A good story in a typical Harlan Coben style.Disgraced former police officer Sami is teaching a night class course when a woman he thought had died in Spain over twenty years later walks in. Before he can speak to her she runs off. His search to locate her involves him in a missing person cold case and with a wealthy and influential family. To complicate matters a man found guilty of murdering a former fiancé is released from prison on a technicality. Aided by his students Sami reinvestigates both cases with suprising results. There are many red herrings throughout the story leading up to unexpected ending.
Another Netflix series perhaps

Interesting and complicated detective thriller - very entertaining and dfferent.

Sami, our narrator, becomes involved in a cold case involving the kidnapping of an heiress. Of course, things develop which make this a lot more convoluted that just an investigation as there's a good deal of emotional involvement, revelations, mistrust and lying. by various characters. The main characters are all very interesting and well-developed. The plot moves along at a steady even pace. I was amused by the little bits aimed at the American readership (yes, the Costa del Sol is in Spain). There was many twists and turns as you might expect and it makes for an engaging and satisfying read. Certainly fans of the author will not be disappointed. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Free courtesy of Netgalley

Another triumph for Harlan Coben, I could not put this book down, it was full of the twists and turns that you would expect from this writer, with a good solid plotline and believable characters.

Sami Kierce is a disgraced police officer who is now doing private detective work. Married with a new baby, he supplements his income by teaching a "how to be a PI course" to members of the public. Everything is going along nicely until one night a familiar face turns up to his class but runs off when she realises that he recognises her. This sets off a chain of events that spans over 22 years of Sami's life.

As this is a new book I don't want to give too much away but I will say, not everything is how it seems and I cannot wait for them to make a TV show of this book. I would recommend this book to all Coben fans, and to all new readers of his work who like the twists and turns of a crime novel.

Harlan Coben’s Nobody’s Fool is a gripping psychological thriller that seamlessly blends suspense, mystery, and an exploration of identity. With his signature fast-paced storytelling and unexpected twists, Coben delivers a novel that keeps readers engaged from beginning to end. The story follows former detective Sami Kierce, a man haunted by his past and forced to confront long-buried secrets when a shocking figure from his past resurfaces.

The novel alternates between two timelines. In the year 2000, a young Sami wakes up in Málaga, Spain, covered in blood next to the body of a woman named Anna, with no memory of what transpired. In a moment of panic, he flees, setting off a chain of events that will haunt him for years. Fast-forward to 2025, where Sami, now a disgraced detective turned criminology professor in New York, is stunned to see Anna—whom he believed to be dead—attending one of his lectures. As soon as their eyes meet, she disappears, launching Sami into an investigation that forces him to question everything he thought he knew about his past.

One of the novel’s greatest strengths is Coben’s ability to create complex, multi-dimensional characters. Sami is a deeply flawed yet compelling protagonist, a man burdened by guilt and searching for redemption. His struggle to piece together the truth about his past is both thrilling and emotionally charged. The supporting characters add further depth to the story, each playing a crucial role in unraveling the mystery surrounding Anna’s reappearance.

Beyond the suspenseful plot, Nobody’s Fool explores themes of memory, identity, and the impact of guilt. Coben masterfully examines how our perceptions of the past shape our present, and how the truth can be more elusive than it seems. The novel also raises questions about justice, self-forgiveness, and the lengths people go to in order to protect those they love.

With its fast-moving plot, shocking twists, and emotional depth, Nobody’s Fool is a compelling thriller that will keep readers on edge until the very last page. While some moments may require suspension of disbelief, the novel’s gripping narrative and well-crafted characters more than make up for it. Coben once again proves why he is one of the most acclaimed thriller writers of his generation. Fans of his work, as well as newcomers to his books, will find Nobody’s Fool to be an exciting and thought-provoking read.

Another brilliant read from the master himself Harlan Coben! A thrilling rollercoaster of a ride with so many plot twists I was left speechless.
I highly recommend this for fans of Cobens other work, this is one of his best yet!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my ARC

The second book to feature Sami Kierce (Fool me Once being the first). There are some elements from that book that roll over but here we find ex detective Sami lecturing on crime to private citizens. An appearance from his past starts an investigation into his own situation and that of a girl who was missing for 15 years and found with no memory. Can there be some sort of link?

So Sami does what he does best, investigate. And this time ropes in his students to help.
It all comes together nicely, he’s a good character and Harlan Coben always knows how to write a great story. Often these types of story are marred by the central character doing stupid things and not telling people what’s going on, but not here. Sami does seek help and advice when needed and generally never does things that will frustrate and annoy the reader.
Mr Coben is a great writer who delivers another treat for his many fans.

