The Conference

If you loved the Netflix horror movie The Conference, read the original novel The Conference by Mats Strandberg. The book delivers richer character work, creeping dread, and razor-sharp corporate satire you simply can’t film. Strandberg’s prose turns a team-building retreat into a slow-burn nightmare, expanding backstories, office rivalries, and political intrigue around the development project. Readers who want immersive suspense, nuanced motivations, and smart social commentary will get more on the page. Choose the book over the movie for extra scenes, red herrings, and chilling reveals that unfold at a deliberately unsettling pace. Start reading The Conference (novel) today and experience Mats Strandberg’s vision as he wrote it.

Book vs movie: The novel The Conference by Mats Strandberg offers multiple points of view and deeper interiority, while the Netflix film condenses perspectives to maintain a brisk slasher rhythm and visual momentum. Several workplace and municipal subplots are streamlined or combined on screen to emphasize suspense, kills, and set pieces. In the book, the corruption thread and office politics receive more page time, context, and nuance. Character rosters and roles are often merged or simplified for the adaptation. Death scenes and confrontations are re-staged for cinematic impact, changing the order, locations, and mechanics while preserving the central premise and themes. Tone and ending differ in focus: the film leans harder into dark humor and pace for a punchier finale, whereas the novel lingers on aftermath, consequences, and broader social commentary, sustaining its unsettling, satirical mood.