Review of Stay Close

Stay Close (2021)
6/10
When the past infringes the present......
8 January 2022
Megan Pierce (Cush Jumbo) and Dave Shaw (Daniel Francis) are finally tieing the knot. They have recently moved to Brighton and are hoping to have a blessed home with the three growing children. Life is going on well until one day soon after the local carnival, a young man last spotted in the nearby woods goes missing. The last person to have seen him there is a photojournalist Ray Levine (Richard Armitage), and the local police starts the investigation. DS Michael Broome (James Nesbitt) is heading the search in which Megan's elder daughter Kayleigh (Bethany Antonia) comes under the net. Suddenly, life turns upside down for Megan, as she is also told that Stewart Green, with whom she has had a torrid past in the same town two decades back, has returned and is on the lookout for her. The past comes rushing down upon Megan like a waterfall, and her life as Cassie, a strip dancer, is back in focus. Adding to the complications is Ray, who was in a relationship with Cassie. He had assumed that she had run away 20 years ago without a trace and is stunned to find her back in town, having 3 children and is about to marry. And then, someone else goes missing.

All this is related, DS Broome is convinced, who has reasons to believe that a serial killer is involved, but doesn't exactly know how to bring the murderer home in the absence of any deadbodies. Each of the persons who has gone missing was in a popular bar called Viper, and Broome is in love with its owner, Lorraine (Sarah Parish).

Complicated right? Absolutely! Too much is happening in the sleepy town, and everyone seems to be drawn in. Everyone seems to have a past and deep, dark secrets emerge out of them. "Stay Close" is based on Harlan Coben's bestseller by the same name, and is not in the ivy league of his other stories on Netflix. Yes it is intriguing and suspenseful until the very end and does spring a huge surprise when the truth is revealed, but you're left wondering about how improbable the story is. Far too many coincidences, a far fetched plot and inconceivable developments mar the story and make it incredible. To start with, why would Cassie, who ran away from a diabolical situation two decades ago return to the same place to start afresh, knowing that a crime had been committed, and also, her ex-fiance lives in town? It makes for an interesting watch as usual for any Harlan Coben novel, but seriously speaking, suffers from an unbelievable plot.
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