Prolific author Harlan Coben’s novels have been adapted for television in series such as Prime Video’s “Harlan Coben’s Shelter,” Netflix’s “The Stranger” and, most recently, the streamer’s megahit “Fool Me Once.” Although the show was somewhat absurd, it became a viral hit late last year. Now Coben’s winning streak continues with the latest Netflix mystery thriller “Missing You.” Adapted for television by Victoria Asare-Archer, the five-part limited series is shocking, captivating and insightful from beginning to end. The show reminds us that while it’s natural to want answers to questions, it’s quite another to accept the truth.

Set in the United Kingdom, Missing You follows Detective Inspector Kat Donovan (an exemplary Rosalind Eleazar), who heads the Missing Persons Unit. Kat is stubborn and strong-willed and is completely focused on her career. However, her romantic life isn’t quite as robust. After being urged by her best friends Aqua (Mary Malone) and Stacey (Jessica Plummer), she joins a dating app to get back on the road. But things take a sharp turn when Kat comes across her ex-fiancé Josh’s (Ashley Walters) dating profile. Meeting an ex can be a triggering experience, but for Kat, who was ghosted by Josh more than a decade ago, it awakens long-buried feelings.

As Kat considers what to do with Josh’s accidental appearance, she is also shaken by the news that her father’s murderer, Monte Leburne (Marc Warren), is dying of cancer. Kat’s father, Detective Sargent Clint Donovan (Lenny Henry), was killed in the line of duty several years earlier. While Monte clings to his life, Kat is determined to see him and get answers as to why he killed her father. As the past bubbles into the present, “Missing You” finds a woman trying to reconcile her changing perceptions of the men she thought she knew while working on two bizarre cases: a missing professor and a missing one single mother.

Beautifully paced without wasting a scene or word of dialogue, “Missing You” reveals several secrets as Kat persistently works to piece together fragments of her past. Eleazar’s “Kat” is still struggling with the loss of her father and the shock of being abandoned by her fiancé. She shows how loss and pain permeate and entrench our lives and never truly go away, no matter how hard we work to move forward. Although Kat and her emotional turmoil are the focus of this story, “Missing You” shows how communities and friendships can influence the perception of various events and why good and evil exist on a sliding scale.

While the mysteries surrounding Josh’s disappearance and Clint’s death are compelling enough, Asare-Archer carefully delves into the missing persons cases, which become far more sinister than expected. There are more than a few villains and liars, but the mysteries in the plot are so delicately constructed that the audience is constantly struggling to find out the truth.

Mesmerizing and deeply emotional, Missing You is a thrilling mystery that follows multiple lives over a decade. The series explores how deception can corrode relationships and change them irrevocably. Although the clues themselves aren’t explosive, kidnappings, ax fights and even a major fire add intensity to the show. The supporting cast is also quite good, particularly Steve Pemberton, who plays the sinister dog breeder Titus and delivers a performance that could have easily fallen into camp in the wrong hands. Furthermore, the narrative shifts in unforeseen directions just when the audience thinks they have learned everything. Ultimately, it’s clear that truly knowing someone, no matter how much you love them, is a very different experience.

“Missing You” premieres on Netflix on January 1st.