The degree to which you enjoy “Nocturne” may depend significantly on your ability to suspend disbelief.

Debuting with the first two of its 10 episodes this week on Apple TV, the tantalizing slice of noir — tantalizing largely because of its cast, headlined by Liev Schreiber, Zazie Beetz and Stephen Graham — is based on the international bestseller “Sandmannen” (aka “The Sandman”) by Lars Kepler. (For the record, that’s the pseudonym of Swedish husband-and-wife tandem Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril, who have published several popular crime novels under that moniker.)

It sounds as if many critics and readers of “The Sandman” had gripes similar to those we have with “Nocturne,” all of which are under the umbrella of plot developments that are at least a little hard to swallow.

That said, the seven episodes Apple made available for review serve as a window into the popularity of the novel, as “Nocturne” is, at its best, tense and gripping fare.

With the story moved to rural western Pennsylvania by co-showrunners Rowan Joffé (credited with its creation) and John Hlavin (credited with its development) from greater Stockholm, the series puts Schreiber front and center as a retired police detective, Jonah Lynn, a military vet who long ago left behind Philadelphia for the small-town life in fictional Fairhaven, Pennsylvania.

However, Graham fills the meatier role of psychopathic serial killer Jurek Walter, who may still be committing nefarious deeds despite being locked away in the Restricted Housing Unit of Riverside Psychiatric Hospital. When we meet him in the series’ first episode, he is killing time by manipulating his neighbor in the RHU — the cells’ toilets are back-to-back, and chatting can be done via the pipes — into killing himself.

Soon, a boy, Michael Frost (Landon Valentin), emaciated after being missing for three years, appears on the streets of Fairhaven. Believed to have been among the last two of Jurek’s murder victims, his reappearance brings hope that his still-missing sister, Felicia, is alive, as well.

This pulls Jonah — who had helped put Jurek away, but not before bad things happened to some people close to him, and long has thought he had an accomplice to his crimes — back into the fold. With the urging of his old boss, the chief of police, Dave Ellison (Bill Camp, Apple’s “Presumed Innocent”), the FBI agent who arrives in town to lead a task force to locate Felicia, Alexandra Quinn (Poorna Jagannathan, “Lanterns”), agrees to allow Jonah to assist in the efforts.

Meanwhile, Saga Bauer (Beetz), another FBI agent and a surrogate daughter to Jonah, decides to go undercover at Riverside to try to get close to Jurek in the name of finding Felicia. The task force decides to do this without the knowledge of anyone working at Riverside; it’s in the name of protecting her identity, of course, but it feels like a way to increase the drama more than anything. And, wouldn’t you know it, their mechanism to allow communication with her while inside is trashed almost immediately, leading to a major violation of the law by a couple of the task force members.

As Saga schemes to get close enough to Jurek to work him for information, he is busy manipulating a new nurse, Karl Anders (Rory Culkin, “Under the Banner of Heaven”), charged with providing him with food and medication through a small opening in the door to his cell. Despite repeatedly saying how much he needs his job, Karl quickly starts doing favors for Jurek. The ease with which Jurek places him under his spell is among the story elements that are at least a bit unconvincing.

Jonah is so willing to skirt the rules that it’s easy to believe he may have done, as Jurek asserts, something improper years ago, leading to the latter’s conviction.

“Nocturne” plays like a cross between a pair of HBO dramas, “True Detective” and the more recent “Task,” although it’s below both in terms of quality. And Jurek is a cross between Hannibal Lecter from “The Silence of the Lambs” and Robert De Niro’s Max Cady from the 1991 version of “Cape Fear,” although he’s not quite as compelling as either character.

In other words, “Nocturne” is far from something original. Nonetheless, it’s reasonably entertaining stuff — even as it feels as though 10 episodes may be two too many to tell its story.

That’s in no small part to the actors. While Schreiber has been better — see “Spotlight” for an example — Graham (“Boardwalk Empire,” “Adolescence”) is fairly interesting as the soft-spoken Jurek. (Although certain elements of “Nocturne” feel far-fetched, that this man is capable of committing unspeakable acts does not.) And while not quite enthralling, the performance by Beetz (“Atlanta,” “Joker”) — once Saga is in Riverside, posing as a troubled woman named Ester — is relatively layered.

Some TV royalty resides behind the camera, as Tim Van Patten — known for directing memorable episodes of HBO megahits “The Sopranos” and “Game of Thrones” — is counted among the series’ many executive producers and, perhaps more importantly, helmed the show’s first two installments. However, the most gripping hours of “Nocturne” arrive a little deeper into the season.

It becomes clear why Apple chose to make only roughly the season’s first two-thirds available to critics, as the conclusion suggests things are just about to get good — at least as addictive but unspectacular TV goes.

As we await our chance to see the final three episodes, we won’t be surprised if enough viewers take to “Nocturne” to allow for future seasons, as the character on whom Jonah is based is featured in many more Kepler novels.

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‘NOCTURNE’

2.5 stars (out of 4)

Rating: TV-MA

How to watch: On Apple TV Oct. 30

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