Netflix’s The Perfect Lie has something that makes its mystery especially interesting before the first episode even begins:
Some viewers may already think they know the story.
The new Dutch thriller is based on Saskia Noort’s bestselling novel The Dinner Club (De Eetclub), a story about wealthy couples, friendship, secrets and a death that begins tearing their apparently perfect social circle apart.
But Netflix has already given book readers an important warning.
This is not simply the novel transferred scene by scene to television.
Head writer Dorien Goertzen says the adaptation uses a different narrative structure and gives both the story and its characters a modern, contemporary twist.
So how closely will The Perfect Lie follow The Dinner Club?
Could characters change?
Could clues appear in a different order?
And most importantly:
Could Netflix change how the mystery ends?
Here is what we know before the series arrives on September 10.
Is The Perfect Lie Based on The Dinner Club?
Yes.
Netflix officially describes The Perfect Lie as an adaptation of Saskia Noort’s bestselling novel The Dinner Club.
The original Dutch title is De Eetclub.
At the center of Netflix’s version is Karen, who moves with her family to Bergen.
There, they are welcomed into an affluent group of friends known as the dinner club.
The couples appear to have enviable lives.
Beautiful homes.
Luxurious dinners.
Fine wine.
Money.
Friendship.
But that image begins to collapse after one of the group’s villas goes up in flames.
Their friend Evert is killed, while his wife and children barely survive.
Karen gradually discovers that the friendship surrounding her is built on lies.
Netflix’s description makes the central theme unmistakable:
Everyone has something to hide, and nothing is what it seems.
Is The Perfect Lie a Faithful Adaptation of the Book?
Not completely.
And we know that directly from the show’s creator.
Head writer Dorien Goertzen described adapting the familiar story as an opportunity to reinvent it for a series format.
More importantly, she revealed two specific changes:
The narrative structure is different.
And:
The story and characters have been given a modern, contemporary twist.
Those are significant changes for a mystery.
Changing a comedy’s narrative structure might change its rhythm.
Changing a mystery’s narrative structure can change how the audience understands the crime itself.
A clue revealed halfway through a novel could appear in Episode 1.
A character whose motives become clear early in the book could remain suspicious much longer on television.
Events could also be rearranged to create different suspects.
That means book readers shouldn’t assume they can predict every Netflix reveal.
Why Would Netflix Change The Dinner Club?
The most obvious reason is format.
A novel and a seven-episode television thriller tell stories differently.
Netflix has confirmed that The Perfect Lie consists of seven episodes, with the entire series launching globally on September 10, 2026.
A television mystery needs reasons for viewers to continue from one episode to the next.
That can mean rearranging revelations, delaying information, expanding characters or creating new cliffhangers.
Goertzen specifically said that the story was reinvented for a series format “in which tension is always at the forefront.”
That’s an important clue about the adaptation philosophy.
Netflix isn’t simply illustrating the novel.
The creative team appears to be rebuilding its suspense for episodic television.
Will Karen Be Different From the Book?
Karen remains the central figure in Netflix’s official synopsis.
She moves to Bergen with her family, enters the dinner club and gradually discovers that her new friends are hiding secrets.
After Evert’s death, Karen begins searching for the truth.
But Netflix has confirmed that the adaptation gives its characters a contemporary twist.
That makes Karen particularly interesting.
Because she functions as the audience’s way into the dinner club, even relatively small changes to her motivations or relationships could alter how viewers interpret everyone around her.
The Netflix version may also have more room than a film adaptation to develop Karen’s relationships with individual members of the group.
That matters because The Perfect Lie appears to be as interested in trust as it is in crime.
Will Evert’s Death Be Different?
This is one of the biggest questions going into the series.
Netflix has officially established the event that drives its story:
A luxurious villa catches fire.
Evert is killed.
His wife and children barely survive.
But Netflix has not publicly revealed the complete solution to the television version’s mystery ahead of release.
That means book readers should be careful about treating their knowledge of the source material as proof of exactly what happens in the series.
The destination might remain familiar.
The route could change.
Or Netflix could alter more than viewers expect.
Until the seven episodes are available, the safest conclusion is simple:
The book can provide clues, but it cannot yet be treated as a complete answer key to the Netflix adaptation.
Could Netflix Change the Killer?
This is probably the question mystery readers will care about most.
Before release, Netflix has not publicly confirmed whether the television adaptation preserves every major revelation from the novel.
