Harlan Coben is becoming a must read author for me and this book did not disappoint. I woke up early this morning to finish it. The mystery is great! The way things come together was not expected. Overall, a great pleasure to read.

First, thank you NetGalley for this ARC!
This is my second Harlan Conan book. I love the slow burn of it with Building the characters and the relationships of the characters.

While visiting Spain before college, Sami wakes up beside Anna’s dead body and runs back home. Now she showed up at Sami’s late night class. She claims to remember nothing but Sami is determined to uncover the truth. Is this truly Anna? Or is this the missing girl from the Y2K party??

Thank you Netgalley! Harlan Cobens Nobody’s Fool was very fast faced. I enjoyed it and will be continuing the series.

I read this as a standalone book. The story was good and well written but the pacing was a little slow. It begins with Sami Kierce who 20+ years ago went backpacking in Spain with friends after college graduation. After waking up next to the dead body of a woman he met and spent the night with, covered in blood and holding a knife, he ran and wasn’t sure what happened.

Jumping ahead to present time, he has lost his job as a policeman and is working as a private investigator as well as teaching a criminal night school class. At one of his classes he thinks he sees the woman from all those years ago that he thought was dead. He goes after her and she flees. In the meantime he now has an infant son and a wonderful patient wife. There are many twists and surprises to keep you guessing until the end while he’s trying to figure out exactly what happened all those years ago. His students are a fun bunch and add humor to the story. I see a great movie in this.

Thank you to the author @HarlanCoben as well as to @GrandCentralPublishing and @NetGalley for a free e-ARC. The opinions are mine alone and not biased in any way.

Nobody’s Fool is the second novel featuring former detective Sami Kierce. (Kierce originally appeared in Harlan’s 2016 novel, Tell No One.) This story centers on Kierce’s own story beginning the summer after his college graduation. Before attending medical school, Kierce takes off to backpack through Europe with some friends. However, he decides to stay behind in Spain when he meets a young woman. In present day, as a disgraced former detective, Kierce teaches night classes and works as a PI for a law firm. During one of his classes, the woman Kierce thought he murdered in Spain 22 years prior appears, leading him on a chase to discover what really happened all those years ago.

As usual, Coben has written a fast-paced, intriguing story that will demand to be read in one sitting. I am always pleasantly surprised by his ability to create twists I do not see coming. As someone who typically guesses the twist or ending early on, this is one of the things that keeps me coming back to Coben’s books. In Nobody’s Fool, I was once again blindsided by the plot’s unveiling. This also means that Coben has again created a novel plot that you will not find elsewhere.

However, I did not love Nobody’s Fool and found a few things that could be improved. A few pages into the novel, Coben includes some disappointing Boomer fodder about political correctness. This unfortunately is not the first time in his recent releases that I have found some cringe, generational-based criticism that nearly turns me off the book. In addition, after starting off with a bang, I found that the pacing relented some, slowing in the middle. I would not have noticed the decrease in pace if some of the interesting, quirky side characters (Kierce’s students) were more developed. However, these sidekicks are opaque, one-dimensional characters used as props in moving the plot forward, rather than substantive characters.

Despite this book being the second in a new series, you can definitely read it as a standalone. I read Tell No One about 5 years ago and remember little of it. (I tried to watch the Netflix adaptation; however, so much was changed that it did little to refresh my memory.) The only thing you miss out on if you skip Tell No One is presumably Sami Kierce’s character development. Usually, I think Coben is excellent at creating full-fleshed out characters, particularly for a thriller writer. However, I felt like Coben skipped delving into Kierce’s past and building depth to his character. I assume that this is partly because that was done in the prior novel. Consequently, I never felt connected to the character or fully invested in the story’s outcome.

Overall, Nobody’s Fool is a solid, fast-paced thriller with twists you will not see coming. Despite some flaws, I still recommend this book if you are looking for an original, fast-paced, popcorn thriller.

Anything Harlan Coben touches is gold. I just love getting caught up in one of his novels and this book was no exception. This is my first Sami Kierce book and I already cannot wait for the next one, it is fast paced and keeps you guessing. There are two "cases" he is working on, his fiancé was murdered years prior and her killer is released from jail and a woman he met after college in Spain (20 years ago) all of a sudden shows up at his class he teaches. Highly recommend!

I'll admit that I didn't read the first book, but I really enjoyed the Netflix series so was excited to see the second book in the series. I don't feel like I needed to have read the first though to pick up this book. There were so many twists that left me guessing what would happen next. I did find myself drifting at times while reading which made me feel like it could have been a bit shorter, cutting out some bits. I still recommend it though and really enjoyed it!

