New series by the author of The Stranger dropped on Netflix this week

The Stranger proved to be a success for Netflix, will The Woods?

A new Netflix original series from Poland, The Woods, landed on the streaming platform on 12 June. Netflix has been a fan of the works of Harlan Coben in recent years with his novels Safe and The Stranger both undergoing adaptations to the screen with decent critical reviews. The Woods follows a similar path, with the six-episode series offering viewers some drama, mystery and a few twists along the way. Lovers of the novel will notice it's been transposed from New Jersey to Warsaw, but it still holds true to all of Coben's style with a complex story of a missing person, a tortured and emotionally damaged protagonist and the use of flashback to advance the story. The official synopsis from Netflix reads:

Set in two time spans: 1994 and 2019. The Woods tells the story of a Warsaw prosecutor, Paweł Kopiński, who is still grieving the loss of his sister from twenty five years ago – the night she walked into the woods at a summer camp and was never seen again. But now, the discovery of a homicide victim – a boy who vanished along with Paweł's sister – reveals evidence that links him to her disappearance. As hope rises that his sister could still be alive, dangerous secrets from his family's past threaten to tear apart everything that Paweł has been trying to hold together.

The Woods is Netflix's second Polish original series and while the back and forth nature of the series may not be to the liking of some, it does become quite effective after the first episode. It's directed by Leszek Dawid and Bartosz Konopka while Grzegorz Damięcki, Agnieszka Grochowska, Wiktoria Filus and Hubert Miłkowski play the main roles. The series offers some good performances and, overall, an intriguing mystery. Fans of The Stranger and Safe will likely enjoy Coben's latest adaption. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RlU1A_AJx4 Clip via Netflix