If you loved
Big Little Lies
Liane Moriarty · Book · 2014
What hooked you in Big Little Lies was the way a single, shattering act of violence exposes the corrosive secrets hidden beneath a community's polished surface.
Start with the source
Adaptation
Big Little Lies
David E. Kelley · Series · 2017
Films on the same thread
Confessions
Tetsuya Nakashima · Film · 2010
Just as Big Little Lies explores the dark side of school environments, this film captures the chilling moral ambiguity that emerges when a grieving teacher seeks revenge against her own students.
Weapons
Zach Cregger · Film · 2025
If the small-town scandal of Big Little Lies captivated you, this mystery will heighten that tension by showing how a collective disappearance forces a community to confront its own trauma.
Diabolique
Henri-Georges Clouzot · Film · 1955
Like the uneasy alliances formed in Big Little Lies, this classic features a complex female collaboration against an abusive man, proving that shared guilt is a powerful bond in boarding schools.
Monster
Hirokazu Kore-eda · Film · 2023
Fans of the mother-child dynamics in Big Little Lies will recognize the same slow-burning suspicion and miscommunication that occur when a school incident forces a mother to investigate her son's reality.
Series on the same thread
Broadchurch
Chris Chibnall · Series · 2013
Much like the media frenzy and community fracture in Big Little Lies, this series examines how the tragic murder of a local child ripples through a small town, exposing buried secrets.
The Undoing
David E. Kelley · Series · 2020
Sharing the same creator as Big Little Lies, this thriller mirrors that story's focus on how a high-profile violent death dismantles the privileged lives of those caught in the resulting scandal.
Defending Jacob
Mark Bomback · Series · 2020
If you enjoyed the parental anxiety and legal stakes in Big Little Lies, you will appreciate how this drama dissects the devastating impact of a child being accused of murder.
Little Fires Everywhere
Liz Tigelaar · Series · 2020
This series reflects the suburban drama of Big Little Lies by focusing on how the arrival of outsiders and the weight of deep-seated secrets shatter the perception of perfect families.
Podcasts on the same thread
American Scandal
Audible · Podcast · 2026
While Big Little Lies uses fiction to explore the fallout of a lie, this podcast investigates how actual institutional corruption and scandal inevitably lead to a public and messy collapse.
Small Town Murder
James Pietragallo, Jimmie Whisman · Podcast · 2026
If the fascination with Pirriwee Public's dark underbelly kept you watching Big Little Lies, this podcast offers a similar deep dive into the tragic and often ironic reality of small-town life.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is Big Little Lies a book or a television show?
Big Little Lies is both. It was originally published as a novel by Liane Moriarty in 2014. Following the success of the book, a television adaptation of Big Little Lies was released in 2017.
What is the plot of the Big Little Lies book?
The Big Little Lies book is set at Pirriwee Public, a beachside primary school. The story follows the events surrounding an annual school trivia night that descends into chaos, resulting in a riot and the death of a parent, leaving the community to determine if it was murder or an accident.
Should I read the Big Little Lies book before watching the television show?
You can choose to consume either version first. The Big Little Lies book provides the original narrative written by Liane Moriarty in 2014, while the 2017 television adaptation brings the story of the parents at Pirriwee Public and the trivia night tragedy to the screen.
What happens at the school trivia night in Big Little Lies?
In Big Little Lies, the annual school trivia night at Pirriwee Public ends in a full-blown riot. Sirens wail and people scream as the event concludes with a parent dead, forcing the community to question if the tragedy was a murder or a tragic accident.