I adore Harlen Coben's book but this was a bit of a slow burn for me. But once it got going, it was worth the wait. It was good reconnecting with Sami Kierce following the tragic ending of his last outing.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I really enjoyed this one, and I like the main character. I'd love to read more of him and what he gets up to next.

This is a really engaging, witty novel that I enjoyed every bit of. I haven't yet read a Harlan Coben novel that I haven't been impressed with, and this is no exception.

As usual, the plot is very well developed and full of twists, and the characters are completely relatable. There are mysteries within mysteries. We begin with Sami, an ex-cop who has been forced to leave his job after an 'error of judgement' led to someone's death. It's clear that he enjoyed being a cop, but we also start to discover that his entire life has been shaped by events that took place while he was young and backpacking around Europe.

In Spain, he met a woman called Anna and fell in love/lust. But a gruesome turn of events led him to believe that she was dead - and that he was possibly the one who had killed her. Having lived with this trauma for years, Sami regularly hallucinates and thinks he sees Anna. So when he actually does see her, he isn't immediately sure that he can trust his senses.

The discovery of 'Anna' ties in with a long-ago kidnapping of a rich, young woman, and also with the recent release of the man Sami thinks killed his ex partner, Nicole. Coben weaves all of these threads together as the novel progresses, and seemingly separate events turn out to be linked.

I found Sami to be an extremely likeable character. He regularly thinks things that he isn't sure about, but is honest enough to voice them anyway (for instance, realising that if certain people hadn't died then he wouldn't have his son today). His relationship with his partner, Molly, is well written and she's a good character, with Coben refusing to fall into stereotypes with her.

The most attention seeking characters however have to be Sami's class of students, who are supposedly learning about detecting crime but are in fact being enlisted to investiate real life events. They are utterly brilliant and made me laugh out loud in places. They are a disparate bunch with some definite eccentrics in there, but the writing isn't ever sneery or patronising.

If you are looking for a riveting read full of humour and humanity, then read this book - and then start reading Harlan Coben's previous novels. Thanks very much to Netgalley for the preview.

Yet again another 5* read from Harlan Coben, a best selling author consistently at the top of his game. Imperative no spoilers, clues or indicators are leaked to spoil the trajectory of this convoluted thriller. The chief protagonist is now an ex detective (ex is explained in time) with a predictable career path in medicine destroyed before it could start. A tragic situation occurs which had shaped his youth and subsequent life. Now happily married with a career in criminology he recognises a face giving him a blast from the past that must be followed up. A mixture of memories, ex colleagues and current students from his criminology classes all assist in a slow, often torturous in depth investigation into two decades of secrets, lies and deceit that could result in several families lives including his own put in mortal danger. The pace never gives up as the relentless quest for answers reaches a worthy and realistic conclusion with yet another final sting in the tail. A class read on every level.

As you'd expect from a Harlan Coben novel, Nobody's Fool is filled with misdirection, tension, threat and complex storylines involving very human emotions and actions.

I loved particularly the little team of amateur detectives, disgraced detective, now PI and Tutor, Sami Kierce has enlisted around him.

Following on from Fool Me Once, Sami, now a lecturer and married with a baby, is compelled to investigate a complex mystery spanning over two decades and it's really personal to him.

This was a dream to read - the pages kept turning themselves and I was engrossed throughout.
The final dénouement was a complete surprise to me and the characters were brilliantly drawn.
As always, Coben is the master of surprise and I loved it

As always with Harlan Coben I felt immersed in the story and the secrets, lies and danger that kept me hooked.

A slow burner of a story which became very intriguing. Another brilliant story from Harlan.Second in this series.

I think it would be amazing to spend a day in the mind of Harlan Coben - it must be teeming with ideas and characters waiting for a story!
I hadn't read "fool me once" but it didn't seem to matter as Sami's character and those of his friends and enemies were well rounded with back stories that were touched on and gave clarity to their actions.
As always in one of his books there are plenty of plot twists and red herrings which makes this reader stay up to read "just one more chapter". far too often.
I'm looking forward to finding out what happens to Sami in the next book!
Thank you to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.

Another brilliant book! Harlan has an amazing knack of sucking you into the story from the get go. From the very beginning I was curious as to what would happen next, and what had gone on in the past. I definitely recommend this one. Thank you #netgalley

This is a bother great read from Harlen Coben. I enjoyed the dual timelines and the clever way that the story unfolded. A story of family, first love and the lengths people would go to to protect the ones they love.

Another great thriller by Harlan Coben. In this novel, Sami Kierce, recently departed from the police and making ends meet by teaching wannabe private investigators the arts of detective work, has his evening class interrupted by the appearance of 'Anna' a girl who he thought he'd killed in Spain 22 years previously. With the assistance of former police colleagues as well as his class of PI hopefuls he discovers that Anna appears to be living in the home of reclusive millionaires whose daughter disappeared only to miraculously reappear several years late. Lots to keep you engaged and an interesting twist at the end. Thanks to NetGalley for offering me the opportunity to read an ARC, I'd thoroughly recommend this book which is part police procedural and part psychological thriller.

This is apparently the second in a series, following on from Fool Me Once. I will definitely be reading the first book in the near future. This was a real page turner - I started it yesterday and finished it today.
The story visits Sami Kierce's past. On a trip to Spain with friends Sami meets Anna and falls in love. He leaves his friends, moves in with Emma and wakes on morning to find her dead, and a knife in his hand. Then, on his father's advice, he runs and returns to the US. His guilt defines his life. After much angst in his life he is now happily married with a one-year old son and suddenly he sees the girl he killed in his criminology class. He recognises her and chases after her and that leads to a complex search for the truth.
A solid 4 star read.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Harlan Coben/Random House UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

If you’ve read Fool Me Once – or seen it on Netflix – you may recall Sami’s character (although if you’ve only seen the Netflix series, you should know that he’s distinctly less British in the books). I certainly don’t recall him mentioning the two dead women in his past but I suppose it’s not the sort of thing that you bring up without reason. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure why the lead character needed to be Sami when a new character could have worked just as well. Who knows, maybe the rights have already been sold to Netflix and they’ve already signed Adeel Akhtar to return…

Sami is a good focal character for the story, as the whole book focuses on him. I particularly liked the relationship with his wife, Molly, and the twists and turns around Anna’s story are extremely well-crafted, with the reader constantly having their expectations undermined.

