**Warning: MAJOR spoilers for Stay Close below**
If you’re anything like us, you’re a sucker for the adaptations for Harlan Coben’s novels on Netflix.
The latest book to be given the on-screen treatment is Stay Close, which follows mum-of-three Megan whose life turns upside down when her past comes back to haunt her.
The story also observes the disappearance of Carlton Flynn, a uni student who is last seen at the popular Vipers nightclub.
It’s up to Detective Broome to solve the case – but Broome himself is distracted, haunted by the unsolved case of Stewart Green; a man who went missing 17 years ago.
Fans who have seen the series will know that it transpires all these cases are connected.
Lorraine Griggs, the owner of Vipers nightclub, is actually a serial killer. In a tearful confession to Broome, she reveals she started killing one man a year on Carnival weekend, after she was beaten and abused by her ex-husband (who she also murdered).
Lorraine revealed she would lure men to the nearby forest and slit their throats, before disposing of their bodies in a pit.
So that explains Carlton Flynn’s disappearance, right? Wrong.
It’s too easy to assume Lorraine killed Carlton. She herself admits to killing him, and when she’s quizzed about where his body may be, she simply shrugs it off, assuming an animal must have eaten the remains.
After all, it’s no skin off Lorraine’s nose – she’s already going down for the murder of countless other men, so what’s one more body to the tally?
Well, in the very final scene of Stay Close, we discover what happened to Carlton.
After chasing Kayleigh Shaw into the woods, we see Kayleigh flee from Carlton’s clutches, still holding his car keys.
She returns to Vipers nightclub, and opens up the boot of Carlton’s bright orange car. Little does she know that Carlton has caught up with her, and attacks her from behind.
Fighting back, Kayleigh manages to shake off her attacker, and slams him into the boot of his car, where he passes out.
Kayleigh and her pal Bea then try and make their way home, using Carlton’s car – but it quickly runs out of petrol.
Out of luck, Kayleigh then decides to ring her dad, Dave, to pick them up and take them home safely.
A few days later, Dave recognises Carlton’s car on the news, and fears the worst for his daughter. To try and keep her out of any trouble, he drives the car into a nearby river – unbeknownst to him that Carlton is still inside, and screaming for help.
Yep, Kayleigh and her dad are unwittingly responsible for Carlton’s death.
It’s a twist that nobody saw coming, with fans who have already binged the series rushing to the Twitter to share their amazement.
“That plot twist at the end of #stayclose BABY I WASN’T READY!” gasped one person.
“#StayClose was brilliant with a really good twist at the end,” added a second.
“Stay Close was so good! Nice little twist at the end,” agreed a third.
“#StayClose is another brilliant Harlan Coben adaptation. That final twist at the end was wild!,” said a fourth.
Our heads will be spinning for some time after this one.
Stay Close is available to stream on Netflix.
Topics: TV And Film, Netflix
Kimberley Bond