Harlan Coben's Shelter review: Everything about this series just feels painfully awkward

Harlan Coben's Shelter, on the other hand, is not in the same 'easy watch' vein – and to put it plainly, you can't help but feel like giving up on it.

Now, I'm not talking about the subject matter being too grisly or the twists being too dark for most viewers. Instead, Shelter is so muddled in its storyline and so poorly-executed that the series feels almost like a joke. Not in the way of a comedy, but in the way of a drama that had some foundations to be good... and just very badly missed the mark.

The drama centres on young Mickey Bolitar (Jaden Michael), who is left dealing with the aftermath of his father's tragic death, which happens in the first few moments of the series.

Now living with his aunt in Kasselton, New Jersey, Mickey meets a fellow new student at school, Ashley Kent (Samantha Bugliaro), who he seems to have a lot in common with.

It's the beginning of puppy love, and rather sweet to watch, but when they plan a slightly unrealistic diner date the evening of meeting each other for the first time, Mickey is left confused by being stood up.

Soon, Mickey finds himself wanting to get to the bottom of Ashley's disappearance, and his quest for the truth slowly unravels some mysteries at the heart of his new town.

There's a lot wrong with the premise alone. First of all – and you'll undoubtedly be left feeling cynical about it when watching – why on earth would someone take such an interest in a stranger? Even in the midst of his own grief and his own mother's recovery journey, Mickey still only wants to find out where Ashley is.

Call it commendable, call it cute, but the lack of development between the pair just makes the whole thing simply unbelievable.

It's a thread that runs through the series – this sense of unbelievability and awkwardness. Soon, even as the new kid in school, Mickey has two instant best friends, Spoon (Adrian Greensmith) and Ema (Abby Corrigan), who, maybe just out of sheer boredom, unite as a trio and aim to get to the bottom of Ashley's disappearance.

Everything, in theory, is in place for a well-paced, meaty thriller – but Shelter starts to get silly when certain things are introduced. You'll know them when you see them, but we're talking about an enigmatic antagonist, Bat Lady, who is plainly referred to as the ridiculous name even in the series' most serious moments.

But the main drawback of Shelter is something that really can't be fixed, and is unlikely to prove any better as the tension notches up as the series progresses – the acting.

While the show is home to a core cast of rising young talent, much of the stunted dialogue in the series comes from the adults within it, rather than their teenage counterparts.

Phrases such as "your uterus has an expiration date" and "tell no one we spoke or I'll kill your friend" are bandied around in conversations to illicit some kind of emotion, but they just feel lifeless and awkward.

A lot of the acting in Shelter is unfortunately quite difficult to grip on to, which is obviously a major hurdle in truly getting stuck into a drama like this.

Instead, you're jarred out of any continuity with badly-written scenes, failed one-liners and one particular scene that sees a woman plainly reveal one of the supposed big twists so far: that the man who put her husband in hospital has... an octopus tattoo on his face.

Things just go from awkward to slightly unbearable to watch when we're introduced to a mysterious man in a blacked-out SUV who insists on wearing oversized sunglasses at all times. He's supposed to be intimidating – but, again, this random character seems like some kind of joke.

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On top of all of this, Shelter feels like a tree with one too many branches, the story feeling weighed down by the amount of tangents it takes and subplots that you can only hope weave into the final reveal.

While there's a lot to be said for the things that Shelter does pretty terribly, one thing they've gotten right is the casting of the main trio.

Though their friendship may seem confusingly instantaneous, Michael, Greensmith and Corrigan have an on-screen presence that drives this story forward. They're funny without trying too hard, awkward in the way that teens are, and difficult to figure out, which is actually part of their charm.

A thriller, of all things to watch, shouldn't feel hard to get on board with – but somehow, Shelter makes it feel like an insurmountable feat of concentration, with a host of things being thrown around that are simply difficult to follow.

Will Ashley be found and does any of this correlate to Mickey's personal life or his father's death? We'll have to wait and see as episodes are released weekly, but when a series feels akin to wading through sludge, it may take some convincing to tune back in.

The first three episodes of Harlan Coben's Shelter are available to stream on Prime Video and episodes will be released weekly every Friday. Try Amazon Prime Video for free for 30 days.

Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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