Few authors manage the elevator pitch as well as Harlan Coben – this one: a young college grad backpacking in Spain wakes up one morning covered in blood, a knife in his hand and his girlfriend dead next to him. Twenty years later, now a PI he’s teaching a class when the dead woman shows up in his class…
What follows is classic Coben his fans will recognise: a New York set story with a missing/ returning figure and a ‘normal person’ trying to figure out what it means to everything they believe to be true – with all the twists and turns they’ve come to love in his books along with certain staple elements like very light fourth wall breaking to bring the reader onto the protagonist’s side and ever rising stakes.
I’ve read all of Coben’s books – both series and stand alones. (I tried to watch a couple of the adaptations, but none work as well as the books – whether it’s because of the geographic relocating or the ‘something’ that is missing from his written words, I’m not sure).
Like the author’s other works this was a two/ three session read. He undoubtedly creates breakneck plots that keep you reading on, even as coincidences and sharp right turns that might make you pause for thought on screen are explained via protagonist’s commentary along the lines of ‘yeah, I know – impossible to believe, right? But it happened…’
While I personally am a bigger fan of the series books, I’m sure fans of Coben will lap up this new stand-alone (well, a sequel in the very slightest sense) novel

I had to wake up early to read it! And just ordered the first book!

Kierce - my new favourite detective

Happy to get to read this, at the beginning I wasn’t sure as read as a tv series but then after the first two chapters I couldn’t put it down!

The story is read to continue and I cannot wait to learn more about Kierce and his past

Another book from Harlan Coben that I couldn’t put down. 25 years ago Sami was on a gap year travelling with acquaintances from school. They went to a nightclub in Feuengirola where he met an American girl, Anna. He decided to stay with Anna and moved into her apartment while his friends went on to Seville. They had an intense few days taking drugs, drinking, partying. One morning Sami wakes up and finds a horrid scene in the bedroom. So bad his dad tells him to get on a plane as soon as possible and get out of Spain. Sami is of Pakistani heritage and his dad is worried that the Police will automatically find him guilty of what has happened because of the colour of his skin.

Sami was going to go to medical school, after travelling, but he’s so distraught at what he thought happened that he goes down a completely different route and becomes a detective. Unfortunately that doesn’t go well and he’s eventually dismissed. He’s now married to a wonderful woman, has a beautiful son and trying to make ends meet by being a private detective and teaching a criminology class. One night a new lady comes to his class, he’s sure he recognises her but before he can speak to her she dashes off. He must find her as he’s convinced it was Anna.

He also finds out the killer of his partner from his days as a detective is being released from prison as the conviction is now deemed unsafe. The 2 stories intertwine and reach a dramatic conclusion. Great book.

Another great read by Harlan Coben. This time we follow Sami Kierce (met before in Fool Me Once but can absolutely be read as a standalone) investing a mystery from his past. The plot is quite complex with a few side characters thrown in but isn’t too difficult to get to grips with. I didn’t guess the twist and was keen to read on to find out what happened.

As usual in my reviews, I will not rehash the plot, or the publisher's blurb - instead I highly recommend that you read this for yourself!

This novel is a follow-on from "Fool Me Once", and once again features Sami Kierce. However - this can be read as a standalone even if you haven't read "Fool Me Once" - as there is plenty of background detail and description.

I love Harlan Coben's novels and was gripped from the start! There were so many twists and turns, red herrings, and not one but two main investigative strands to keep up with! I thought had inklings of what had actually happened in the Victoria Belmond case (I was not quite correct!) but didn't guess the final twist in the other case. The book also ended on something of a cliffhanger - which makes me hope that there will be another Sami Kierce novel!

Can't wait for more by Harlan Coben! The recent TV adaptations of some of his novels have been really enjoyable too - and I think this book would be a perfect addition.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. All opinions my own.

Another great Harlen Coben thriller. Fast paced and hard to put down.
The only reason I couldn't rate this higher is because the story is so complex with lots of characters that at times I started to loose interest. There are so many parts to it that I got confused several times over who was tied up in which part of the story

Another absolute brilliant and engrossing read from Harlan!

Continuing from shortly afterwards the ending of the brilliant Fool Me once, Sami is now out of the force (as a direct result of what happened in the previous book) and is settled in NYC with his wife and new son. He has a few work jobs on, including teaching an adult learning class one evening a week. The class is advertised with his name, which one night attracts a person from Sami’s past to the door. A ghost from his past. A woman from decades ago, who should be long dead. And Sami knows this because he thinks he’s the one who killed her….

A tale that travels to Europe and back again, as Sami chases the ghosts from his past. Harlan doesn’t miss a twist and this book will keep you wanting more and completely involved in Sami’s continued story.

Another Netflix dramatisation awaits - just read the books as well please!

Thank you Net Galley for allowing me to read and review.

In this latest book by Harlan Coben, we catch up with Sami Kierce, who we first met in Fool Me Once through a sequel, this can easily be read as a standalone.
It took a while to warm up for me, but once it did, I was fully invested,Sami's "amateur sleuths" added body to the story, and the Sherlock Holmes quotes were an added bonus.
Throughout, we are made to wonder just what our minds really remember and can memories be trusted to reveal the truth or over time do past actions become distorted.
Having read all the authors books to date, I found this one to be a good read, but not one of his best. There was just a little something lacking,it wasn't the storyline or the delivery. I would just have liked a little bit more action along the way, but the unexpected ending made up for all that.
It is always a pleasure to read the new novel from one of the most exciting authors around.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK,Cornerstone for the ARC.

