📺 Tracker (2024)
Based on novel
Tracker is a CBS action drama series that brings Jeffery Deaver's Colter Shaw novels to television, premiering in February 2024 in the coveted post-Super Bowl time slot. Developed by Ben H. Winters, the series stars Justin Hartley as the lone-wolf survivalist who crisscrosses the country in his Airstream trailer, offering his unique tracking abilities to law enforcement and private citizens in exchange for reward money. The show adapts the premise and characters from Deaver's 2019 novel The Never Game, which introduced readers to Shaw's world of high-stakes missing persons cases.
The television adaptation makes several notable changes from the source material. While the novel focuses on a single, tightly-wound case in Silicon Valley involving a video game-obsessed killer, the series adopts a case-of-the-week format that allows Shaw to travel to different locations across America, solving a new mystery in each episode. This structural shift transforms the narrative from a contained thriller into a procedural drama with an overarching mystery about Shaw's family and his enigmatic father's death woven throughout the first season. The cast includes Robin Weigert, Abby McEnany, Eric Graise, and Fiona Rene as Shaw's support team who assist him remotely from their home base.
Jeffery Deaver, a former journalist and attorney, has been a powerhouse in crime fiction for decades, earning numerous awards including the Steel Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association. His Colter Shaw series represents a departure from his earlier Lincoln Rhyme novels, trading the forensic expertise of a quadriplegic criminologist for the physical, outdoors-oriented skills of a survivalist. The character's backstory—raised by a paranoid father who taught his children elaborate survival techniques while preparing for societal collapse—provides rich material for the television series to explore through flashbacks and ongoing character development.
Tracker quickly proved to be a ratings success for CBS, earning a second season renewal just weeks after its premiere. The show's popularity speaks to the enduring appeal of Deaver's creation and the television audience's appetite for a modern hero who combines old-fashioned tracking skills with contemporary investigative techniques. Filmed in British Columbia, the series takes advantage of the Vancouver area's diverse landscapes to stand in for various American locations, giving each episode a distinct visual identity while maintaining the road-trip spirit of Shaw's nomadic lifestyle.
The Never Game is a crime thriller novel by bestselling author Jeffery Deaver, published in 2019 by G.P. Putnam's Sons. It introduces Colter Shaw, a skilled survivalist and 'reward-seeker' who roams the United States, using his expert tracking abilities honed from a family of survivalists to help law enforcement and private individuals locate missing persons or solve crimes in exchange for rewards. The story begins with Shaw investigating the disappearance of a young woman in Silicon Valley, drawing him into the shadowy world of the cutthroat video gaming industry and a perilous game where survival is key.
Deaver, known for his intricate plots and twists, crafts a narrative inspired by real-world survival games, blending high-stakes action with psychological suspense. The novel launches the Colter Shaw series, which has since expanded with sequels exploring Shaw's fractured family dynamics and ongoing quests. Praised as a top crime novel by the New York Times Book Review, it exemplifies Deaver's mastery of deception and tension, cementing his status as a leading figure in thriller literature.