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.
