The Perfect Lie: Netflix's New 7-Part Thriller Based On A Bestseller Is A Perfect Weekend Binge
Greg is a Lead TV Writer & Critic at Screen Rant with expertise in new streaming releases. He's published over 3000 articles at SR, including weekly recommendation guides and dozens of reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. He previously worked in Development at ABC Television & Lawrence Bender Productions.
Greg majored in Film Production at Chapman University's Dodge College. Greg also has years of broadcast TV production experience at major networks such as NBC, TNT, and ESPN. He currently lives in Greater Boston.
Netflix's new 7-part thriller series based on a bestselling novel is a perfect weekend binge and is expected to be a global streaming hit following its Thursday, September 10 premiere. The new 7-part series is perfect for fans of shows like The White Lotus and Big Little Lies as it features idyllic locations, rich lifestyles, and a shady murder mystery. ScreenRant has named it one of the best new shows to binge-watch on Netflix this weekend for its ideal episode length, high production value, and celebrated source material.
Netflix is releasing its new 7-part crime drama/thriller series The Perfect Lie, based on the 2004 bestselling novel The Dinner Club by Dutch author Saskia Noort. The series follows a group of adult friends with lavish lifestyles whose lives turn upside down when a member of their group is killed in a house fire, placing them all at the center of a dark mystery. With just 7 episodes, each between 47 and 62 minutes, it appears to be an easy show to get invested in and stick with all the way to the end, and should be a big streaming hit on Netflix this weekend.
The Perfect Lie Adapts A Bestselling Novel Into A 7-Part Netflix Thriller
Like other popular murder mystery series on Netflix such as Harlan Coben's Fool Me Once and The Perfect Couple starring Nicole Kidman, The Perfect Lie is based on a respected novel, which is already a good sign that the adaptation will feature a strong narrative. That said, the Netflix series has taken some creative liberties with the intellectual property, all of which seem to have been an improvement on the original text. For example, secondary characters in the book are given more room for expansion in the series, as the show allows for a broader lens into the ensemble rather than maintaining the book's more singular perspective.
Additionally, The Perfect Lie on Netflix modernizes the original story, which was set in the 2000s, by setting it in the present day, which adds a greater sense of urgency and relevance to the series. The Perfect Lie also features an exceptional ensemble of Dutch actors, including Loes Haverfort as the protagonist, Karen, and Rifka Lodeizen as Hanneke. In the series, Karen is a relative newcomer to the group of well-to-do couples who tries to recall how she first came to join the group after one of them, a man named Evert, winds up dead. Evert's death opens up a wider investigation and a classic whodunnit mystery in which everyone becomes a suspect.
The Perfect Lie's Short 7-Episode Run Makes It An Ideal Weekend Binge
The Perfect Lie has a total runtime of just over six hours, which makes it completely reasonable to start and finish in just a few sittings or even one night. Interestingly, each episode is titled after one of the remaining friends in the group, beginning with Karen and ending with Ivo, played by Remko Vrijdag, which has the longest runtime at 62 minutes. The series takes place in Bergen, a wealthy area in the Netherlands, where it was also mostly filmed. There are also scenes that were filmed in other major regions of the Netherlands, namely Amsterdam and The Hague.
The Perfect Lie only has a few reviews out at the time of writing, but both have given the new Netflix series "fresh" ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. While viewers should not expect anything exceptionally Emmy-worthy, it does make for an easy viewing experience that doesn't require an enormous amount of effort on the audience's end. Combining elements of a psychological thriller with a classic crime mystery, The Perfect Lie is the type of Netflix show you can get lost in for several hours this weekend, like a solid page-turning beach read with a glitzy tone and high stakes.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.