as Kat Donovan, a police detective who is dealing with the loss of not one but two loved ones. About a decade ago, her father was murdered and her boyfriend broke up with her, disappearing without any word. Her friends are telling her she needs to start dating again and encourages her to go to online dating apps. When she does, she sees her ex-boyfriend is also on the apps and matches with her. Her friends tell her not to do so, but Kat wants to reach out to her ex to get an explanation for why he ghosted her.
Richard Armitage (Fool Me Once and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) co-stars as Ellis Stagger, the police's Chief Inspector, or the boss of Kat. He was friends with and a co-worker of Kat's father who also worked for the police. In fact, Ellis was partners with Kat's father around the time of her father's death. There were suspicious circumstances surrounding her father's murder that Kat questions. Someone was convicted for her father's killing, but Kat still questions it. Ellis believes that Kat is obsessing and is nitpicking the case for no reason. She wants to reopen her father's case, but Ellis tries to stop her or keep her from going too far.
Meanwhile, Kat is also the head of the police's missing persons unit. After her boyfriend disappears, she basically has as her job trying to find people who have disappeared. In the initial episodes, Kat is investigating a man of Southeast Asian descent who has vanished. The back half of the episodes is Kat investigating a White woman who has also vanished. Not to spoil the mystery, but Kat's investigation exposes the potential dangers of online dating, and what could be an extreme version of catfishing.
Lenny Henry (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and Chef!) plays Clint Donovan, the father to Kat. We only see him in flashbacks, as Kat tries to reopen his murder case. It's nice seeing those flashbacks in addition to the other scenes involving Kat's family because it's interesting to see this vibrant and lively, Afro-British family. However, where things go with his character feels endemic of a story written 30 years ago. This series is based on Harlan Coben's book published in 2014. Technically, 2014 wasn't that long ago, but a lot has changed in that amount of time. For example, same-sex marriage wasn't legalized in the USA back then.
I'm not sure if this series is meant to be a period piece set, mean to reflect the early 2000's like the book is. That's probably not the case because the online dating apps used in this series reflects current technology or tech available now in 2025. Yet, the events depicted at the end of this series feels very outdated. It's as outdated as the so-called Twinkie defense. Yet, it's funny because what's revealed is very similar to a BBC One series that premiered just a couple of months prior called Mr Loverman (2024), co-starring Lennie James. It's also a shame that the series wastes Ashley Walters (Bulletproof and Top Boy) who plays Josh Buchanan, the ex-boyfriend of Kat. He's not in it as much as he could have and perhaps should have been.
Rated TV-MA-LV.
Running Time: 1 hr. / 5 eps.
Available on Netflix.