What To Know
- Harlan Coben’s new series marks his debut in the true crime genre.
- Each episode dissects the psychological motives and lies behind ordinary people committing extraordinary crimes.
- Coben aims to tell these stories with respect and empathy.
Harlan Coben’s Final Twist marks the first foray into true crime for the prolific author. In the series, he guides viewers through real-life stories of deception that spiral into murder and mayhem, positioning best-selling author Harlan Coben as a noir-tinged narrator of modern morality tales for the true-crime era.
Coben sat down with TV Insider to talk about the new primetime series and what lured him into the world of true crime.
“They say truth is stranger than fiction, and I learned that the hard way. Frequently. There’s so many times people will say to me, this can never really happen,” said Coben. “But when you watch the stories we’re going to be telling on Final Twist, if I had written them in a novel, you would take the novel and throw it out the window and send me a nasty email saying, ‘This can’t possibly have happened.’”
“Truth really is stranger than fiction. That had a lot of appeal to me,” explained the author.
In each episode of Final Twist, Coben pulls apart the lies, motives, and psychological cracks that drive ordinary people toward extraordinary violence, revealing how easily fact can outpace fiction. The result is part investigation, part cautionary tale, exploring not just what happened, but why, and how seemingly ordinary lives can take catastrophic turns.
But beneath each twist and turn is a very real person whose life was irrevocably altered, reminding viewers that these stories are more than fodder for entertainment — they are echoes of genuine loss, trauma, and consequence.
“These are really stories told about people and the tragedies they have gone through. I hope we are telling their stories in a respectful manner. Most of the time, these families actually want their stories told; they want their loved ones remembered. So, that’s really important to me,” said Coben. “It’s one thing to stir the pulse, and another thing to stir the mind, but in Final Twist is also stirring your heart. If you don’t care about these people, I don’t feel like we’ve done our jobs, both as people who are trying to entertain you and educate you, but also as a human being.”
“You really want all of that in the storyline,” said Coben. “I think Final Twist delivers that.”
Watch the full video interview above.
Harlan Coben’s Final Twist, Tuesdays, 8/7c, CBS
