Harlan Coben’s newAmazon Prime Videothriller has been hailed in reviews, with critics calling it ‘bone-chilling’ and a ‘consumable watch’.
Co-created by the best-selling author and Bafta winner Danny Brocklehurst, thesix-part psychological thriller LazarusfollowsSam Claflinas Lazarus, who returns home to find that his father (Bill Nighy) has committed suicide.
Relying upon the help of his sister, Jenna (Black Mirror starAlexandra Roach), Lazarus begins to have disturbing experiences that can’t be explained.
Beset by memories of his past and victims of unsolved murders, Lazarus becomes entangled in a series of cold cases as he grapples with the mystery of his father’s death and his sister’s murder 25 years ago.
Sharing their thoughts on the show, critics described it as a show that ‘keeps itself on everyone’s minds long after’ the final credits roll.
Comic Book Resources(CBR) claimed that it is ‘bone-chilling’ and ‘dark in nature’.
Their review continued: ‘It’s an easily consumable watch, indulging itself in ideas about grief’s psychological impact on the mind and the powermental healthprofessionals have over vulnerable patients, if not regulated.’
Tech Radarwent on to describe it as a mix between The Silence of the Lambs and The Sixth Sense.
What does Metro think of Harlan Coben's Lazarus?
Our TV reporter, Milo Pope, shares his thoughts…
In a world of few certainties, Harlan Coben’s work is guaranteed to contain delightfully absurd drama.
Following his Netflix adaptations Fool Me Once and Missing You, the 63-year-old’s latest foray into television, with Amazon Prime’s Lazarus, treads similar twisty murder mystery ground with a supernatural edge.
But despite the best efforts of Sam Claflin, who plays Joel Lazarus, and his on-screen father Bill Nighy, the six-part series feels like a misfire.
Whether it’s down to viewer fatigue with this worn-out genre or the equally uninspiring attempt to reinvent it, Lazarus’ stiff dialogue and baffling plot render it laughable at times.
While it is certainly not short of death or drama, weirdly,the show’s big moments felt empty upon arrival.
Lazarus, arguably, like a lot of Harlan’s work, is a bit like eating McDonald’s. When you’re hungover and in need of something quick and easy to ingest, it can be great.
But after you’re finished, you can often feel like you’re still hungry as you’ve been given something with no real nutritional value or depth.
Of course, there are plenty of people who love McDonald’s and these types of stylised thrillers. But for me, Lazarus left me with an empty stomach.
2 stars
However, some critics did not seem to be as pleased with the series, asAV Clubsaid: ‘Lazarus is a lazy psychological drama that uses its supernatural conceit as a crutch.’
Heaven of Horrorsimilarly wrote: ‘The story just wasn’t impressive, and a few characters were just too annoying.’
In the lead-up to the release of Lazarus,Coben spoke toMetroabout how he wants viewers to binge his latest series.
He said: ‘I just want you to be caught up. I love that feeling when I’m reading a book or watching a series where I just become enamoured with it and obsessed, and it’s always my hope that I give you that.’
The show’s main protagonist Claflin, also describedbeing instantly ‘hooked’when he first read the show’s first few episodes.
He added: ‘They initially sent just one episode and I got to the end of that episode and was desperate to read another, which assured me that this was a good sign.
Harlan discusses his writing process for Lazarus
Speaking to Metro about his new haunting psychological thriller, Harlan discussed what a pleasure it is to have people want to see his work and how quickly he came up with the plot of his latest series.
‘One day I was playing tennis and I was going to my car and across the street I saw a psychiatrist’s office where I’d taken my father-in-law a few years earlier when he had severedepression,’ he says.
‘I started thinking about the psychiatrist’s office and all the misery that they hear. I thought – where does all that misery go? And then what happens when the psychiatrist dies, and that misery can come out again?
‘That’s what started it, and I actually ran home, and in about an hour, I had outlined at most of the story. I’ve never had it happen to me that fast.’
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‘With each episode, I needed to know what happens next. It had me hooked from the beginning.’
Meanwhile, Roach predicted thatviewers will be left feeling ‘paranoid’,saying: ‘You pick up on Lazarus’s paranoia, and everything’s just a bit tilted in this world and a bit uneasy. I think that’s what audiences are going to feel when they watch it.’
Amazon Prime Video’s Lazarus is available to watch now.
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