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There’s a sweetness to this book adaptation – about a high school outsider searching for a missing friend – which recalls 80s teen classics. It’s also a murder-mystery rollercoaster rideIt feels odd to call an adaptation of a Harlan Coben thriller “charming”, but the eight-part Shelter series is just that. Netflix acquired crime writer Coben’s big standalone novels in a five-year, multimillion-pound deal for the rights to 14 of his 34 books, and its renewal in 2022 is thought to have included the best-selling Myron Bolitar series, too. But Prime Video has nabbed his young adult series, whose protagonist is Myron’s nephew, Mickey; this is a dramatisation of the first Mickey book.It has slightly less gore than usual and an even more madly corkscrewing plot. But the charm – reminiscent of early teen fare, such as The Goonies, that the 80s offered while it waited for you to graduate to John Hughes – is still an unexpected bonus. Continue reading...