Thank you to Harlan Coben, Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Harlan Coben's newest book is a masterpiece of bringing his creative style of writing to new and old-time readers. There are many threads to this intense twisty story, and he pulls it all together seamlessly. His characters are always interesting, and he really knows how to tell a story. It's a long book but hard to put down because the suspense forces you onward. If you've read his books, you'll love this one as I did. If you haven't, you're missing some great stories, and this is an excellent place to start.

There is something cathartic about reading a Harlan Coben suspense story. A protagonist caught up in a mystery involving the past, and the current, with future ramifications. So one has a plot that can be confusing, frustrating, and ultimately Coben pulls on the thread just barely hanging out and …voila…the Gordian knot begins to unravel. So I can enjoy finishing this book and begin salivating for the next Coben to be published (soon!).
5 Stars…

Mystery thriller kept me guessing.

It's been awhile, Harlan Coben -- I've not read him for awhile but I did read the first in the set featuring Sami Kierce so I thought I'd circle back and see about this because the premise sounded interesting. That being said, I didn't remember much about #1 and I think this works as a standalone as any significant backstory is included.

Sami Kierce, kicked off the police force due to egregious behavior, is now a private investigator reduced to doing odd jobs for a law firm that he owes. He's doing a side gig as a night class teacher on criminology. One night he's with his pay per class students when someone enters the room through a side door. When he looks over, he's stunned to recognize her. But, thing is, this is Anna, a woman he met in Spain over 20 years ago while he was backpacking Europe with friends. And the other big thing is that he thought he had killed her. Thus begins a crazy hunt to find her as she runs out the door and vanishes. He needs closure and answers.

This was fast paced and hard to put down. The answers that Sami finds aren't necessarily the ones he wants, or believes. There's another side plot about Sami's ex fiance who was murdered (he's remarried with a baby now) and the killer's release from prison but that wasn't nearly as compelling as the main story line. I liked this despite not really caring that much for Sami and I was afraid of how it was all going to end. Surprisingly, there were some twists and the conclusion seemed a bit rushed.
I'm assuming there might be another in this series as there were some unresolved issues.

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publisher. The narrator, Vikas Adam, did a fantastic job of bringing the characters to life. His tone, accents, and dramatic flair were excellent and his performance really enhanced my enjoyment of the book.

I love Harlan but I didn’t think he could get me to enjoy a character other than Win and yeah, even Myron but here I am. I love Sami and his class of ‘students’. This one doesn’t disappoint. No spoilers here.

Detective Sami Kierce is a disgraced detective that is making ends meet by teaching a class to a bunch of amateur detectives. He is really going through the motions to support his wife and young child, until he bumps into what he presumes is his college love. That would be amazing except for the fact that she died 20 years earlier. What follows are some twists and turns to try to get to the bottom of the dilemma! Thanks to NetGalley for the read.

This book had me hooked from beginning to end. There were many twists and turns along the way. I’m always up for a read by Harlan Coben.

4.5

I was super stoked when I saw the movie series of Fool Me Once. It literally kept me on my toes and was nail biter. I loved the mystery of Coben's series and loved how it was so involved.

When Nobody's Fool released I had to jump on! Just like Fool Me Once this book keeps you focused in and hard to put down. Even though I feel like closer to the end of the book it does seem to finally plan out, some things are predictable but always enjoyable.

Best thriller I’ve read so far this year!

Bestselling author Harlan Coban has done it again with Nobody’s Fool. Full of twists and turns, former detective Sami Kierce has a mystery on his hands— one with ties back to his younger days. Will his obsession with finding out the truth cost him more than its worth?

The entire novel reads like a movie script- I could see each scene unraveling in my mind and could not stop turning the pages. A mystery within a mystery within an evacuated conviction, Nobody’s Fool has it all.

3.5 stars

Twenty-two years ago Sami Kierce had just graduated from college and was backpacking across Europe before starting classes at Columbia University Medical School. In a nightclub on Spain's Costal del Sol, Sami met a pretty girl called Anna and spent the next few days with her - drinking, dancing, taking drugs, having sex, and so on. Then one morning Sami woke up with a bloody knife in his hand, and Anna's dead body beside him. Sami - who was sure he'd been drugged - threw away the knife, informed the police, and took the next plane home.

Two decades later Kierce - who had felt too frightened, distressed, and disturbed to pursue a medical career - was a police detective. Being something of a wild card cop, Sami made one mistake too many and got thrown off the force. Kierce is a now a family man, with a wife named Molly and a baby called Henry. To make ends meet, Sami is employed as an unlicensed private detective for a New York law firm, working for an attorney named Arthur.

