Harlan Coben Can Turn a Baby Sock Into a Thriller
Handed a nicotine pouch and a baby monitor, Harlan Coben finds the one wrong detail that makes a household feel unsafe.
Freakonomics Radio Network · Harlan Coben Turned His Books Into 12 Netflix Series | Better in PersonThriller writer Harlan Coben was handed a tin of cool minted nicotine pouches and asked what kind of novel he could make from it.
Coben turned it over in his mind for a moment. Maybe, he said, it is not really a nicotine pouch at all. Maybe it is a heavy dose pouch of THC cannabis, the strong chemical from marijuana, and it turns up where it does not belong, in the room of someone with no smoking habit. What would it be doing near an infant, he wondered. Or what if the tin held something unexpected.
That instant jump, from something ordinary to a household that suddenly feels unsafe, is how Coben works. Give him something ordinary, and he finds the one wrong detail that could keep a reader up at night. When pressed, he will not solve the puzzle. You have to read 350 pages to find out.
He did it again with the next object, a smart baby monitor in the shape of a soft sock. The sock fits over an infant's foot at night and tracks the pulse and other vital signs for parents. Coben stared at it and complained that the game made his work look like magic, when it is really hours of sitting and staring at a wall. Then he had it. Coben said, "imagine you put the sock on your child in the middle of the night and then when you wake up the pulse is going but it's not on your kid's sock anymore."
Asked whose foot it was on, he laughed. That, he said, is the 350 pages you have to read to learn where it went, and why someone might be messing with you.
He was just as fast with a story from his own life. He once took his kids around the neighborhood on Halloween with another mother who carried what looked like a Poland Spring water bottle. When one of the kids spilled something on himself, Coben reached for the bottle to clean him up. She stopped him. It was vodka. There, Coben said, is a novel right there, in a mother carrying vodka in a water bottle on Halloween.
Questions people ask
How does a smart baby monitor sock work?
It is a soft, stretchy sock that fits over a baby's foot at night. It holds a small sensor that tracks pulse rate, oxygen level, sleep, and movement, and sends the readings to a phone app to alert parents to a problem.
What is a nicotine pouch?
They are small white pouches that sit between the gum and lip and release nicotine without tobacco, smoke, or vapor. They are sold in flavors like mint and coffee, often in small round tins, and are marketed as an alternative to cigarettes and vapes.
Has Coben really had that many books turned into Netflix shows?
Yes, his books have been adapted into many series for Netflix in the United States, Britain, France, Spain, and Poland. The deal covers more than 300 million subscribing households in about 190 countries, and one show drew about 100 million households for all eight episodes in its first 90 days.