James Nesbitt is a brooding detective in this Harlan Coben thriller, in which Cush Jumbo is dragged back into her shady old life. You won’t be able to turn it off.Fourteen of author Harlan Coben’s 31 novels, we are told, are due to be adapted for Netflix. Your mileage may vary, of course, but as I have a barely satiable appetite for bingeable thrillers, I see this as more promise than threat.Stay Close Season 1 Download
Last year we had The Straager, an adaptation of Coben’s 2015 bestseller, which leapt from cliffhanger to cliffhanger to tell the increasingly baroque-slash-demented tale of a husband (Richard Armitage) who discovers from a mysterious stranger that his wife faked her pregnancy and miscarriage before she disappeared. Dum-dum-DAH.Another is now here and Stay Close promises more of almost exactly the same – including Richard Armitage, who is now seedy photographer Ray and, by the end of the opening episode, about to become firmly tied into the main plot. This centres on Megan (Cush Jumbo), whose idyllic life, loving family and perfect kitchen are evidence that she is the keeper of a Secret Past that will soon rear its ugly head and threaten everything she holds dear.And so it proves. Carlton Flynn,a young man in a distinctive necklace, goes missing from about the same place as another man, Stewart Green, did 17 years ago to the day. The latter is the only case Detective Broome (James Nesbitt) has ever failed to solve. He assuaged the pain by sleeping with Stewart’s mum, which may or may not become relevant later (though I feel it’s only fair to point out that in Cobenworld, most things do)..Megan gets home after a night out to find a card on her doorstep addressed to “Cassie”. Her old name! But how?! “Everybody’s findable these days,” the card sender tells her when they meet, which is apparently explanation enough. But who?! It’s Lorraine (Sarah Parish), one of the people left behind when Cassie fled her old life. But why?! Lorraine wants to warn her that Stewart, apparently the reason Cassie wished to flee said old life, is back. But he can’t be, gasps our heroine – “He’s dead!”