I didn’t think the other story really had the page-space to breathe though, and it very much plays second fiddle to the main story, and is resolved very quickly. It felt in hindsight that it was only there to crank up the tension and provide a certain development in the other story, as while it is very intriguing, there isn’t much threat involved in the Anna story.

All in all, I enjoyed the book a lot, but it’s not up there with my favourite books by the author. Still well worth your time though.

I’ll be honest this started off a little slow and I was ready to give up but once I got the half way mark it really got going and there was no giving up!

This picks up a year or so after Fool Me Once (excluding the epilogue) and there are a few returning characters but you would be fine to pick this up as a standalone or having watched the TV series on Netflix.

Sami Kierce is a likeable main character but since the events at Farnwood his life spiralled for a while before settling down with marriage and a young child. That is until he sees what he thinks should be ghost. He follows the clues and ends up with an old kidnap mystery.

As with all Harlan Coben books this is well written and a very easy read. I found it quite moving at times.

Nobody’s Fool is set a year after Fool Me Once however, as someone who hasn’t read the first book, I had no issues getting into the plot of this one. Enough information was shared to ensure that I didn’t miss out on key foundations for this book.

In his younger days, former Detective Sami Kierce was backpacking in Spain and met the enigmatic Anna however the fun is shattered when he wakes up, finding Anna dead with a knife in his hand and covered in blood…so he runs.

Fast forward twenty-two years later, Sami is a private investigator running evening classes when he sees someone at the back of the room who looks just like Anna, who then bolts. What ensues is Sami’s hunt for the mysterious classroom visitor and for answers.

Nobody’s Fool is full of twists and turns, a great cast of characters, some of whom are helpful to Sami, some that are not!

A thoroughly engaging read and an absolute page turner, wanting to know how all the plot strands tie up together! It did not disappoint.

Absolutely love the character of Sami Kierce, ex-cop turned investigator/crime teacher! This second outing goes back to his youth and a surprising visitor from his past who drops in on one of his classes. Except last time Sami saw Anna, she was dead… Great characterisation and plotting.

Harlan Coben is such an amazing storyteller! This book is another page-turner and I can already look forward to seeing the series, as I am sure the story is so good, it deserves one.
I liked the link between this story and Fool Me Once, as well as the return of Sami Kierce ...and his past. Sami is trying to solve the mystery of the disappearance of Victoria Belmond, or is it Anna, the young girl he met in Spain in his youth? Who is Anna? Who is Victoria? What happened? And where does the murder of his wife Nicole fit into all this? Harlan Coben takes us through a maze of events and details, popping through the pages and taking the reader along various paths. There is a bit of a nagging feeling starting to develop through the book about who might be behind all this, but why? It all comes together at the end in a brilliant finish.
Sami is helped by the wannabe detectives who attend his detective class. I really enjoyed these characters. All have a bit of a past, strange habits and personalities, but they become very good at investigating to help Sami in his quest for the truth. In fact, I thought this might be the start of a couple more stories of this detective club. Who knows.
I really enjoyed this book, its witty style and this amazing talent Harlan Coben has of coming up with incredible scenarios. I definitely recommend this story and I cannot wait for the next one!

Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone | Century for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

A complex plot makes for a good psychological crime thriller. Typical Harlan Coben, well plotted with enough twists to keep you guessing right to the end. Good.

A typical Harlan Coben, lots of twists and turns. A body in a bed in Spain. A 18 year old goes missing on New Year’s Eve. A murderer is released from prison. An ex cop who teaches criminology. How do these all connect? I rushed through this to find out what happened.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the advance copy.

Harlan Coben is a master storyteller and Nobody’s Fool doesn’t let you down in this genre of thriller. Coben’s books are always fast paced, keeping you engaged until the final twist and this is no exception. I read Fool Me Once so many years ago that to be honest I didn’t remember much about Sam at all, and this completely works as a stand alone thriller.

Sam Kierce is happily married, with a baby, an ex cop who didn’t leave the force in the best of circumstances, and although struggling financially is making his world work, taking on jobs and teaching true crime at night school.

His world is turned upside down when his ex girlfriend turns up to the night school class. He hasn’t seen her for 25 years when he left her for dead in an apartment in Spain. Sam knew he hadn’t killed her but had ended up fleeing the country when he called his dad, who told him that as a young Pakistani boy in a strange country, he should just get himself home. He has been wracked with guilt ever since.

So is this woman actually Anna, or some kind of hallucinations, or worse, a hoax? And if she is real, what happened back in Spain and why has she turned up now? This is a real life mystery that Sam can get his night class to start working on - and they prove to be ready students.

As you’d expect from Coben, the story takes quite a while to untangle and there are some dead bodies along the way. The story gets mixed up with the kidnapping of a young heiress about 25 years ago and serious money always raises the stakes.

This is a ripping rollercoaster of a read, good fun, completely enagaging, with plenty of twists along the way. Sam is a likeable lead as is his wife, Molly. You find yourself rooting for them and looking for the best possible outcome.

An easy and enjoyable read, I’d recommend this to Coben fans and anyone who likes a suburban thriller!