Netflix (2020)
Trailer available here
Harlan Coben has written a lot of books that have been adapted into screen productions and for good reason; They hold just the right amount of speed, events and character development to make them work.
This is one of their earlier works though that got adapted because of the book, I am yet to watch some of the later ones but I fear that the newer writings may be more focused on becoming adaptations and actually cause for them to have less shine. It is something that I feel is all too common when thriller/mystery authors, or authors in general, get picked up for adaptations; They are forced to keep to a certain style or overplay that all even more to ensure deals keep rolling in.
The Stranger focuses on a small group of people going around revealing secrets to other people claiming to want nothing from any of it. All of the things they reveal to people seem entirely unconnected at first but the further into the show you get the more you start to discover that might not entirely be the situation and that there is indeed a hidden motive behind it all.
Of course, like all these sorts of things it doesn’t go incredibly smoothly, and several people start to worry and panic about things. A few go missing. Are they on the run from the secrets, is there more that they need to hide, are they actually being blackmailed or is it all worse than even that? It creates a collection of twists and turns that really keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish and when you think you know what the final plot twist will be BAM. Wrong.
And with a brilliant lineup of cast members including Anthony Head, Siobhan Finneran and Richard Armitage it really helps to bring to smoothly bring it all together as one cohesive piece. It all converts pretty well for an American audience as well; I am fully aware that I enjoy this sort of show, its construction and more because of it being a “British series” and having that weirdly relatable feeling of “home” despite it of course being a crime show with absolutely nothing that I can relate to.
Outside of the direct plot though it does of course get you thinking about how well you actually know the people around you and if they hold secrets or withhold information. I know over the years that I have witnessed people spin lies or misdirect people about certain events, heck there have been times when I have witnessed one person tell three or four different people/groups different narratives of one event purely to try ‘protect’ them all in different ways and at that point well heck knows if I know which of those versions, if any, is even the truth.
So the question is; How well do you know those around you and if you stopped to think about it for a moment what would you discover?
DANNIIXBHRI 