10 Quick Questions for Harlan Coben

Speaking of Netflix, what’s the best part of adapting your books to the screen?

So far we've released seven in three languages. They’re mostly in English, but we also have a French show, a Spanish show and a Polish show. The English language ones I’m heavily involved in — I’m the creator and showrunner. It’s always a thrill. I love the idea that you can watch something from another country and dub it or subtitle it. I think that’s the magic of what Netflix does. I have several more in development. I just finished filming one for Amazon Prime [called Shelter] in New Jersey, my home state. We actually filmed in my old high school. It will probably be out sometime in the summer.

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Who would you cast to play yourself in a film?

Boy, that’s a tough one. I’d like Hugh Jackman. …  He’s a very nice man. I would pick him. … One time, when I was in France, I was doing a photo shoot [and] a bunch of people were gathering around taking pictures. I was impressed with myself that, Wow, I’m really this well known in France. But they thought I was Bruce Willis!

You’ve announced plans for a U.K. book tour. What are your hacks for staying fresh while traveling?

[I drink] two glasses of wine before I get on an overnight flight. I’m out like a light. I need to hit the ground running. If I take a nap, I’m finished for the day. It’s a tangent, but why are movies on airplanes so good? It’s the strangest thing. There must be something with the altitude that plays with my emotions, because I’ll watch something that everyone tells me later on that I would normally hate — and I’ll be on the plane, [and] I’ll be sobbing or laughing my butt off.

What was the last movie or show you liked while flying?

Last time I flew, I watched the entire box set of the new Sex in the City [reboot], And Just Like That. … I loved every moment of it. I can’t wait for the new season. Some people tell me if I saw it on the ground, I wouldn’t feel that way. I want to watch the next season on the ground and see if I like it as much.

You’re a member of the New England Basketball Hall of Fame from your days playing at Amherst College. Do you still shoot hoops?

No, I retired at the age of 47. I hurt my knee. My friend, who’s an orthopedist, said, “You can keep playing and end up on my table, or you can stop now.”

At Amherst, you were also a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity with fellow writer Dan Brown. Do you keep in touch?

Dan and I have been friends for a long time. I was one of the first readers of The Da Vinci Code. In fact, I was one of the first people to blurb it — when you write those blurbs on the inside of books. We’re still friends. We golf sometimes.

At age 61, has your perspective on writing changed from your 30s or 40s?

I know a few tricks I didn’t know then. Each book is uniquely painful, though. It’s a little bit like golf. Every time you think you have your swing mastered, God comes along and shows you you don’t. Same thing with writing. Every time I think I have this down now, I get thrown for a huge loop. I Will Find You was really hard to write. I thought it would be somewhat straight ahead, but the story went in directions that I never expected, which is often the best-case scenario. I think I’m better now than I ever was, but that’s maybe delusional thinking. That's going to be up to the reader.