June’s New Mystery/Thriller Adaptations, From A Psychological Thriller to a Victim With No Memory

Yes, we’re in the adaptation era. But we’re also remaking everything that has already been adapted before. So let me give you the full history: The 1957 psychological thriller originally titled The Executioners by John D. MacDonald followed a lawyer being stalked by a criminal he helped imprison. In 1962, Gregory Peck starred in the first film adaptation, and then in 1991, we got a remake of the 1962 film starring Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, and Juliette Lewis. And now we’re caught up for the newest iteration.

The Apple TV series, inspired by the 1991 film remake, has Martin Scorsese (who directed the 1991 film adaptation) as executive producer, along with Steven Spielberg. The 10-episode limited series stars Javier Bardem, Amy Adams, and Patrick Wilson.

Watch the Cape Fear series trailer.

Unusual Suspects

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Adapted from the novel written by Rosa Montero and Olivier Truc, which is published by French editorial house Points and Alfaguara (Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial) in Spain.

The film is for thriller and procedural fans, as it follows a detective partnered up with a police officer to figure out who gagged and bound a woman in a container in the port of Barcelona. The woman is alive, but unable to offer assistance in her own case since she has no memory of who she even is. The film stars Candela Peña, Ana Rujas, and Pol López.

Watch the trailer for The Marked Woman.

Harlan Coben is the current Stephen King of adaptations, with what feels like a new one every other month (13 series so far with Netflix). In I Will Find You, we get the fun trope of a prisoner who must break out to solve a mystery. Specifically, a father who is serving life in prison for killing his son, who he now believes may be alive…

Stream the eight-episode series on June 18th, which stars Sam Worthington, Britt Lower, and Milo Ventimiglia (where my Gilmore Girls fans at?).

Watch the trailer for I Will Find You.

The serialized webnovel (2018-2020) follows Zhou Mingrui, who somehow ends up in an alternate Victorian world reincarnated as Klein Morett. Now he’s faced with a secret society, constant mysteries, and the pesky question of how he got here.

On June 20th, Crunchyroll will stream the first of three new episodes, Lord of Mysteries Special: City of Silver. It will be followed by episodes 2 and 3, Lord of Mysteries Special: The Marked Hunt.

Watch the trailer for Lord of Mysteries Special.

Strung is a Peacock original thriller film set amongst the wealthy in LA and follows a violin tutor who starts to work for an influential family full of secrets, leaving her to question her sanity and safety…

So this is not an adaptation, but it sounds perfect for mystery and thriller fans and, while I haven’t seen it yet, I immediately thought of some books that had comparable elements: Tiny Threads by Lilliam Rivera (dream job in the fashion world turns nightmare); Someone Had to Do It by Amber Brown and Danielle Brown (prestigious internship set in a wealthy family’s business filled with dangerous secrets); The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb (totally different tone, but a violinist centered mystery).