Netflix’s ‘The Trap’ is Based on a Story With a Life Well Beyond the Screen

Netflix’s ‘The Trap’ arrives on October 13, with all six episodes of the German psychological thriller streaming together. Early marketing has leaned on its central hook, a reclusive writer who tries to catch a killer using herself as bait. What it leaves quieter is where that idea came from.

Netflix’s ‘The Trap’ is not an original story. Netflix credits the miniseries to a bestselling novel by Melanie Raabe, and the book has a publishing history that explains why the premise has traveled so far.

What ‘The Trap’ Is Based On

Netflix states that the series is based on the novel of the same name by Melanie Raabe. The book’s original German title is ‘Die Falle’, which is also the name the series carries in its home market.

Raabe’s novel appears in her bibliography under a 2015 release, and it was her first thriller to reach a wide audience. It won the Stuttgart Crime Fiction Awards prize for best German language debut crime novel. A library catalog entry for the English edition describes it as a twisted debut thriller about a reclusive author who sets a trap for her sister’s murderer.

The series keeps that engine intact. Lisa Konrad is a renowned author who has not left her house in nearly ten years since witnessing her sister Anna’s murder, and when she believes she recognizes the killer on television she sets out to trap him. Netflix frames the story as a web of deception and truth about a murder for which almost anyone could be the killer.

The Source Material Behind the Series

The book drew international attention well before any screen version existed. Michael Heyward of Text Publishing in Australia said his company heard about it at the 2014 Frankfurt Book Fair and was drawn to the idea of a central character writing a novel to catch her sister’s killer. He added that competition for the rights exploded once the translated manuscript went to market ahead of the London Book Fair.

Hollywood moved quickly as well. TriStar Pictures, a division of Sony Pictures, acquired the film rights to the novel. The English edition was published in the United States by Grand Central on July 5, and playwright Phyllis Nagy was reported to be writing the adaptation, though no production timeline had been given.

The English edition and the Netflix series describe their heroine slightly differently. The publisher summary for the English edition names her Linda Conrads and says she has avoided leaving home for eleven years. Netflix’s materials call her Lisa Konrad and put the length of her isolation at nearly ten years.

The same publisher summary adds a note of doubt. It says her memories and her very sanity are called into question, and it asks whether the man she targets is truly a killer or simply a helpless victim. That ambiguity gives the series room to work as a duel of perspectives rather than a simple revenge story.

Cast and Characters on Screen

Friederike Becht stars as Lisa Konrad, with Hans Löw playing the journalist Robert Lenzen. In the series, Lisa offers an interview to Lenzen, the man she suspects, hoping to draw him to her home and push him into betraying himself.

Matthias Brandt plays the publisher Norbert Rudow, Josephine Thiesen plays Lisa’s sister Anna, and Malaya Stern Takeda plays Lisa’s assistant Yuma. Netflix’s German release also lists Anna Schudt as literary agent Pia and Ursula Strauss as a therapist. Those roles suggest a story as concerned with the publishing world around Lisa as with the crime itself.

One casting detail stands out for a story about writing. Miriam Ohlmeyer plays Sophie, who is described as a character from Lisa’s novel. Löw also appeared in ‘Dear Child’, the earlier series from the same creative team.

Release Date and the Team Behind the Camera

Netflix released the official trailer on September 15, with the series arriving on October 13. Isabel Kleefeld serves as writer, director and creative producer, leading the team behind ‘Dear Child’, which won an International Emmy.

Tom Spiess and Friederich Oetker produce, Oliver Berben is executive producer, and Constantin Film is the production company. The score comes from Volker Bertelmann and Ben Winkler. Production took place in and around Düsseldorf and in Cologne, and a production database lists 74 shooting days between March and July of 2025, with Italy among the locations.

Readers who know the book will have a clear point of comparison once the episodes land. If you have read the novel, tell us in the comments whether Lisa’s plan to lure a suspected killer with her own fiction feels more convincing on the page or in ‘The Trap’ on screen.