After the events of Fool Me Once, Former Detective Sami Kierce is disgraced - teaching Criminology at night school to make ends meet. But when a familiar face from his past walks through the door, it gives Sami the opportunity to get answers that he has been waiting decades for - answers which someone may have already killed for.

This is another fantastic Harlan Coben book - whilst it is a follow-up to Fool Me Once, it's very much a standalone book for most of the time covering Sami's past that led him to being a detective. An easy 5*.

An extremely enjoyable book about the loveable, but tenacious Sami Kierce.
No longer a detective, Sami is employed as a private investigator, however, he never expected to be investigating something that happened 25 years ago in his own past.
Fast paced, but not easy to guess the ending.

Another excellent read from this author. Gripping and hard to put down. Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. Will look forward to reading more of his books

Sami Kierce is an ex cop who is hired to find out what happened to a girl who was presumed kidnapped years ago but had since reappeared. Lots of twists and turns in this excellent book. True Harlan Corben at his best

Nobody’s Fool by Harlan Coben is a real page turner and rollercoaster of a ride with so many twists and turns. I’ve watched a couple of Netflix adaptations of his books, but this was the first Coben book I’ve read and absolutely loved it.

This book centres on former police officer, now private investigator and criminology tutor Sami Kierce. Since his fall from grace, he’s struggling to make ends meet.

In this book Sami believes he sees a literal ghost from his past in one of his criminology classes. He believes he saw Anna, a woman who has haunted him for decades. The last time he saw her was his graduation summer. He was travelling through Spain with friends where he met Anna and, believing they had a connection, he stayed with her rather than travelling on with friends. It ended tragically when he woke up one morning to find Anna in bed covered in blood. It was inexcusable, but he was young and terrified and Sami left her returning home to America. It was something that haunted him over the decades.

Sami has to know who that woman in his class is, and why after all these years she visited his class. Was it really Anna? The book moves along at a great pace with Sami calling in favours from his former colleagues and his students.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Random House, for making this e-ARC available to me to read in exchange for a fair and honest and review. I can’t wait to read more Harlan Coben books.

Superb ! It was a little slow to begin with but it quickly picked up pace and I could not put it down. I have not read the previous book but this was an excellent stand alone. I did not guess the ending and that is a sign of a good book for me. would thoroughly recommend.

Probably 3.5, but i enjoy Corben’s writing style enough to round up. I won’t add to the synopsis other than to say that it makes frequent references to an earlier book/ characters that i read but don’t remember, which was frustrating. There is always a large suspension of disbelief when reading Corben, which i am happy to go with, but this did have one of his more implausible endings. However, as always I devoured it in two sittings and enjoyed it enormously.

This is a great detective thriller with some excellent characters. Why is it great? I have never come across a story quite like it. Yes, the waking up with a knife in your hand and your partner dead beside you isn't entirely new but that's just the opening gambit. 'Great' is because the entirety of the story seems plausible. The person with a knife in their hand is our detective, well, ex-detective now, Sami Kierce. He's an interesting chap, wanted to be a medic but that life changing incident caused him to eventually join the police, until he was fired. Now his previous life, or should I say lives, come back to haunt him. A very likeable man with a great sense of humour which really helps the story along. That's as much as I am going to give away because otherwise the novelty of the plot would be compromised and your enjoyment too.
My definition of a good book is one that you don't want to finish but this one broke the rules. It concluded perfectly. No, not the children laughing, the dog barking and the sun setting type but a feeling of understanding, hence me saying it all seems plausible.
It's a definite five star review from me.

Nobody’s fool is about Sami Kierce who is a detective in Fool Me Once.

It features Sami as a young college leaver travelling to Spain and meeting a girl. Things don’t go to plan and Sami returns home but always wonders about that period of his life.

I wasn’t sure about this book when I first started it, I loved fool me once and didn’t think this would live up to it but I loved this book even more. I read it on the kindle and when I looked and saw I was 72% of the way through the book I was disappointed as I didn’t want it to end.

I guessed the last twist and I’m hoping that means there will be a book three (pretty please)

I would 100% recommend this book and would like to say a huge thank you to Penguin random house and NetGalley for my advanced reading copy.

An amazing book by this master storyteller. Although set after Fool me once it can easily read as a standalone if you haven’t read that book. Great likeable characters and plenty of twists to keep me gripped with an ending I certainly wasn’t expecting. An easy 5 stars I would highly recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review. I absolutely love Harlan Coben and was so excited to be given an ARC of his new book Nobody’s Fool. This book is set a year after Fool Me Once but can easily be read as a standalone book. I absolutely devoured this book in one day, I couldn’t put it down. The story flowed so well and the characters were very well written, especially Sami. The plot twists at the end are brilliant! A highly enjoyable thriller from Harlan Coben as always. I will definitely be recommending this book to everyone. 5 stars.

Harlan Coben is big business at the moment with many of his books being adapted for Netflix series. "Nobody's Fool" will make another good drama if it is adapted. I raced through this book and finished it pretty much in one sitting. I love Sami Kierce and his gang of students who are able to help him out with surveillance. I'd like to see a lot more books developed from this angle. Classic Harlan Coben.