Harlan Coben was born on January 4, 1962. He is an American writer who writes mystery and thriller books. The stories in his books often involve past events that were not solved or misunderstood, murders, or accidents. These stories have many unexpected turns. Twelve of his books have been made into movies and TV shows.

Harlan Coben has won an Edgar Award, a Shamus Award, and an Anthony Award. He is the first author to win all three of these awards. His books have been translated into 46 languages and have sold more than 90 million copies.

Early life and education

Harlan Coben was born on January 4, 1962, into a Jewish family in Newark, New Jersey. He grew up in Livingston, where he graduated from Livingston High School alongside his childhood friend, who later became governor, Chris Christie. His brother is Lawrence S. Coben, a successful businessman.

Coben studied political science at Amherst College. He was part of the Psi Upsilon fraternity, along with Dan Brown. During his senior year of college, he decided he wanted to become a writer.

Career

After graduating in 1984, Coben worked in the travel industry for a company owned by his grandfather. During this time, he wrote his first book, a romantic suspense thriller titled Play Dead. The book was accepted for publication when he was 26 years old and released in 1990. It was followed by Miracle Cure in 1991. He then began writing a series of thrillers featuring a former basketball player turned sports agent named Myron Bolitar, who often investigates murders involving his clients.

Tell No One, his first stand-alone thriller since starting the Myron Bolitar series in 1995, was published in 2001. A French-language film adaptation based on the book was released in 2006. Coben wrote nine more stand-alone novels after Tell No One. His novel Hold Tight, published on April 15, 2008, was his first book to reach number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list.

In 2003, Coben published a short story about his father, who had died of a heart attack at the age of 59 in 1988. The story, titled The Key to My Father, was published in The New York Times on Father’s Day, June 15, 2003. In addition to The New York Times, his essays and columns have appeared in Parade magazine and Bloomberg Views.

In 2025, Coben published his first collaborative co-authored novel, Gone Before Goodbye, with Reese Witherspoon.

Recognition and awards

Coben's books have been translated into 46 languages and sold more than 90 million copies. He has received an Edgar Award, a Shamus Award, and an Anthony Award, making him the first author to win all three.

In 2010, the book Live Wire won the RBA Prize for Crime Writing, a crime fiction award worth €125,000.

In 2023, the Japanese edition of Win, translated by Toshiki Taguchi, was nominated for the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Mystery Fiction in Translation.

Adaptations

Harlan Coben's first book to be made into a movie was Tell No One. A French director named Guillaume Canet created a film in French, called Ne le dis à personne, in 2006.

Coben's 2003 book No Second Chance inspired the 2015 French miniseries with the same name. Two years later, the same book title was used for a miniseries based on Just One Look.

Coben created the British crime drama TV show The Five, which first aired in April 2016 on Sky 1 in the United Kingdom. He also created the French-British crime drama TV show Safe, which was first shown on Netflix in 190 countries on May 10, 2018.

Film and TV series

Harlan Coben's first book to be made into a movie was his 2001 novel Tell No One, which became a 2006 French film with the same name. The film was very successful at the movies and received many awards, including nine César Award nominations and four wins. Two more of Coben's books were turned into TV miniseries by France's TF1 broadcaster: No Second Chance in 2015 and Just One Look in 2017.

In 2016, Sky1 aired The Five, a TV series created by Coben. He later worked on another show, Safe, which was produced by C8 and Netflix.

In August 2018, after the success of Safe, Coben signed a multi-million-dollar, 5-year contract with Netflix. Under this agreement, 14 of his books would be adapted into TV shows or movies, with Coben serving as an executive producer for all of them. The first project, The Stranger, premiered in January 2020. In October 2022, Netflix extended the contract for another 4 years, and the Myron Bolitar series became eligible for adaptation. On February 20, 2023, Fool Me Once was announced as an upcoming Netflix project. The eleventh series under the deal, Run Away, was released on January 1, 2026.

In 2022, Amazon Studios announced plans to make a TV series based on Coben's first Mickey Bolitar novel, Shelter. The show, Harlan Coben's Shelter, stars Jaden Michael as Mickey and includes actors Constance Zimmer, Adrian Greensmith, Abby Corrigan, and Sage Linder. It premiered on August 18, 2023. In 2025, Prime Video released Lazarus, a series based on an original idea by Coben.

As of 2026, Coben hosts the true crime documentary series Harlan Coben's Final Twist for CBS.

Personal life

Harlan Coben lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey, with his wife, Anne Armstrong-Coben, who is a doctor who treats children, and their four children. His daughter, Charlotte, wrote two episodes of the TV series Run Away, which he helps manage. They have also worked together on Dead Hot, Fool Me Once, and Harlan Coben's Shelter.