Classic Coben! I have been a huge fan of Harlan Coben for years and his novels never disappoint. Whether we're following Myron and Win, or any of his stand alone novels, readers are guaranteed a brilliantly twisty plot, a multitude of colourful, complex characters and a prose that's imbued with Coben's unique brand of humour and warmth.

I didn't realise until I'd started this that it's the second novel in what promises to be another cracking series from this author. We first met Sami Kierce in Coben's hugely successful novel Fool Me Once. This time, Sami is back. No longer a detective, he's working as a private investigator and teaching an evening class on crime solving techniques. He is married and has a young son and, generally, life is ticking over quite nicely. Until, one night at his evening class, Sami is literally confronted by a ghost from his past. A girl he dated years ago in Spain, who died in harrowing circumstances, appears in the classroom. When Sami recognises her, she runs away.

What follows is a page-turning delight of a novel as Sami tries to discover how a dead woman can still be living, and how her sudden re-appearance in his life might be linked to a more recent tragedy.

It would be pretty near impossible to summarise the plot of a Harlan Coben novel so I'm not going to try. Suffice to say, this is a fabulous book. Fans of Harlan Coben will not be disappointed.

Excellent twisty storyline.
Keeps you guessing right to the end.
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Thanks for the opportunity to read and review

It is only reading other reviews that I realised this was a sequel, and I have read all of Harlan Cobans novels. I feel he is trying to capture the essence of Myron Bolitar in Sami Pierce with the wit and smart comments but there can only be one Myron. That spoilt the novel for me. I kept picturing the words coming out of Myrons character. That's how strong that character was. I think Sami needed to be more of his own person.
The plot is entertaining but is it now being written with a not great Netflix adaptation in mind? I don't know (obviously) but it had a looseness of story and emphasis on twists for me that made it a good read that did not necessarily mean you would seek out the back catalogue, which is a shame because there are really good reads in there.
Entertaining for the duration.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

A partial sequel to Fool me Once and featuring the disgraced detective Sami Kierce, it is a fast paced crime mystery with lots of twists and turns. The authors graceful storytelling shines as bright as ever and I liked the addition of Kierces crime study students in the pursuit of solving the case.

Sami Kierce hasn’t had a lot of luck in his life. As a twenty-one year old he’d had a terrible experience whilst holidaying in southern Spain with a bunch of guys, and later he’d been kicked out of the police force after chasing a suspect off of a roof. To put the tin lid on it, his fiancée was murdered by a man who’s now about to be released from prison. What else can go wrong? Well, he’s about to find out. Whist running a night class for wannabe amateur detectives, a woman enters the room. It’s a face he recognises. The woman doesn’t hang around though. In fact, as soon as she sees that she’s been spotted by Sami, she turns and dashes out onto the street.

We’re appraised of Sami’s bad luck in life in a series of episodes that prompt as many questions as they provide answers. The good news for Sami is that though he’s currently lacking the funds to live the life he’d favour, he is now married to a lovely wife and has a young son he dotes on. But some mysteries from the past still haunt him, and the woman whose face he’s seen is certainly at the core of one of the worst experiences of his life. He needs to track her down. So, in his determined quest to find her he enlists the help of the ragtag group who attend his classes and also any grabs any information he can source through a close friend from his time as a police officer.

This is one of those books where I’m reluctant to provide any more details than I already have. It contains a bunch of mysteries all wrapped up in one story – perhaps they all interlink, or maybe they don’t. Some characters are pushed to the forefront of the tale, whilst others – characters you think might will feature more prominently – aren’t. Will what’s really going on become glaringly obvious sooner rather than later? Well, the answer for me was no. In fact, I really didn’t get a clear view of how events knitted together until the very end. It’s an imaginatively created labyrinth of events that kept me hooked from start to finish. I loved everything about it: what we’re told, what we’re not told, the characters, the settings, the pacing – everything.

I’ve enjoyed many of Coben’s books over the years – though some more than others – but this one has definitely made it’s way to the very top of the pile. Miss it if you dare!

There are just so many good things I could say about this book. I absolutely tore (pun intended) through this read . Everyone needs to go read it

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House, Cornerstone for this ARC.

