From Page to Screen

A debate has existed for years over whether avid readers “have to” read the book before they watch the show. This continues to be a popular topic as more and more books are adapted for the screen. For me, it depends on the show and whether I feel the book would enhance my watching experience.

One of the more popular adaptations is Tracker, which runs on CBS (you can also stream it on Paramount Plus, Hulu, Disney+, Prime Video, or Apple TV+). Season two is airing, and the show has been renewed for season three. It is an adaptation of Jeffery Deaver’s series, which starts with The Never Game. Justin Hartley stars as Colter Shaw, a wandering “rewardist” who travels the country helping individuals and occasionally law enforcement locate missing people in exchange for reward money. The show strikes a good balance between Colter’s private life and the cases he solves each week. Because it runs on network TV, there are more episodes per season than the shows you find on streaming platforms.

The sci-fi bestselling book Dark Matter by Blake Crouch was adapted for the small screen on Apple TV+ to great acclaim last fall. Dark Matter features the Dessen couple, Jason and Daniela, who live in Chicago. While walking home one evening, Jason, a physicist and professor, is abducted off the street into an alternate universe of his life. Initially thrilled to see that the multiverse exists (he had worked to create a way to travel between worlds before becoming a professor), Jason quickly realizes he is stuck in a nightmare, unable to find his way back to his original life, instead trapped in the many lives he could have lived. As an avid fan of the book, I was curious to see how this complicated and fascinating book would translate to the screen. This is an instance of when reading the book before the show is recommended because the book provides so much detail that will supplement the show. I was pleasantly surprised that Apple TV+ followed the story pretty closely and took the time and money to create the various settings and worlds, resulting in one of the best screen adaptations out there. It has been renewed for season two.

A NOVEL SHOW Dark Matter on Apple TV+ is adapted from Blake Crouch's bestselling sci-fi of the same name. (Photo: Cindy Burnett)

Another successful recent book-to-screen adaptation is Dark Winds, based on the bestselling Leaphorn and Chee series by Tony Hillerman. The show airs first on AMC and then can be streamed on Netflix. Season one adapted Listening Woman (book three in the series) and portions of People of Darkness (book four), and season two adapted People of Darkness. Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee, and Bernadette Manuelito are members of the Navajo Tribal Police who solve mysteries on their Four Corners reservation in the 1970s as the area is increasingly impacted by violent crime. The series toggles between the personal lives of the officers and the mysteries and activities taking place on the reservation. The cast and crew are almost all Native American, and the Navajo language is interwoven throughout the show. Season three began March 9th, and Dark Winds has been renewed for a fourth season. The award-winning show is a true standout in the crime fiction genre – the writing, the setting, the casting, the culture, the clothing, and the time period are all authentically crafted. 

Long Bright River by Liz Moore is one of my favorite mysteries, and I am looking forward to the screen adaptation on Peacock, which began airing in March. It was a Good Morning America Book Club pick in 2020 and on President Obama’s best books of the year list. Mickey Fitzpatrick, played by Amanda Seyfried in the screen adaptation, is a police officer patrolling a rough Philadelphia neighborhood heavily impacted by the opioid crisis. A series of murders takes place, and as Mickey works the cases, she begins to suspect that her personal life is somehow related to the case. Simultaneously, she is searching for her sister, an addict who has gone missing. The book is fantastic, and I hope Peacock creates an equally fabulous screen rendition.

One book-to-screen adaptation that I am looking forward to but haven't watched yet is Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe. I want to read the nonfiction book before I see the show. I have loved the two Keefe books that I have read – Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels, and Crooks and Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty – so I want to finish the book and then watch the adaptation on Hulu, entitled Say Nothing, to compare the two. The story is set in Belfast during the Troubles, specifically the 1970s through the 1990s, and follows a group of individuals who are involved with the Provisional Irish Republican Army and the group’s murder of Jean McConville. It aired last fall and was generally well received by critics and won numerous awards.

One author who has had great success with multiple book-to-screen adaptations is thriller writer Harlan Coben. Netflix has adapted 10 of his books as limited series with Coben working as an executive producer on each one. The most recent, Just One Look, dropped in early March as a six-episode series. Previous books adaptations include: The Stranger, Safe, The Woods, The Innocent, Gone for Good, Stay Close, Hold Tight, Fool Me Once, and Missing You. More of Coben’s books are said to be in development so there appears to be no end in sight to his partnership with Netflix.

More screen adaptations are coming in 2025, including The Hunting Wives by May Cobb (Starz), The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (movie being released Christmas Day), and The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware (Netflix in the fall).

Now, back to the question: Do you read the book before you watch the show? I find myself somewhere in the middle; sometimes I read the book first and sometimes I do not. It seems it depends on the book and the adaptation. We’d love to hear what you think. 

Editor’s note: Book reviewer Cindy Burnett also writes our weekly Page Turners column. She hosts an award-winning book podcast entitled Thoughts from a Page Podcast www.thoughtsfromapage.com, runs the Instagram account @thoughtsfrompage, and regularly speaks to groups about books.