What it has confirmed is that the story has been reinvented with a different narrative structure and updated characters.
That leaves several possibilities.
Netflix could preserve the original solution while changing the path toward it.
It could change character motivations.
It could move important revelations.
It could introduce additional misdirection.
Or it could make larger changes.
At this stage, saying that Netflix definitely changed the killer would be speculation.
Saying it definitely didn’t would also go beyond what Netflix has revealed.
That’s exactly why book readers may have an advantage — but not necessarily the answer.
Could the Ending Change?
Yes, it could.
But there is an important distinction:
Could change does not mean has changed.
Netflix has not officially announced a different ending.
What makes the possibility reasonable is the creative team’s explicit decision to restructure and modernize the source story.
Mystery adaptations frequently depend on the timing of information.
If Netflix rearranges when Karen learns particular secrets, the emotional meaning of the finale could feel different even if some major plot facts remain the same.
And if the writers have made larger changes to characters or motivations, the ending could diverge further.
We won’t know which approach The Perfect Lie takes until the complete series is released.
Why the Different Narrative Structure Matters
This may actually be more important than whether one specific plot point changes.
Imagine two versions of the same mystery.
In one version, viewers know early that a character is lying.
In another, viewers trust that character until Episode 6.
The underlying events could be identical.
But the viewing experience would be completely different.
That appears to be one of the most interesting possibilities surrounding The Perfect Lie.
Netflix’s trailer emphasizes distrust, deception and betrayal as the apparently perfect lives of the dinner club begin to crumble.
So the television series may deliberately manipulate who viewers trust and when they stop trusting them.
For a story built around lies, that’s potentially a major change.
What Should Book Readers Watch For?
If you’ve already read The Dinner Club, don’t watch The Perfect Lie simply waiting for familiar events.
Watch for the differences.
Pay particular attention to:
- when Evert’s death occurs within the television narrative,
- which characters receive more screen time,
- how Karen’s relationships are developed,
- which secrets are revealed earlier or later,
- whether character motivations have changed,
- whether new clues or red herrings appear,
- and whether the final explanation follows the same path as the novel.
Those differences may tell us what the Netflix adaptation is trying to say that the original story didn’t emphasize in quite the same way.
Has The Dinner Club Been Adapted Before?
Yes.
The Dinner Club was previously adapted into a Dutch feature film in 2010.
The new Netflix production, however, takes the material into a seven-part series format, giving the story considerably more episodic space.
That makes the 2026 version more than simply another screen adaptation.
The longer format creates room to expand relationships, secrets and suspicion across several episodes.
And because Netflix’s writers have explicitly chosen a different narrative structure, even viewers familiar with previous versions shouldn’t assume the new series will unfold identically.
Is It Better to Read The Dinner Club Before Watching?
You don’t need to.
Netflix’s series is clearly designed to stand on its own.
In fact, viewers who know nothing about the book may have one advantage:
Every suspect is genuinely unpredictable.
Book readers get a different experience.
They can compare what Netflix preserves, what it moves and what it changes.
That creates two different mysteries.
For new viewers:
What happened to Evert?
For book readers:
How much of what I think I know is still true?
The second question could make The Perfect Lie particularly interesting as an adaptation.
What We Know for Certain Before Release
There are a few things we can say without speculation.
The Perfect Lie is based on Saskia Noort’s The Dinner Club.
Karen remains at the center of the story.
She and her family move to Bergen and become involved with an affluent dinner club.
Evert is killed after a villa goes up in flames.
His wife and children survive.
Karen begins uncovering the lies holding the group together.
And the Netflix adaptation uses a different narrative structure with contemporary changes to the story and characters.
What we do not yet know from Netflix’s official pre-release material is exactly how far those changes extend into the final solution.
That’s the part worth watching.
Final Thoughts
Book adaptations often ask viewers a simple question:
Did Netflix stay faithful to the book?
The Perfect Lie gives us a more interesting question:
Which parts did Netflix deliberately change — and why?
The creators have already told us not to expect a simple scene-for-scene recreation.
The narrative has been restructured.
The characters have been updated.
And the story has been rebuilt as a seven-part suspense series.
That means knowing The Dinner Club may help viewers recognize what is coming.
But it may also make Netflix’s misdirection more effective.
When The Perfect Lie arrives on September 10, don’t only ask whether Netflix changed the book.
Watch where it changed it.
Because in a mystery about people hiding the truth, the differences may turn out to be clues themselves.