Wait, who actually killed Anna in Netflix’s The Trap? The book gives us an answer

*Warning: Major spoilers ahead for The Trap*

Netflix’s new psychological thriller The Trap is packed with twists. And just when you think the mystery of Anna’s murder has finally been solved, the finale throws in one last bombshell that changes everything.

The six-part German series is based on Melanie Raabe’s best-selling novel of the same name. It follows acclaimed author Lisa Konrad (Friederike Becht), who hasn’t left her house in almost a decade after discovering her younger sister Anna (Josephine Thiesen) brutally stabbed to death.

Lisa caught a glimpse of the killer fleeing the scene, but nobody was ever brought to justice. Then, years later, she spots a familiar face on TV: award-winning journalist Robert Lenzen (Hans Löw). And she’s convinced he’s the man who murdered Anna.

Determined to prove it, Lisa devises an elaborate plan. She starts writing a novel inspired by her sister’s death and invites Robert to her home for an exclusive interview. The idea is to lure him into a trap and finally uncover the truth.

But things get messy real fast. Robert appears to know far more about Lisa than he lets on. He ends up drugging her and using her medical history to make her doubt her own memories. 

By the finale, we finally learn what happened between Robert and Anna. But there’s one disturbing detail about the murder that doesn’t quite make sense. 

Did Lisa actually kill Anna in The Trap?

One thing we know for certain by the end of The Trap is that Robert stabbed Anna. But here’s where things get interesting: Anna suffered eight stab wounds, and Robert insists he only stabbed her six times.

So, who was responsible for the other two? Well, the Netflix series heavily implies that Lisa herself delivered the final blows. And this could have made her the person who actually finished Anna off.

You see, in their final confrontation, Robert confesses that he and Anna had been having an affair. At the time they met, he was already married with a child and had built a successful career as a journalist, working for his father-in-law’s publisher. 

Robert said he tried to break it off with Anna but couldn’t. Then, when his wife fell pregnant with a second child, he said he was leaving for good. But this allegedly left Anna furious and she threatened to tell his father-in-law the truth about their affair. 

Robert claims he “saw red” and stabbed her in a moment of madness. And that’s when Lisa showed up and he fled the scene, but not before she caught sight of his face from the window. 

Then, he turns attention to Lisa’s book – specifically, the detail that said Anna was stabbed eight times. Lisa suggests he’s remembering it wrong, but Robert insists, “I stabbed her six times, but you… you killed her.”

Before the conversation can go any further, she hits him over the head and tries to escape, but he grabs the gun and shoots at her. She falls into the empty pool outside, with Robert following her and preparing to shoot.

But before he can pull the trigger, Lisa’s publisher Norbert Rudow (Matthias Brandt) and her literary agent Pia (Anna Schudt) arrive, confirming the police are on their way. With no way out, Robert turns the gun on himself and dies by suicide. 

Just before he does, he says to Lisa, “I only stabbed her six times. You know that.” Why would he insist on this as his dying words if it weren’t true?

And there’s potentially a motive too. As Robert points out, Lisa and Anna’s relationship wasn’t quite as loving as we were previously led to believe. The sisters had a history of jealousy and rivalry.

Of course, this doesn’t prove she stabbed her sister. But then there’s one final clue that is particularly sus. 

Lisa secretly recorded Robert’s confession on her phone. After he shoots himself, she’s taken to the police station to give her statement. She asks if she can have her phone to call her parents, but instead she secretly listens to the part about the six stabs and then deletes it.

The Netflix series stops short of confirming that Lisa was responsible for the final two blows, but it certainly leaves that possibility open. 

So, how does The Trap book end?

We do get a definitive answer in The Trap book – Robert was fully responsible for Anna’s murder. Or, should we say, Victor. In Melanie Raabe’s original novel, Robert is called Victor and Lisa is called Linda. What’s important to note is that while the basic premise is the same, the ending plays out very differently.

Just like in the Netflix series, Victor confesses that he was having an affair with Anna, despite already being married with a young child. When their relationship turned sour, he lost control during an argument and stabbed her to death.

But unlike in the adaptation, there’s no suggestion that Linda stabbed Anna. Her guilt was just something Victor deliberately exploited.

And the final confrontation is pretty different too. Linda secretly records Victor’s confession on her phone, but when he demands she hand it over, she throws it out of a window to preserve the evidence.

Victor then threatens her with a gun, planning to kill her and make it look like self-defence. Linda escapes by jumping from his balcony, and police officer Julian arrives just as Victor catches up with her. Rather than surrender, Victor shoots himself. 

In the source material, Linda doesn’t delete the recording. The police recover her phone, and she’s relieved that Victor’s confession can finally put any lingering doubts about her innocence to rest.

The novel ends on a much more hopeful note, with Linda beginning to rebuild her life after years of isolation. But, as said, this doesn’t settle the ending of Netflix’s The Trap – and this ambiguity is something the creators intentionally included. 

What The Trap’s cast and creators think

Isabel Kleefeld, who wrote and directed the Netflix series, and Lisa star Friederike Becht spoke to Sleek about The Trap and what viewers should make of it.

When interviewer Yasmina Zemzemi suggested that Becht knew something about Lisa from the beginning that audiences only discover in the finale, Kleefeld responded, “And it’s your decision that this ‘something’ exists. There are other viewers who don’t see it that way.”

Becht then said, “I have a conviction. I don’t really want to say too much about it either, because in the end I hope that every viewer will want to find their own answer to it.”

She later added that even she started questioning her interpretation, saying, “By now, it’s a mystery even to me. I’ve now watched the series for the second time and I thought, oh, maybe after all…

“​​I think I can only reveal that when we meet again next year in another interview, what I’m convinced Lisa did or didn’t do.”

No doubt you’re wondering if the question might be answered in a potential season 2. Right now, there are no announcements about whether The Trap will continue at Netflix, but it’s still very early days. 

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Featured image credit: Netflix