When this series was released on Netflix on New Year's day, I was too busy with other stuff and concentrating on other movies & series that were of more interest to me then. But I noticed it became a big hit since last week so I decided to give it a try few days ago and finished it yesterday. Without further ado, here's more on the series.

Brief Story Line

Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan - Coronation Street, Brassic TV series etc) just lost her husband Joe Burkett (Richard Armitage - Space Sweepers, The Hobbits trilogy etc) who was killed in a robbery and was still in mourning when she caught a video of him holding their little daughter Lily in a nanny cam. Feeling perplexed, Maya started to doubt her mind and looking into Joe's murder. Her mother in-law Judith (Joanna Lumley - She's Funny That Was, Absolutely Fabulous TV series etc) was concerned with Maya and especially her grand daughter.

Meanwhile Joe's case was being investigated by DS Sami Kierce (Adeel Akhtar - Sweet Tooth  TV series, Victoria & Abdul etc) and his new partner DC Marty McGreggor (Dino Fetscher). As the investigation progressed, they would find that things were not as simple as they were.

So what actually happened and how would the story conclude? You could find out in this series. 

End of Brief Story Line

Like in most psychological thriller, this series did not have an immediate exciting start and felt more like a drama. In fact I actually thought it has a strong soap opera of the rich and famous feel. But slowly it became more interesting when the investigation was given more focus, though even that was also slowed down with the large portion given to the personal life of DS Kierce. As I continued watching while trying to analyze the mystery, I was quite intrigued in finding out on the actual events and reasons for what happened.

What made me really in awe of the series was the 7th episode that gave a shocking twist which I did not see coming. It really blew my mind and made me see the series in a completely different view and appreciate it better. I also liked the final 8th episode as it provided a wonderful conclusion to the series. It could have ended differently but I was happy they made it this way. Not sure if it was the same ending as the novel it was based on. Yes it was indeed adapted from the 2016 novel of the same title by Harlan Corben. This was the 7th time his novels was adapted into original series by Netflix, an amazing feat if I may add. Danny Brocklehurst (creator of The Stranger, No Return series etc) was credited as one of the writer for the series.

The series starred British actors and actresses who were quite well known though I was only familiar with few of them. Aside from the names I mentioned above, there were a lot of support characters like Maya's army buddy Shane (Emmet J. Scanlan - Hollyoaks TV series etc), her brother in-law Eddie Walker (Marcus Garvey), Joe's sister Caroline (Hattie Morahan - Hijack TV series etc), whistleblower Corey Rudzinsky (Laurie Kynaston - Cradle to Grave sitcom etc) and many others. Of all the cast here, I admired Adeel Akhtar the most with his wonderful portrayal of DS Sami Kierce. His facial expression and acting was really great and I could understand why he was nominated and won few awards in the past.

After finishing the series, I thought it was quite entertaining. It might not have the greatest start to my opinion, but it ended very brightly and gave me the satisfaction. It did not have long duration in each episode with the pilot being the longest that only had 56 minutes while the finale was the shortest and just 35 minutes. Usually I could have finished this type of series easily but combination of being busy and perhaps lack of genuine excitement in the early stage made it slower for me. The series was received pretty well by critics though not that highly regarded. So if you are a mystery lover, you would likely be entertained by this and might be able to guess what happened or at least the real bad guy (I think my wife would be one of those). Just be patient while watching it and I think the ending will worth your while.

Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars