Saagar Kote
‘Nocturne’ is an Apple TV crime drama series created by Rowan Joffé and based on Lars Kepler’s novel ‘The Sandman.’ It follows Jonah Lynn (Liev Schreiber), a former soldier and homicide detective who leaves Philadelphia’s demanding streets for a quieter life in western Pennsylvania. However, his hopes for peace are shattered when the town and his family become targets of the apprehended serial killer Jurek Walter (Stephen Graham). When one of Jurek’s presumed victims is found alive, Jonah joins the urgent search for another missing person. His surrogate daughter, FBI Agent Saga Bauer (Zazie Beetz), goes undercover at Riverside Psychiatric Hospital, where Jurek is held beneath layers of concrete, hoping to uncover what he knows.
Despite his confinement, Jurek remains dangerously manipulative and appears to anticipate the investigators’ every move. As more people vanish, FBI Special Agent in Charge Alexandra Quinn (Poorna Jagannathan) joins the case. Jonah warns Saga about the killer’s influence, but finding the missing victims may require her to listen to Jurek’s unsettling instructions. With lives hanging in the balance, Jonah faces a desperate question of how far he will go to protect those closest to him. These shows, similar to ‘Nocturne,’ will thrill you with their puzzling storylines, deceptive characters, and twisted revelations.
8. Mare of Easttown (2021)
Creator Brad Ingelsby’s ‘Mare of Easttown’ is a mystery drama series set in a small Pennsylvania town, where police officer Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet) struggles to balance a demanding investigation with a troubled personal life. Her complicated relationships with her mother and daughter weigh heavily on her, even as the community looks to her as a local hero because of her past basketball success. When a teenage girl is murdered, the shocking crime puts Mare’s career at risk and draws her into a puzzling case. She pursues leads and navigates unexpected developments as the investigation slowly exposes disturbing secrets, lies, and unresolved trauma within the community.
Meanwhile, crises in Mare’s family life force her to confront her own emotional struggles while trying to uncover the truth behind the killing. Both ‘Mare of Easttown’ and ‘Nocturne’ follow law enforcement officers whose investigations become deeply personal. Mare’s murder inquiry unfolds alongside turmoil in her family life, while Jonah’s search for missing victims is inseparable from the threat Jurek poses to his loved ones.
7. The Sinner (2017-2021)
‘The Sinner’ is the saga of Detective Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman), whose investigations go beyond identifying guilt to uncover the experiences and psychological wounds behind seemingly inexplicable acts of violence. Each season of the anthology crime drama series takes him into a different case, beginning with Cora Tannetti (Jessica Biel), whose shocking outburst leads Ambrose into a complicated search for answers. His later investigations involve a child suspected of poisoning a couple, a mysterious fatal car crash, and a tragedy surrounding a powerful family in Maine.
As Ambrose tries to understand the people at the heart of each case, he becomes increasingly consumed by their hidden histories and motivations. His own troubled past also shapes his pursuit of the truth, influencing the risks he takes to solve each mystery. The Derek Simonds creation shows how investigators must look beyond the immediate crime to uncover what lies beneath it, much like ‘Nocturne’ does.
6. The Valhalla Murders (2019-2020)
From the creative mind of Thordur Palsson comes ‘The Valhalla Murders,’ an Icelandic crime drama series loosely inspired by real events. When a series of killings rocks Iceland, police profiler Arnar (Björn Thors) returns home to help investigator Kata (Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir) with the case. A photograph discovered during their investigation suggests the murders are connected, leading them to Valhalla, a long-abandoned boys’ home. The detectives examine the institution’s troubled history and begin uncovering events from decades earlier that may explain the violence unfolding in the present.
Reconstructing what happened at Valhalla brings buried secrets to light, but the killer remains active. Arnar and Kata must piece together the link between past and present before another person becomes a victim. Arnar and Kata, like Jonah and Saga in ‘Nocturne,’ must work together to uncover the truth behind a dangerous case that keeps challenging them at every level.
5. The Chestnut Man (2021-)
‘The Chestnut Man’ or ‘Kastanjemanden’ revolves around Detectives Naia Thulin (Danica Curcic) and Mark Hess (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard), who investigate a string of murders linked by a small chestnut figure left at each crime scene as an unsettling clue. While they work to identify the killer, the case grows more urgent, with vulnerable victims being targeted and the disappearance of a politician’s child adding another troubling layer. Connecting the evidence draws the detectives into an increasingly dangerous investigation, forcing them to decipher the pattern and anticipate an elusive perpetrator.
