Netflix’s Seven-Part Thriller The Perfect Lie Is Being Compared to Big Little Lies
A deadly house fire is enough to expose cracks in a seemingly perfect friendship circle in Netflix’s new Dutch thriller The Perfect Lie.
The seven-part drama follows Karen, played by Loes Haverkort, after she moves with her family to Bergen in the Netherlands and is welcomed into an affluent dinner club. What initially looks like an enviable social life filled with luxurious homes, extravagant dinners and wealthy friends soon takes a much darker turn.
When one of the group’s villas catches fire, their friend Evert is killed. His wife and children barely survive.
From that point on, Karen begins to question the people she thought she was getting to know. The closer she gets to the truth, the more obvious it becomes that the group’s polished exterior is hiding a complicated web of secrets.
That premise has already prompted viewers to draw comparisons with HBO’s Big Little Lies, with one describing The Perfect Lie as “basically Big Little Lies with a European touch.”
A Perfect Social Circle With Plenty of Secrets
The Perfect Lie is based on Saskia Noort’s bestselling novel The Dinner Club, also known as De Eetclub. The Netflix adaptation was created by Dorien Goertzen, with Jop Esmeijer serving as co-writer. Dana Nechushtan and Margien Rogaar directed the series.
The story begins when Karen and her family relocate to Bergen.
Karen is quickly welcomed into an exclusive group of friends whose lifestyle is built around lavish dinners, luxury homes and an indulgent social scene. The group appears close-knit, and Karen seems to have found an established community ready to welcome her.
That impression does not last.
One night, a fire breaks out at the villa belonging to Babette and Evert. Evert dies, while his wife and children narrowly escape.
The tragedy changes the atmosphere around the dinner club almost immediately.
Karen can no longer look at the group in quite the same way. What once seemed like a glamorous circle of friends begins to look increasingly suspicious.
The Fire Is Only the Beginning
Evert’s death becomes the event that brings the group’s hidden problems to the surface.
As the investigation develops, Karen starts to realize that the relationships between these friends are far more complicated than she first understood.
Netflix’s official description sets up the mystery around a simple but unsettling idea: everyone in the group has something to hide.
Karen decides to investigate for herself, but the search for answers places her deeper inside the same circle she is beginning to distrust.
The mystery therefore extends beyond the question of what happened during the fire. The bigger issue is whether these people ever truly knew one another and what they have been willing to conceal to protect their carefully constructed lives.
Why Viewers Are Thinking of Big Little Lies
The comparison with Big Little Lies is easy to understand.
Both stories place wealthy characters inside attractive, privileged communities where appearances conceal complicated personal relationships. Beneath the beautiful homes and comfortable lifestyles are strained friendships, private conflicts and a dark mystery that threatens to disrupt everything.
The Perfect Lie also places several women at the heart of that social world, with Karen entering the group as someone who does not yet know its history or its unwritten rules.
That outsider perspective is important.
Karen has only recently arrived in Bergen, so she is discovering the group’s relationships at roughly the same time as the audience. As she learns more about the people around her, seemingly harmless details begin to take on a different meaning.
The major difference is the setting.
Rather than the wealthy California community of Big Little Lies, The Perfect Lie transports the story to Bergen in the Netherlands, giving the familiar affluent-community mystery a distinctly Dutch setting.
That is where the European comparison comes in.
A Seven-Episode Mystery Designed for a Quick Binge
For viewers looking for a thriller that can be finished over a weekend, the format is relatively compact.
The Perfect Lie has seven episodes, all of which were released on Netflix on September 10, 2026. The episodes range from 47 minutes to just over an hour, giving the first season a total running time of roughly six hours.
The seven episodes are titled:
- Karen
- Hanneke
- Simon
- Michel
- Patricia
- Babette
- Ivo
The structure allows the story to move between different characters while gradually revealing more about the dinner club and the circumstances surrounding Evert’s death.
