Review: ‘Harlan Coben’s Final Twist,’ starring Harlan Coben

January 19, 2026

by Carla Hay

“Harlan Coben’s Final Twist”

Culture Representation: The documentary series “Harlan Coben’s Final Twist” features a predominantly white group of people who are featured in true crime cases that are examined by mystery book author Harlan Coben.

Culture Clash: Various people commit crimes and are caught by law enforcement.

Culture Audience: “Harlan Coben’s Final Twist” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in true crime docuseries with celebrity hosts.

“Harlan Coben’s Final Twist” is a reliably solid true crime docuseries that doesn’t do anything groundbreaking in its presentation of a different case per episode. Harlan Coben’s narration is a little stiff, but it’s not awkward. Coben, who is a best-selling author of mystery novels, is the show’s host and an executive producer of the series. He does not conduct the interviews that are featured on the show.

Jeff Zimbalist of All Rise Films is the showrunner, as well as an executive producer, of “Harlan Coben’s Final Twist.” Each case spotlights crimes involving residents of the United States. Each episode features interviews with people who know the crime victims and/or the accused; law enforcement officials; and anyone else who was directly involved in the case. There are some re-enactments with actors, but these scenes are short are not exploitative. As the show’s title implies, there’s a “final twist” in each case that was not expected by many people in the general public who were following the case.

The series premiere episode, titled “Billy and Billie Jean,” is about the murders of 36-year-old Billy Payne and his 23-year-old fiancée Billie Jean Hayworth, who were shot to death in their home in Mountain City, Tennessee, on January 31, 2012. The couple’s son Tyler, who was 6 or 7 months old at the time, was found uninjured in Hayworth’s arms. Payne and Hayworth were both shot in the head, while Payne also had his throat slit. There were no sign of an intrusion. No items were stolen from the home.

Although the couple’s friends and family told police investigators that Payne and Hayworth were friendly and didn’t cause problems, the investigation quickly uncovered that Payne and Hayworth were involved in a prolonged and bitter online feud with a woman in her early 30s named Jenelle Potter, who accused Payne and Hayworth of stalking and bullying her online for several months. Payne and Hayworth denied all of her accusations before the couple got brutally murdered.

This case has gotten a lot of media attention, but the full results of the case won’t be revealed in this review, in case people want to see this show episode to find out. However, it’s enough to say that other people who got personally involved in the feud were Jenelle’s father Marvin “Buddy” Potter, Jenelle’s mother Barbara Potter, and Jenelle’s boyfriend Jamie Lynn Curd, who also happened to be Payne’s cousin. Chris Tjaden, a former cop whom Jenelle knew when they went to the same high school, is also a name that frequently came up in the investigation.

Family members and friends of the victims who are interviewed in “Harlan Coben’s Final Twist” are not identified by their last names. A woman named Sarah (who is described as a friend of Hayworth) and Billy’s sister Tracy are each interviewed in this episode. They both describe Jenelle as a weird loner, who was sheltered by her overprotective parents. Jenelle had an obvious crush on Billy, who deliberately played matchmaker with Jenelle and his cousin Curd, with the hope that Jenelle would lose interest in Billy.

Other people interviewed in the episode are cybersecurity special agent Mike Hannon, prosecuting attorney Dennis Brooks and attorney Cameron Hyder. “Harlan Coben’s Final Twist” doesn’t get overstuffed with interviews and has a format that is similar to “48 Hours” and “Dateline,” except that “Harlan Coben’s Final Twist” does not have news correspondents conducting interviews on camera for the show. The final twist in this case is that many people feel that justice was not fully served for the person who set these murders into motion.

CBS premiered “Harlan Coben’s Final Twist” on January 7, 2026.