I didn't love Hold Tight as much as I expected to; I didn't enjoy the changes that were made. Ordinarily I can separate the adaptation from the book and view them as separate entities but I feel as though reading the book is the only reason I understand the motivation of some of the characters, and that they weren't written as well in the adaptation. I felt as though the heart of the novel was the father/son relationship and the parent/child relationships across all the characters which I feel has been marred in the adaptation by having so strong a focus on the younger characters and introducing some that are superfluous. I understand why some characters had to change, as the adaptations can't have Hester or Loren, and Pawel is a good way to amalgamate the roles of Hester and Mo. I didn't like the changes made to Ania's character to compensate for the loss of Susan though, I feel like Mike was so central to the book - his heart, his character, his impact on others - and I missed that in the series.
The real gift of Harlan Coben's writing is his unique ability to take readers on an emotional journey - to create hope and fear, to put us in the shoes of his characters and invest in their wellbeing - it's not all about the mystery, it's about the connection. I did not feel that connection with the characters in this series - not between each other and not between them and the viewer. This is a real shame as other adaptations have successfully created that bond and drawn us in completely - something about this one just seems clumsy and as though the writers and actors themselves didn't connect with the source material.
The real gift of Harlan Coben's writing is his unique ability to take readers on an emotional journey - to create hope and fear, to put us in the shoes of his characters and invest in their wellbeing - it's not all about the mystery, it's about the connection. I did not feel that connection with the characters in this series - not between each other and not between them and the viewer. This is a real shame as other adaptations have successfully created that bond and drawn us in completely - something about this one just seems clumsy and as though the writers and actors themselves didn't connect with the source material.