Netflix describes the series as a Dutch drama and thriller based on a bestseller. The cast includes Loes Haverkort as Karen, Teun Luijkx as Michel, Remko Vrijdag as Ivo, Rifka Lodeizen as Hanneke, Charlie-Chan Dagelet as Patricia, Matthijs van de Sande Bakhuyzen as Simon, Noortje Herlaar as Babette and Edwin Jonker as Evert.
The Dinner Club Begins to Fall Apart
At first, Karen’s new surroundings look almost ideal.
She has moved into an affluent community and been accepted by people who already have an established social bond. The dinner club offers access to a lifestyle that seems far removed from ordinary concerns.
Evert’s death changes that dynamic.
The tragedy forces the members to reconsider what they know about one another, while Karen becomes increasingly determined to understand what happened.
As she searches for answers, the group’s relationships become harder to read. Conflicting loyalties and concealed information begin to undermine the image of a group that once appeared completely secure.
The series builds much of its tension around that contrast: the public version of these people’s lives versus what is happening behind closed doors.
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Who Is Behind The Perfect Lie?
The cast gives the series a large ensemble at the centre of its mystery.
Loes Haverkort leads the story as Karen, the newcomer whose perspective allows the audience to discover the dinner club gradually. Teun Luijkx plays her husband Michel, while Remko Vrijdag plays Ivo.
The other central members of the group are Hanneke, played by Rifka Lodeizen; Patricia, played by Charlie-Chan Dagelet; Simon, played by Matthijs van de Sande Bakhuyzen; Babette, played by Noortje Herlaar; and Evert, played by Edwin Jonker.
The series was produced by Fiction Valley. Netflix announced the project in June 2026, before confirming its worldwide release for September 10.
The adaptation also changes the structure of Saskia Noort’s original story. According to Netflix, Goertzen and Esmeijer developed a different narrative structure and gave the characters and story a contemporary update for the television version.
A Thriller Built Around Trust
What makes the premise particularly suited to a mystery series is the question of trust.
Karen is surrounded by people who appear to know one another extremely well. Yet after the fire, every relationship becomes harder to take at face value.
The closer Karen gets to the group, the more she discovers that the friendships she once admired may have been held together by secrets.
That gives The Perfect Lie its central tension.
Karen wants to understand what happened to Evert, but every answer risks revealing something else about the people around her. The investigation consequently threatens not only the group’s reputation but also the relationships holding it together.
The Netflix Series Is Already Finding Its Audience
The show arrived on Netflix as a complete seven-episode season, making it easy for viewers to move through the mystery without waiting for weekly episodes. Netflix currently lists all seven episodes on its official title page.
Early audience reactions have focused heavily on the show’s twists and its similarities to other wealthy-community mysteries.
One viewer described the series as “wild,” while another called it a “must-watch.” Another praised the number of twists and turns and said they wanted another season.
The most direct comparison remains the Big Little Lies description: “Basically Big Little Lies with a European touch.”
The comparison makes sense as a shorthand, but The Perfect Lie has its own setting and source material. Its story comes from Saskia Noort’s The Dinner Club, and the Netflix adaptation places the mystery within an affluent Dutch community rather than attempting to recreate the world of Big Little Lies.
Watch the Trailer
Netflix released the official trailer ahead of the series’ September 10 premiere. It introduces Karen and the dinner club before their carefully controlled world begins to unravel.
The Perfect Lie Is Now Streaming on Netflix
With seven episodes, a wealthy social circle, a mysterious house fire and a protagonist determined to uncover what happened, The Perfect Lie is built around the kind of secrets-and-suspects mystery that keeps shifting the audience’s perspective.
Karen arrives in Bergen expecting a new chapter with her family. Instead, she finds herself inside a social circle where appearances become increasingly difficult to trust.
One death changes everything.
The friendships begin to fracture, hidden tensions come to the surface, and Karen’s search for the truth draws her further into a world where almost everyone seems to have something to protect.
For viewers who enjoy dramas about wealth, friendship, betrayal and secrets, the seven-part Dutch thriller offers a compact mystery with clear Big Little Lies echoes while maintaining its own European setting and identity.
The Perfect Lie is streaming on Netflix.