Sami Kierce, a former Detective in the NYPD but fired after tampering with evidence, is now making ends meet by being a private detective and teaching a criminology night class to a gaggle of misfits. One day, a woman enters the room, sees him and flees. Sami recognises her immediately - he met Anna backpacking in Málaga, Spain more than two decades ago, and one morning he woke up next to her with a bloody knife in his hand and her in a pool of blood. How can she be alive and here, all these years later?

After tracking her down to the estate of the rich Belmont family, he is hired by them to find out who had kidnapped her. So starts a fairly complicated case about Victoria Belmont/Anna who was last seen on New Year's Eve 1999 but returned to her family 11 years later, not able to tell people what had happened to her. We're also delving into the murder of Sami's former fiancée Nicole Brett after her murderer Tad Grayson is released due to a technicality directly to do with Sami's fall from grace. And why is someone stalking his family?

I found the storyline quite confusing, especially as it took me a while to understand that Spain must have happened in 2003 and not 2000 as the blurb suggests, because the narrative variously talks about events having happened 22 and 25 years ago.

This story is faintly connected to characters and events from a previous book, but we're never given a proper summary as that would be spoilers for that book. I have read Fool Me Once and remembered the bare bones, but I had no recollection anymore of Judith Burkett, who, reading up on her, really should be in prison, not still lording it over her decimated family and poor Caroline.

I love all the twists and turns, connections and secrets and lies in Harlan Coben's books. I also liked Sami's quirky criminology students and how they started sleuthing with him, no questions asked. They are such characters, and it's good that Sami has people around him he can rely on, like wife Molly, lawyer Arthur and former police partner Marty.

This is a fast-paced and well-written semi standalone novel with several strands that come together towards the end. Nothing is as it seems and no one is as innocent as they first look. It reads extremely well and fast - the sentences are short and easy to comprehend in this far-fetched but entertaining and gripping page-turner that speeds up the more we get to the conclusion. I finished the book in a day.

4.25 stars

My first book by this author and I didn’t realise it was a sequel but this didn’t seem to matter in understanding the plot. It was well written and easy to read although the plot was a bit weak and not much of a thriller. It was ok but not the exciting read I was expecting

Nobody's Fool is another fantastic 5 star Harlan Coben read.
Whilst it's the second in the Sami Kierce series, it's still enjoyable as a standalone book. Sami is a really great lead, complex, mysterious and likeable despite his flaws.
I found it quite slow at the start but a few chapters in it ramps up the pace and I didn't want to put it down.
Featuring lots of twists and reveals you won't see coming it's an incredibly satisfying thriller.

This is the second book featuring Sami Kierce and is set a year after the events in Fool Me Once. Sami left the police force in disgrace and is now teaching Criminology night classes at a Community College. One night he is shocked to spot a familiar face at the back of the class, the woman then quickly disappears.. Sami is so shocked to see this woman because he last saw her 25 years ago in Spain when he woke up next to her to discover he was covered in blood and holding a knife and Anna was dead. Determined to find out the truth, Kierce discovers that Anna is in fact the daughter of a wealthy family and her name is Victoria Belmond not Anna. Victoria had vanished on New Year's Eve 1999 and was not heard of for 11 years before she was found. Kierce is tasked by the family with finding out what happened to her during those 11 years. This is a typical Harlan Coben book with plenty of twists and turns and it's impossible to guess what will happen next. A very enjoyable read though I found it a little slow at the start. Although it's the second book in the the series it works well as a standalone.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

I have no idea how a writer can be so consistently awesome over so many novels and so many years but Harlan Coben never disappoints!
The emotional scarring Sami has suffered steps off the page and cleverly affects everything in his life.
Solving the mystery of what happened in Spain as a cold case with his criminology students is a masterstroke, introducing a real variety of supporting characters and twists whilst never straying from the trauma Sami has undergone.
Another 5* read!

This was a really great story that keeps you hooked in from start to finish as you progress through the story. There is so much going on, it is impossible to put down!

Another excellent book by Harlan Coben. This was an absolute keep me on the edge of my seat book all the way through to the last minute and way into the epilogue. The book starts with a bang in the flashback and then suddenly picks up decades later with the impact of the opening scene can clearly be felt in Kierce’s life. The characters are all fabulous with real depth and the trick is understanding who is real and who is not and what is a lie and what might have a grain of truth in it. The book doesn’t disappoint and keeps up the fast fast pace on every page. I read on way late into the night. Just try and understand how things all fitted together. Such a good read.

A fast paced twisty thriller with great characters that kept me involved in the storyline from the beginning until the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK for this ARC which I can thoroughly recommend.