Harlan Coben and Alafair Burke Talk Friendship, Social Media (Exclusive) ArticlePure

What’s more fun than an interview with your favorite author? When two of them interview each other, of course! Harlan Coben and Alafair Burke caught up with each other for PEOPLE recently, in advance of their new books.

Coben is the bestselling author of many thriller and mystery novels, including Fool Me Once, which became a hit Netflix show, and Missing You, which just hit the streamer on Jan. 1. He’s also co-writing a new book with Reese Witherspoon.

Alafair Burke is the bestselling brain behind over 20 crime novels, including The Ex, The Wife and The Better Sister. Her latest, The Note, comes out on Jan. 7.

The below conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Harlan Coben: The Note is about three longtime friends who get together for the first time in years for a trip to the Hamptons and end up in the middle of a police investigation. Allow me to display my interviewing prowess with a completely novel, unexpected question: Where did the idea for this book come from?

Alafair Burke: I’ll confess that several years ago, on a girls’ trip, my friends and I were joking about notes we wanted to write for a stranger who brazenly stole a parking spot from us. Before long, the waitress and the table next to us were in on the joke, and the notes got meaner and meaner. (Some people play darts. We … write dumb notes on cocktail napkins). One of the notes was pretty vicious: He’s cheating like he always does. Imagine finding that on your car window. I kept thinking about the chaos and destruction a note like that could lead to if left for the wrong stranger. When I told my friends I might write a book about it, I think they thought I was kidding.

HC: These three friends — May, Lauren and Kelsey — have known each other for nearly 20 years but have taken very different paths since meeting at an arts camp much earlier in life. There are moments in The Note when they feel like they could be sisters, and others where the reader wonders how well they even know each other at this point. I assume that was intentional?

AB: It was. I think anyone who has maintained a lifelong, long-distance friendship knows that feeling. Months or years can pass, but then the second you’re back together in real life, it feels exactly like old times. But of course, it can’t be exactly the same. They’re not the three musketeers as much as three different pairs of friends, overlapping like Venn diagrams.

About a year before the book begins, the three of them reunite, primarily after May becomes the subject of some pretty harsh online attention. Lauren and Kelsey have their own experiences in that toxic world and reach out to help May work her way through the viral moment. Since then, they’ve maintained a constant 24/7 group text thread, which can certainly feel like a close friendship group. But when things go south on their vacation, and the police come knocking on the door, they do begin to wonder whether they really do know each other.

HC: We’re both on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky and whatever the next MySpace will be called. In The Note, social media shapes the way your characters are viewed by the outside world — and even by each other. 

AB: The internet and social media are double-edged swords in the book. It can expand your friendship circle and help you remain connected to people who might otherwise fall out of your life, but, wow, can it do some damage. Anonymous strangers suddenly believe they know you and have the right to say whatever they’d like to you and about you. It also allows people to portray themselves how they want to be seen, not how they actually are. Things that might be shiny and perfect on the surface when, underneath, it’s a real mess. And if a savvy reader starts to wonder whether they can trust their own perceptions in this book, well … I’m okay with that. 

HC: Most of The Note is set in East Hampton, and your last several books have been set at least partially in that area. What do you find interesting about the setting?

AB: Write what you know, as they say. When people hear “The Hamptons,” they picture a sliver of wealthy, celebrity-infested culture. The real south fork of Long Island has its roots in fishing and farming, and life here year-round is very different than the busy, crowded summer. Conveniently, it’s close enough to New York City that I can have characters go back and forth without complicating the logistics.

The setting worked especially well for The Note. May, Lauren, and Kelsey seek out the true summer Hamptons experience — beauty, luxury, perfection — which make it all the more delicious when things start to fall apart. Appearance versus reality — that’s where the fun happens. And, I should add that East Hampton is a very safe place with a very nice police department. I keep making up scary stuff that happens out here with police officers who aren’t especially helpful. Sorry, everyone!

HC: The Note is obviously a thriller and it’s got the twists and turns to prove it, but the friendship among these three characters is the heart of the book. Your last book, Find Me, also had a complex female friendship at its core. What is about friendships that make them such rich material for a thriller?

AB: Let me start by saying that you’ve created one of the best literary friendships of all time, between Myron Bolitar and his loyal and violent bestie, Win. Those hardcore ride-or-die friendships can bring people to do things they wouldn’t do for themselves, or maybe even for family. And female friendships? They are no joke. The bond among May, Lauren and Kelsey is intense and complex and enduring. It has weathered trauma, loss, and tragedy, but can nevertheless feel fragile. And it turns out, they all have secrets. 

Harlan, I’m turning things around on you, even though this is supposed to be about me, me, me. You arguably (ahem, objectively) have the most successful track record for a novelist’s adaptations to television streaming. Did you ever have film/TV in mind when you began writing? Now that the adaptations are so successful, has it changed how you write? 

HC: It is the kiss of death for a novelist to think, “Oh man, this will make a great movie!” while writing their book. A book is a book. A TV series is a TV series. They are very different mediums and should be treated as such. Okay, I’m boring myself with that answer, so let me pivot this back to you: Congratulations to you on the Amazon Prime adaption of The Better Sister starring Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks. What’s it like seeing your characters and stories jump from the page to the screen? 

AB: Since my first book was published in 2003, so many projects came and went that it started to feel completely imaginary. I wrote a screenplay for another book years ago and it still hasn’t been made. After The Better Sister was optioned, I thought maybe I should just focus on the books and let the adaptations take care of themselves. The producers connected with an amazing writer — Oliva Milch — and I just knew the material was in the right hands. It’s so true to the book but there are also so many bold and creative choices. And Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks really did become Chloe and Nicky. When I look at them now, they really do look like sisters. The series stands on its own as something I would watch the hell out of, even if I had never heard of the book. 

HC: What are your big plans for 2025? 

AB: I’ll be talking to anyone who wants to listen about The Note, both in person and with virtual events. I’m also kicking off the new year with my next Netflix binge: your latest adaption Missing You is out! And in March, I’ll follow my longtime annual tradition of reading your next book, Nobody’s Fool, on my favorite beach on Anguilla. Seriously, if you ever move your pub dates from March, my life plans will be completely upended. I think I know at least part of your plan for the year — you and Reese Witherspoon recently announced that you’re writing a book together. That’s so exciting.

HC: I can’t say much right now, but Reese came to me with a brilliant idea, and immediately, the two of us just ran with it. I have never collaborated on a novel before — and never thought it would be something I’d like — but Reese has been such a great, generous, fun and creative partner that it’s been a blast. You’ll be able to read it in October. 

AB: I can’t wait.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer , from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

The Note by Alafair Burke is out now. Nobody’s Fool by Harlan Coben comes out March 25 and is now available for preorder, wherever books are sold.