Crime thrillers are universal — tense plotting and suspenseful reveals are exciting in any language, and (unfortunately) the dark side of human nature is present in every culture. Which is why many of bestselling American author Harlan Coben’s novels have been adapted into series in several countries. The latest, based on 2008’s Hold Tight, is his second Polish-language original Netflix series (after 2020’s The Woods). Debuting in April 2022, Hold Tight follows a woman on a harrowing search for her son, who disappears after his friend is found dead. The series is a sequel of sorts to The Woods — it shares multiple characters — and is the sixth of Coben’s books to be adapted for Netflix. Want to know more about the series? Below, we'll introduce you to everything you need to know about Hold Tight, its cast, its connection to The Woods and the rest of Harlan Coben's works on Netflix.

What is Hold Tight about? 

Life in a tight-knit, affluent Warsaw suburb slowly unravels when a teen goes missing shortly after his friend’s death, exposing secrets and lies in the process. And of course, exposed secrets and lies make for the juiciest TV. To what lengths will the missing teen’s mom go in order to ensure her son is safe? In Polish, the series is called Zachowaj spokój.

Who’s in the Hold Tight cast? 

Magdalena Boczarska stars as Anna Barczyk, the intrepid mother searching for her son (and putting herself into dangerous situations in the process). The prolific actor has starred in more than two dozen features since her on-screen debut, including film festival favorite Little Rose and sex-positive true story The Art of Loving. 

You can follow Boczarska on Instagram here.

Leszek Lichota plays Michal Barczyk, Anna’s husband and Adam’s father. The couple have a seemingly happy marriage, though the secrets Adam and his friends have been keeping mean nothing is as it seems. Lichota is a prolific Polish television actor, as seen in series including soap opera Na Wspólnej and police drama Raven. 

You can follow Lichota on Instagram here.

Krzysztof Oleksyn plays Adam Barczyk, Anna and Michal’s son who starts acting strangely after the drug overdose death of his best friend and ultimately goes missing, prompting his mother, girlfriend, and other loved ones to search for him. 

You can follow Oleksyn on Instagram here.

Piotr Litwic/Netflix

Grzegorz Damiecki returns as Pawel Kopinski, the protagonist of Coben’s other Polish adaptation, The Woods, as the father to a teenage daughter caught up in the mystery. He’s best known to English-speaking audiences from Schindler’s List.

Agata Łabno plays Kaja Kopinska, Adam’s girlfriend and the daughter of Pawel Kopinski, the returning lead from The Woods. 

You can follow Łabno on Instagram here.

Left: Agnieszka Grochowska as Laura Goldsztajn in Hold Tight.

Piotr Litwic/Netflix

Agnieszka Grochowska plays Laura Goldsztajn, also from The Woods and now married to Pawel. She’s Kaja’s stepmother and also a counselor at her school who helps search for Adam. Grochowska’s previous work includes dozens of Polish films and TV series, plus roles in English-language thriller In Darkness and drama Teen Spirit. 

You can follow Grochowska on Instagram here.

Piotr Litwic/Netflix

Miroslaw Zbrojewicz plays Borys “Gajos” Gajewicz, Adam’s friend. 

Center: Jakub Pruski as Blazej Myszkowski in Hold Tight.

Piotr Litwic/Netflix

Jakub Pruski plays Blazej Myszkowski, another of Adam’s friends. 

You can follow Pruski on Instagram here.

How is Hold Tight related to The Woods? 

The Woods, based on Coben’s 2007 novel of the same name, follows prosecutor Paweł Kopiński in two time periods: in 2019, when evidence found on the body of a homicide victim sparks hope that his sister, who disappeared 25 years earlier, could still be alive; and in 1994, when he was a counselor at a summer camp where two people were murdered and two, including his sister, went missing. Although The Woods and Hold Tight are both standalone novels, they’re connected in the Netflix cinematic universe through the character of Pawel. Played as an adult by Damiecki in both series, he’s based on Coben’s book character Paul Copeland. In the Hold Tight series, Pawel's teenage daughter is the girlfriend of the boy who disappears in the premiere, and Pawel’s now married to his long-lost love, Laura Goldsztajn (Grochowska), with whom he reconnects in The Woods.

What other Harlan Coben books have been made into Netflix series? 

While several of Coben’s works have made it to the screen over the years, his first title to hit Netflix was Safe in 2018 — an original series created by Coben and set in Britain, starring Michael C. Hall as a widowed father struggling to connect with his two teenage daughters after the death of their mother — until one of them goes missing.

That same year, Coben signed a deal with Netflix to produce 14 original series or films based on his novels, with the first project hitting screens in 2020. English series The Stranger follows family man Adam Price (Richard Armitage), who becomes entangled in a mystery when a stranger makes a shocking claim about his wife. Later that year came the aforementioned The Woods, followed by 2021’s Spanish series The Innocent, about an accidental killing that leads a man down a dark path of intrigue and murder. Just as he finds love and freedom, one phone call brings back the nightmare.

Other Coben series that debuted in 2021 include Gone for Good, a French-language series about a thirtysomething man who’s plunged into a new mystery when his girlfriend vanishes 10 years after losing two of his closest loved ones, and Stay Close, an English thriller following the chain reaction that occurs following the disappearance of one man 17 years to the night after another vanished. And 2022, of course, has brought Hold Tight — so far.