Netflix is in a league of its own when it comes to thrillers, delivering them in all shapes and sizes, including series, films, fiction, and nonfiction. The latest hit of its kind is Fool Me Once, a fresh addition to the Harlan Coben cinematic universe, and it’s been capturing audiences since its Jan. 1 premiere.
Thrillers are arguably the best kinds of series to binge-watch. The twists and turns, cliffhangers, and high stakes will leave you on the edge of your seat and glued to the screen, unable to move on with your day until you find out what happens next. Few know this better than Coben, who is so good at writing them that Netflix keeps having him come back to adapt more of his novels into bingeable television.
Fool Me Once marks Coben’s eighth adaptation for Netflix and fans of his books ⏤ which are just as magnetic ⏤ say that the screen versions have lived up to their written counterparts thus far. A few have been included in this list, along with other Netflix bangers that elicit the same kind of adrenaline rush should you desire similar twisty dramas after flying through this one.
The Stranger
Not to be confused with another Netflix thriller with the exact same title stemming from Australia, this 2020 Coben adaptation offers nail-biting tension in the form of a mysterious woman, the eponymous Stranger, played by Ant-Man and The Wasp‘s Hannah John-Kamen. Bringing chaos to a family’s seemingly happy life, the sinister stranger reveals shocking secrets about several different people, ruining lives and relationships in the process. This one is a must-watch for Coben enthusiasts.
Stay Close
While we’re on the topics of Coben, Richard Armitage, and secret past lives, 2021’s Stay Close checks all of those boxes. Following a similar formula as The Stranger, this webby mystery thriller combines a family woman’s hidden history with a frustrating unsolved missing persons investigation. It’s led by The Good Fight‘s Cush Jumbo as the two-faced former exotic dancer and frequent Coben collaborator Armitage as a documentary photographer who is still hung up on her. Come for the thrilling premise, stay for the creepy assassins.
Dear Child
If you’re an avid Netflix user, chances are you’ve heard of Dear Child. This German thriller was one of the platform’s biggest successes in 2023, making it to the top 10 of 77 countries. This is your sign to finally give it a try. The narrative starts when a mother and her child, Lena and Hannah, are taken to a hospital following a car accident, leading to the reveal that they had escaped captivity. The details of what really happened in the cabin they had been locked up in for over a decade are slowly revealed, becoming more astonishing at every turn.
Bodyguard
If you’re looking for something just as exciting as Fool Me Once but dealing with different themes and stories, Bodyguard might just be it. Moving on from the familial dramas and shocking secrets of the former entries, this tense Netflix drama leans into political territory as an Afghanistan War veteran, played by Game of Thrones‘ Richard Madden, gets tasked with being the bodyguard to a polarizing aspiring Prime Minister with a rich enemy list. If you want to throw some espionage and geopolitical tension into your thriller watchlist, this one is definitely worth your time.
Echoes
Back to the picket-fence essentials, 2022’s Echoes certainly packs a mean punch of deceit, domestic drama, and mystery. Michelle Monaghan plays a set of twin sisters, and the two have been swapping lives since they were kids. When one of them goes missing, the other must contend with the ripple effect of their shared lies and double-crossing. The kind of disorientation that these knotty mystery thrillers tend to provoke in the viewer is heightened here by the constant switch-up between the sisters, and the dark secrets they’ve been hiding.
You
Every one of our suggestions so far has been a miniseries, but if you’re usually left feeling unsatisfied by the end, wishing the story would continue, we’ve got just the thing. You is one of those rare Netflix shows that has managed to get more than a couple of seasons to spread its wings and develop its story. Over four seasons, with a fifth and final one in the making, Penn Badgley’s disturbing conman Joe has stalked, seduced, and terrorized multiple women across cities and even countries. One of Netflix’s most popular series ever, You is nearing a much-anticipated and unpredictable ending. Jump on the bandwagon while you still can.
Pieces of Her
There’s never enough Toni Collette in any of our lives, so we’re bringing you Pieces of Her as our next recommendation. This action thriller flew under the radar when it came out in early 2022, but if you loved Michelle Keegan’s ex-army captain Maya in Fool Me Once, you’ll surely enjoy seeing Collette kick some butt as the mysterious Laura in this Netflix production. Professor Marston and the Wonder Women‘s Bella Heathcote plays Andy, Laura’s double-crossed daughter who sets out to investigate her mom’s true identity.
Safe
Allow us to wrap this list up with another Harlan Coben gem, and perhaps his best. You’ll find plenty of familiar faces in this thriller, starting with Dexter‘s Michael C. Hall as a widower whose daughter goes missing after a party. Sherlock’s Amanda Abbington joins in as the detective sergeant assigned to the case. In true Coben fashion, this inciting incident is only a door into a maze of shocking revelations, twists, and turns that will keep you clicking that “next episode” button before autoplay even does its job.
