Harlan Coben Fans Have a Dark Six-Episode Thriller to Binge in One Night — With Bill Nighy, Sam Claflin and a Supernatural Mystery Unlike His Netflix Hits

Harlan Coben has become one of streaming’s most reliable names for addictive crime mysteries, with more than a dozen Netflix series adapted from his bestselling books.

But one of his most unusual recent projects isn’t on Netflix at all.

Hidden away on Prime Video is a six-episode British thriller starring Sam Claflin and Bill Nighy that takes the familiar Coben formula of family secrets, unsolved crimes and shocking revelations somewhere much darker.

This time, ghosts may be involved.

And with the entire story running just over five hours, Lazarus is built for a gloomy one-night binge.

A Forensic Psychiatrist Returns Home After His Father’s Death

Created by Coben and Danny Brocklehurst, Lazarus follows Joel Lazarus, known as Laz, played by Sam Claflin.

Laz is a forensic psychiatrist who returns to his hometown following the apparent suicide of his father, renowned therapist Dr. Jonathan Lazarus, played by Bill Nighy.

But coming home doesn’t provide closure.

Instead, increasingly disturbing events begin to blur the boundary between psychological trauma and something genuinely supernatural.

Laz starts experiencing eerie visions of his dead father.

And Jonathan isn’t necessarily the only person from beyond the grave trying to reach him.

His Father’s Dead Patients Begin Appearing

As Laz becomes drawn deeper into the mystery, deceased patients connected to his father seemingly begin helping him investigate cold cases around the town.

That gives Lazarus a very different flavor from many of Coben’s better-known thrillers.

The central ingredients remain familiar: buried secrets, crimes from the past, fractured relationships and a protagonist who doesn’t know whom to trust.

But they are surrounded by visions, ghosts and a growing uncertainty about whether anything Laz is experiencing can be believed.

The series deliberately leaves viewers wondering whether he is genuinely communicating with the dead or psychologically unraveling under the weight of grief.

And there is one cold case he cannot escape.

His Twin Sister Was Murdered 25 Years Earlier

The mystery becomes deeply personal when Laz is pulled back toward the murder of his twin sister Sutton, played by Eloise Little.

She was killed 25 years earlier.

Her death left behind trauma that Laz has never fully resolved, and his return home forces painful memories back to the surface.

As he investigates, grief and guilt begin colliding with increasingly strange visions and criminal conspiracies.

That uncertainty turns Laz himself into an unreliable guide through the story.

Viewers aren’t simply trying to solve the murders.

They’re also trying to determine which parts of what they’re watching are real.

Even the Title Carries a Clue

The supernatural premise draws from the Biblical story of Lazarus, who returned from the dead.

That idea of resurrection runs through the series, alongside themes of second chances, forgiveness and whether the past can ever truly remain buried.

Family secrets gradually become just as important as the criminal investigation.

Trust, jealousy, betrayal and guilt all move toward the center of the story as Laz digs further into his family’s history.

It is familiar Coben territory — but with a Gothic supernatural layer placed over it.

Critics Were Divided

The series wasn’t one of Coben’s biggest critical successes.

According to MovieWeb, Lazarus holds a 44% Rotten Tomatoes score.

But the publication argues that its strongest material arrives as the six episodes progress.

The central mystery gathers momentum, while the story builds toward what MovieWeb describes as a devastating twist ending that helps compensate for some slower stretches.

The atmosphere is another major part of its appeal.

Dark skies, stormy surroundings and Gothic imagery give the mystery a moodier personality than many conventional crime thrillers.

For viewers who prefer mysteries when they’re slightly unsettling, that distinction could be the reason to watch.

It’s a Five-Hour Weekend Binge

All six episodes became available on Prime Video on Oct. 22, 2025, making the entire mystery available without waiting for weekly installments.

Together, they run a little over five hours.

That makes Lazarus particularly suited to viewers looking for a complete mystery they can start and finish over a single evening or weekend.

And unlike many Coben television projects, there isn’t a bestselling novel to read first.

This One Wasn’t Adapted From a Coben Book

Along with Safe and The Five, Lazarus is one of the relatively rare Coben television projects created directly for the screen rather than adapted from one of his novels.

That allowed Coben and Brocklehurst to move further into supernatural territory while keeping the mystery mechanics associated with his work.

Netflix viewers accustomed to his seemingly endless collection of missing people, dangerous secrets and last-minute revelations may therefore find something familiar beneath the surface.

But Lazarus adds ghosts, visions and a hero who can no longer be certain whether he should trust his own mind.

Six episodes. Just over five hours. Sam Claflin investigating his family’s darkest secrets while Bill Nighy seemingly reaches back from beyond the grave — and a final revelation designed to make viewers reconsider everything that came before it.