Kierce also teaches a criminology class called 'No Shit, Sherlock' at an adult night school on NYC's Lower East Side. Sami observes, "The pamphlet advertising my course calls me a 'world renowned ex-police detective' alongside a headshot of me so unflattering the DMV is jealous." Sami's gung-ho criminology students include three golden age women who call themselves 'The Pink Panthers'; a trio of young women who have a true-crime podcast called 'Three Red Hots'; Golfer Gary, who always wears a golf shirt with a logo from some ritzy club; two bohemian types named Debbie and Raymond; and more.

Kierce is teaching his class one night when a doppelganger for Anna (if she was 20 years older) enters the classroom. Kierce startles to see 'Anna', and she notices and runs out. Sami follows the woman to a luxurious estate in Connecticut, where he's threatened by two security guards and ejected.

Sami feels compelled to find out about this woman, who - if she's really Anna - derailed his life. Sammy recalls, "I was supposed to be a physician. That had been my plan from as young as I can remember. If I hadn't gone to Spain and met Anna, I would have gone to Columbia University medical school that fall. I'd have done the four years. I'd have picked a specialty - I was interested in cardiology - and gone on to my internship and residency."

Kierce investigates Anna with the help of his 'No Shit, Sherlock' students, who turn out to be excellent detectives.

Meanwhile, Sami is faced with an additional heartrending problem. Tad Grayson, who was convicted of murdering Sami's fiancée Nicole two decades ago, is being released from prison for a faulty prosecution. Grayson can be retried if new evidence is found, and Sami puts his night school pupils on that case as well.

As the two inquiries proceed, there are surprising revelations a homicide, and a tricky resolution.

Author Harlan Coben always writes good mysteries, and I enjoyed the book (even though one plot point is a bit predictable). Coben's first book featuring Detective Kierce, Fool Me Once, is a mini-series on Netflix, and this one is following suit.

Thanks to Netgalley, Harlan Coben, and Grand Central Publishing for a copy of the book.

Nobody’s Fool
Harlan Coben
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Wow! Hooked from the start! Fast paced, juicy crime thriller. Riveting and kept you guessing. I read in 24 hours. I didn’t initially catch that this was the second in the series but I think it was easily read as a standalone.

22 years ago Sami wakes up covered in blood with his girlfriend dead next to him. He flees Spain and heads back home to the US. From there he flounders from the aftermath of the incident and doesn't follow his dream of becoming a doctor and and instead ups end a PI after being kicked out of the police force. This follows the typical Coben formula, if you enjoyed his previous books you'll most likely enjoy this one. I didn't like this as much as some of his previous works. I am beginning to find him a bit formulaic but he still keeps my interest enough to keep coming back for more.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Nobody's Fool.

I read the first Sami Pierce novel and enjoyed it though I don't remember what happened.

It was awhile go and I had to go through my list on Goodreads to reread my review to remind myself I liked it.

I mostly enjoy Mr. Coben's books.

I like the way he writes; his characters are likable, relatable, and down-to-earth; supporting characters are mostly decent and loyal, though some of his narratives take a bit more disbelief suspension I'm willing to give.

The events in Nobody's Fool takes place an year after the first book.

Former Detective Sami Kierce is slumming it as an off-the-books PI and teaching a true-crime course at the local college.

When a blast from the past reminds him of a shocking event from when he was in Spain as a college grad, it leads him down the road to discover the truth, but at what cost?

At the same time, a convicted cop killer has his conviction overturned on a technicality and causes Kierce further distress at the same time.

Is this a coincidence? And what does it mean, if anything?

First, I enjoyed the writing; it's fast paced, there's lots of stuff happening and the narrative kept my attention.

Second, there's a lot of characters, minor and supporting, and though I liked their inclusion, they didn't add much to the narrative and read as filler.

Third, I love the procedural aspects of the case; Sami interviewing the family, witnesses, suspects, etc.

Fourth, there's a lot going on, not just with all the characters, but the subplot of the released cop killer so there's a lot of multi-tasking as to what is happening with which narrative.

Fifth, I like the ending, though I guessed a few of the twists.

As I mentioned, the narrative takes a bit of disbelief suspension but it's a wild ride, its engaging and captures your interest if you can ignore some of the obvious:

Would you really use a class of true-crime enthusiasts to help you solve a cold case? Can these people be trusted?

How open are witnesses from an old murder case be willing to speak to you decades later?

Can they recall details years later?

I look forward to the next book featuring Sami Kierce.

I have read all but 2 of Harlan Coben's book and this one did not disappoint. And even though this is billed as Sami Kierce #2, I don't think you need to have read Fool Me Once to be able to follow and enjoy this book. Mr. Coben's writing style and trademark humor makes for easy reading which made this one hard to put down. The ending may surprise you!

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.