56 Days' 8 Biggest Changes From The Catherine Ryan Howard Book

Warning! This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for 56 Days.

56 Days has caused quite a stir online with its tantalizing thriller tones, but it appears that the adaptation has made some significant deviations from the original book. Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia star as two people who embark on a whirlwind romance, but both appear to be holding back when it comes to who they really are.

The show, like the book, does a wonderful job of playing with time in a nonlinear way, with Ciara (Cameron) and Oliver (Jogia) exploring their relationship over two months, while the terrifying end, with a body decomposing in a bathroom, is also being investigated simultaneously. However, there are also numerous ways in which the series breaks away from the source material to create what is ultimately a very different story.

56 Days Changed The Setting From Dublin, Ireland To Boston

The novel that 56 Days is based on was written by Irish author Catherine Ryan Howard. As Howard hails from Ireland, it made sense for her to set the novel in familiar surroundings, which is why the book has Ciara and Oliver's relationship blossom in Dublin, Ireland.

This largely informs the story, shapes the way that characters engage, and provides important context for the rest of the text to play out. However, in the show, the story shifts from the Emerald Isle to the home of the Red Sox: Boston. Evidently, the rest of the story had to change around this new location, and it became a much more generic setting.

Ciara & Oliver Moved In Together During Lockdown

The book was originally published in late 2021, and Howard used the prescient COVID lockdowns as a source of inspiration for her writing. When Ciara and Oliver meet, the impending lockdown acts as an inciting incident that forces them to make a rushed decision to move in together, despite only recently beginning their romance.

Prime Video's 56 Days leaves the lockdown in the past, and in order to account for the rapid pace of Ciara's big move into Oliver's apartment, they have Ciara use a number of tactics to convince her new boyfriend to welcome her into his lavish apartment. Ultimately, this does change the tone of their relationship.

Oliver Doesn't Come From Money In The Book

Speaking of lavish apartments, the TV Oliver is ridiculously wealthy, and he appears to be able to afford whatever kind of life he chooses. This also plays an important part in Ciara's motives for connecting with him, as she hopes to acquire some of his enormous fortune for herself and her family after the hardships he put them through.

In the book, Oliver has nowhere near this level of wealth, though he does appear to be financially stable at least. Instead, Ciara and Oliver end up being on a much more level playing field in terms of their individual wealth, and again, this is an important detail that changes the dynamics as Oliver wields a great deal of power thanks to his fortune in the show.

Ciara's Motives Are Different in The 56 Days Book

This also connects to why Ciara is even pursuing Oliver in the first place. As mentioned above, Ciara wants to be compensated for the loss of her brother, which she blames on Oliver. She knows that her brother was at home at a time when Oliver suggested he was still out, so she has already pieced together that Oliver was responsible for the death of their friend Paul, and she wants to confront him about it.

But in the book, Ciara doesn't have all the answers. While she suspects that Oliver played a bigger role than he let on previously, she just wants to know the truth, without a cash prize for the effort. The book also notes that Ciara's mother is dying, which further fuels Ciara's desire to get answers before her mother passes away.

Oliver Is A Terrible Person

One of the most intriguing elements of the story in 56 Days is how both Ciara and Oliver have secrets, and they actively betray each other. Ciara lies and deceives in order to get to her goal, and Oliver wants to protect himself from his haunting past. But at his heart, Oliver is a good man who regrets his mistakes and has spent years haunted by his actions.

The book presents Oliver very differently. When Oliver and Shane were young, they were both annoyed by the younger boy, Paul. Together, they bullied him and acted cruelly. But Oliver had the idea of doing something more severe. Together, the boys lured Paul to the Narrow River, but it was Oliver who executed him, pushing him beneath the water until he stopped breathing.

As if that wasn't awful enough, Oliver goes on to pin the majority of the blame on his friend, Shane, which results in Shane getting 20 years in prison. Meanwhile, Oliver, who was found to be involved in the killing, was only sentenced to five years. It's cruel, and it shows that the book version of Oliver was much more callous.

The Dead Body Belongs To Oliver, But The Cause Is Ambiguous

The big reveal of the 56 Days book is that Oliver was the body in the bathroom. However, the way that he died is very different from the case explored in the TV show. Oliver took some sleeping pills before discovering Ciara's secret by reading her journal. Then, he stumbles into the shower in a drugged state, before collapsing and injuring his head.

Ciara stands idly by, watching as Oliver bleeds out, and rather than call for help, she chooses to walk away and let fate take its course. This is a huge deviation from the show, where the body isn't even Oliver's. Instead, it belongs to his therapist, Dan Troxler, while Oliver and Ciara run away together and start a new life and family.

Dan Troxler Was Never Part Of The 56 Days Book

Speaking of Dan Troxler, the therapist who emotionally abused Oliver for years and exploited him for his wealth by continually encouraging him to isolate himself and only share secrets with him, was never a part of the book. This man, who is instrumental in the series for having deceived and manipulated Oliver and caused Shane to despair enough to want to be dead, was created entirely for the show.

This ultimately makes the book version of 56 Days' Oliver even worse, because no puppet master was pulling the strings. Oliver betrayed his friend. Oliver carefully hid away parts of himself. And Oliver was ultimately the primary reason that Shane ended his own life after being sentenced for four times the duration of the actual killer.

Lee Reardon & Linus Finch Aren't A Thing

Finally, a detail that may seem small due to its existence as a kind of subplot, but the relationship between Lee Reardon, the female lead detective on the bathtub case, and Linus Finch, a dangerous drug dealer, was also made up entirely for the show. Linus Finch doesn't exist in the book.

But this does create an interesting symmetry for the series as two relationships unravel, and both are full of problems and danger. While Oliver and Ciara manage to break away together, Lee and Linus break up, and Lee ends up pinning the bathtub murder on her ex. It's a dark and twisted ending, but it fits the tone of the show and provides the perfect explanation for why Ciara and Oliver were able to make a clean break in 56 Days.