With the killer still active, Thulin and Hess must uncover the meaning behind the crimes before more lives are lost. Dorte Warnøe Hagh, David Sandreuter, and Mikkel Serup are the creative team behind this Danish crime thriller series, which is adapted from Søren Sveistrup’s novel of the same name. Both ‘The Chestnut Man’ and ‘Nocturne’ follow investigators trying to stop a dangerous killer while searching for missing or endangered people. Thulin and Hess pursue a murderer targeting vulnerable victims, while Jonah and Saga race to locate those connected to Jurek Walter.
4. Hannibal (2013-2015)
‘Hannibal’ delves into the experiences of FBI profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy), whose exceptional ability to understand killers makes him an asset to the bureau but also leaves him vulnerable to their darkness. Jack Crawford (Laurence Fishburne), head of the FBI’s Behavioral Sciences division, recruits Will to investigate a difficult series of murders and assigns forensic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) to supervise him. However, Lecter conceals the terrifying secret that he is a calculating serial killer and cannibal who uses his professional standing to manipulate the investigation.
While his fascination with Will deepens, Lecter begins exploiting the profiler’s fragile psychological state, transforming their working relationship into a dangerous game of influence and control. Created by Bryan Fuller, the psychological horror-thriller series is based on characters from Thomas Harris’ novels ‘Red Dragon,’ ‘Hannibal,’ and ‘Hannibal Rising.’ Along the lines of ‘Nocturne,’ the narrative features a dangerous relationship between an investigator and a manipulative killer. Hannibal uses his position as Will’s psychiatrist to test and influence him, while Saga must seek information from Jurek, whose instructions may be essential to finding the missing victims.
3. The Fall (2013-2016)
‘The Fall’ is an Irish-British crime drama series from creator Allan Cubitt that centers on Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan), a family man whose ordinary appearance hides a chilling secret. Behind the routines of domestic life, he leads a double existence as a serial killer who targets working women, carefully concealing his crimes while searching for new victims. His seemingly unremarkable life begins to unravel when police officer Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) takes an interest in the murders and commits herself to tracking down the perpetrator. As Gibson’s investigation advances, Spector’s carefully maintained public persona becomes increasingly difficult to separate from his violent activities. ‘The Fall’ is thematically linked to ‘Nocturne’ as it focuses on serial murder, a determined female investigator, and the unsettling gap between appearances and reality.
2. Mindhunter (2017-2019)
‘Mindhunter’ is a crime drama series set in the 1970s that follows FBI agents Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany), members of the Behavioral Sciences Unit, as they investigate violent crimes that defy conventional methods. To understand offenders’ behavior, they interview imprisoned criminals, though these encounters often raise more questions than answers. Facing skepticism within the bureau, the agents work to establish a new investigative approach that draws on psychology, anthropology, and sociology. They believe traditional methods based on means, motive, and opportunity are no longer enough to explain increasingly complex crimes.
By examining the minds of sociopathic offenders and asking why they kill, Ford and Tench seek to uncover the motivations that may ultimately reveal greater truths. Joe Penhall provides the creative vision for this show, which is based on John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker’s book ‘Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit.’ While ‘Mindhunter’ emphasizes the development of a new criminal investigative field, ‘Nocturne’ makes uncovering Jurek’s influence crucial to finding those who have disappeared. The investigators in both series thus seek insight from dangerous offenders.
1. Black Bird (2022)
Created by Dennis Lehane, ‘Black Bird’ is a crime drama series based on James Keene’s memoir ‘In with the Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption.’ James Keene (Taron Egerton), a prisoner seeking to shorten his sentence, accepts a high-risk assignment from the FBI. The mission is to gain the trust of suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser) and obtain information that could secure a conviction. To succeed, James must form a seemingly genuine friendship with the secretive Hall while concealing the real purpose of their conversations.
As James attempts to draw closer to a dangerous man, the task becomes an unsettling psychological contest that tests how far he can go to earn Hall’s confidence. ‘Black Bird’ and ‘Nocturne’ use conversations with dangerous people as crucial parts of their investigations. James attempts to draw a confession from Hall, while Saga’s exchanges with Jurek may reveal information needed to locate the missing victims.
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