Harlan Coben’s Run Away has been given the Netflix treatment, and while most of the twists and turns have been resolved by the end, there’s one mystery that remains: what exactly happened to Henry Thorpe? There’s a hidden detail that provides the answer.
In 2018, Coben signed a multi-year deal with Netflix to have a number of his novels adapted into TV shows, which was extended again in 2022, and for good reason. Not only does he have 37 books and counting, but each of his shows have proven successful.
Kicking off with Safe in 2018, there have now been 12 entries in Netflix’s Coben collection, with several of the adaptations dropping on New Year’s Day, including Fool Me Once and Missing You.
The same can be said for Run Away, which centers on Simon Green (James Nesbitt) as he searches for his runaway daughter Paige (Ellie de Lange). But while digging for answers, he’s caught up in a murder case and a mystery that could destroy his family. Warning: spoilers ahead!
What happened to Henry in Run Away?
Although it’s not shown on screen, it’s implied that Henry was one of the half-siblings fathered by cult leader Casper Vartage who was killed by Dee Dee (Maeve Courtier-Lilley) and Ash (Jon Pointing).
This is true in the Run Away novel too, with Dee Dee alluding to his death when Ash grows concerned about the fact that they could get found out and the police could rumble the Shining Truth cult’s plans.
You see, Dee Dee is a member of the cult, and she gets her old foster brother Ash to carry out a series of hit jobs on behalf of the leader, Casper (known to his followers as The One).
After committing a number of the murders, Dee Dee eventually tells Ash that Casper (Ken Bones) is dying, and his two “divine” sons – known as The Visitor and The Volunteer – will take over the Shining Truth and his millions of dollars.
But it turns out Casper has fathered a lot of children over the decades. When it came to his other sons, he put them up for adoption and told the mothers that their babies were stillborn.
“It’s written in the symbols that the Shining Haven and all of The One’s possessions will be equally divided amongst all his male heirs,” she explains. Now that he’s close to death, he’s asked them to murder his additional sons so they can’t “ruin the Shining Truth.”
Before they were killed, a number of the half-siblings – Aaron (Thomas Flynn), Kevin (Connor Mills), Damien (Ben Keenan), and Henry – discovered that they were related. They communicated in secret, swearing to keep their relationship quiet until they could track down their father.
By the end of Run Away, the Netflix series has shown how all of their murders went down – except for Henry. But a line from Dee Dee suggests that he was one of the ones who was bumped off by them early on.
In the book and the TV show, while talking about the half-brothers’ deaths, she says, “One was shot in a robbery. One committed suicide. One is just missing, probably a runaway. One should be, I don’t know, stabbed, maybe by a drug-addled homeless nut.”
The first death she’s referring to is Damien, the second is Kevin, and the last is Aaron – so that means the third person, who is considered by the police as “missing”, is Henry, indicating that they killed him off-screen.
It’s easy to overlook this though, as she doesn’t explicitly say Henry’s name, which is why viewers at home were left scratching their heads.
Over on Reddit, one wrote, “I have just finished Run Away, a new mini series based on Harlan Coben’s book. Generally, I have enjoyed it, it is his typical misery story with a few plot twists, shocks and red herrings. Perfect for a lazy day.
“What I do mind are some loose ends. Did someone else finish it and share an opinion?” To which another replied, “Yes. What happened to the kid she was originally looking for!”
A third agreed, “Omg yeah. What happened to Henry?” And a fourth chimed in, “I need to know about Henry too. Absolutely LOVED the show, this was my only loose end. His poor dad.”
However, one eagle-eyed fan spotted the reveal in Dee Dee’s comment. “They tell you. Dee Dee and Ash talk about it when they are discussing the killings all needing to be different,” they wrote.
“They mention a runaway, a suicide and a burglary so far when they talk about it. Implying the runaway has already happened and that it was Henry.
“Further confirmed when you think how the dad mentions the text about the runaway wasn’t quite right and the same thing happens with Elena.”
Ingrid ending explained
One person Dee Dee and Ash didn’t kill is Aaron – because Ingrid (Minnie Driver) beat them to it, murdering him to protect Paige. But right at the end of Run Away, Simon discovers that Ingrid used to be a member of the Shining Truth, and Aaron was actually her son.
Ingrid doesn’t know this because, as previously said, the cult members were told that their children died at birth. While Simon was piecing together the puzzle, Paige was still missing and Ingrid was in a coma after being shot by a local criminal.
She survives and wakes up, but only after the cult is intercepted by the police and the mystery is solved. At this stage, Paige is in rehab and their family are slowly able to recover.
Before Ingrid wakes up, Paige and Simon are reunited, and when he drives her back to rehab, he tells her that he suspects Dee Dee and Ash weren’t the ones who killed Aaron. Finally, Paige admits it was Ingrid, and she did it all to protect her.
Although Paige asks him to keep it a secret, he lets it out after Ingrid has recovered and is back home. They talk it through and agree to not keep any more secrets from each other again.
It all seems like their family is finally ready to move on, until Simon realizes there’s one more secret. Uncovering some old photos of Ingrid in her younger years, he discovers she was a member of the cult and Aaron was her son.
This explains why Paige was also on a family tree site, why her and Aaron slept on separate mattresses despite appearing as if they were romantically involved, and why the pair even connected in the first place.
Simon brings this information to Paige, who tearfully admits that it’s true. This means Ingrid killed her own son and she doesn’t even know it. Even though Simon and Ingrid promised no more secrets, Paige begs her father not to say anything as it would destroy her.
The final scene in the Netflix series shows the whole family sitting down to dinner together, but Simon looks tortured inside. It’s only implied that he’s going to keep this fact quiet for Ingrid and Paige’s sake, but the book makes this crystal clear.
“Simon might not have stepped in front of the bullet when Luther shot Ingrid. But he would step in front of the bullet now – no matter how much it hurt,” it reads.
“He listened to his wife’s beautiful laugh, and he knew that he would pay any price to keep hearing it. So he made a solemn vow. There would be no more secrets. Except this one.”
One question viewers at home have is why Ingrid would convince Simon early on to head to the scene of Aaron’s murder to find answers about where Paige was.
“If Ingrid killed Aaron, why did she then take Simon back to the crime scene to ‘look for Paige’?” asked one.
“Sure, if it was Simon’s idea then maybe I’d accept that she went along with it so as not to arouse suspicion. But unless I’m remembering it incorrectly, was it not Ingrid who insisted on going there? What was the purpose of this?”
However, another explained, “I understood it as Ingrid wanting to go to the crime scene to cover anything incriminating – she didn’t know Cornelius had already done that. It’s what made me suspicious of her in the first place.”
A third added, “Agreed. It’s easier to explain having left fingerprints or DNA when you claim you went together afterwards to find Paige.”
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