The Suspenseful 2010s: Top 5 Dramas of the Last Decade to Accelerate Your Heartbeat

Our lives are filled with routine. And sometimes we need something thrilling to shake us up. These suspense dramas are just the thing.

MotherFatherSon (2019, 1 season, 6.8 on IMDb)

This BBC thriller follows the Finch-Villiers, a transatlantic family of business tycoons with very strained relationships. Richard Gere's Max Finch, who built his business empire on the secrets of the rich and powerful, must protect his legacy from his son Caden, who drowns his problems in alcohol and tries to escape them with drugs and one-night stands. Max must find a way to reason with his son while fighting for power with his estranged wife, Kathryn.

Absentia (2018-2020, 3 seasons, 7.2 on IMDb)

Starring Castle's Stana Katic, this thriller centers on Emily Byrne, an FBI agent who goes missing while investigating a series of murders by Boston's most dangerous serial killer. Declared dead in absentia, Emily is found six years later in a cabin in the woods with no memory of the time since she disappeared. Now she must face a new reality: her husband has remarried, her son has a new mommy, and she herself is embroiled in a new series of murders.

Grimm (2011-2017, 6 seasons, 7.9 on IMDb)

Set in Portland, this fantasy procedural drama follows Nick Burkhardt, who discovers that he comes from a long line of mythical guardians known as Grimms, who must maintain a balance between humanity and the supernatural. As the last Grimm standing, Nick is joined by his police partner, Hank Griffin, and his new witch friend, Adalind Schade, in the task of protecting humanity from various beasts known as Wesen.

Bates Motel (2013-2017, 5 seasons, 8.1 on IMDb)

Loosely based on Robert Bloch's novel Psycho, this psychological horror drama serves as a time-shifted prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's film, following Norman Bates and his mother Norma as they run a small motel in the fictional town of White Pine Bay, Oregon. Set in the present day and in a different town, the series attempts to tell the story of the Bates family before the events of the iconic horror film.

The Fall (2013-2016, 3 seasons, 8.1 on IMDb)

Set in Northern Ireland, this crime drama stars Jamie Dornan as serial killer Paul Spector, who terrorizes Belfast and its residents, and Gillian Anderson as Metropolitan Police Superintendent Stella Gibson, who is sent to assist in the investigation of several murders committed by Spector. As the police race against time to catch the killer before another woman dies at his hands, they face obstacles from within and without the force.