Many thanks to Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for this arc. I received this book in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts are entirely my own.


In this book Sami Kierce is talking to his amateur detective class that he teaches through a “college” and comes face to face with a woman that he believed died twenty five years earlier because he woke up one morning with a bloody knife and a dead body. Kierce also finds out that the man who killed his fiancé was released from prison and that he wants Kierce to believe his innocence. Kierce is able with the help of his detective class that Anna his lover of five days that he met in Spain while backpacking after college is actually Victoria Belmont a girl who disappeared New Years 2000 and who showed up eleven years later with amnesia but the case is still unsolved. As Kierce investigates his past and learns what happened to Anna/Victoria he learns the lengths that a father and son went to cover up the murder of a young woman who had her whole life ahead of her and the other woman who assumed her life in order to give the mother closer and help the family heal. And Kierce is able to put the man who murdered his fiancé years ago back behind bars before he could kill Kierce’s wife and son. This book was very interesting and an amazing thriller.

Harlan Coben can publish his groceries list and I will read it! He’s actually the reason I’m deep into thrillers and mystery novels. His voice and his cliffhangers never cease to impress me. Fool me once was my very first novel so I was so happy to be back to the familiarity of the characters. Excellent!

Let me start by saying I could not put this book down. The chapters flowed and I really enjoy reading about Sami. I know this is the second book dedicated to him, but you don't need to read the first one to dive in to this fast paced story. Sami is a fun real character that you are routing for from the very beginning and he never gives up, which I love! There were some real twists at the end that I didn't expect which wrapped up this book nicely!
Thank you for the complementary ARC of this book that I received from NetGalley on behalf of the author and the publisher.

This book was absolutely amazing. Sami is a great character. It’s fascinating to see the fallout from his last case. This mystery is insane. A missing girl suddenly shows up out of nowhere years later. A complete mystery where she was, who took her, why she was returned. Sami recognizes her as an old dead lover with a different name. The twists and turns in solving this mystery are incredible. Add in the fun students that Sami teaches and you have a killer team of detectives on the case. Then there’s the side mystery of Nicole’s killer. Did Sami get it wrong all those years ago? Everything intertwines and leaves you frantically turning pages. The last hour of this book, my house could have been burning down and I wouldn’t have noticed. The end teases a 3rd Sami book and I can not wait.

Is it a Harlan Coben book if there are less than 2 twists that will pull some strong reaction from you? I can hear your answers already. Yeah, I had to say no you didn't several times in the story.

Sami thought that this girl she met during his backpacking tour died because of him. He couldn't get over that 20 years later still. When she saw the same girl in his little community class, he chased her to see if that was really her or he was hallucinating. His little run after her opened Pandora's box of trouble for Sami. Those 5 days in Spain were not what it seemed.

I read this book without reading the first installment and in my opinion it did not take away anything from the story. It was fast paced page turner that kept me on my toes. It was what you expected from a Harlan Coben book.

I would say this one was far more of a mystery than thriller, but maybe I’ve read too many Freida books! Bonus points for the quick and easy read with not too many characters and an easy storyline to follow. I will definitely be checking out more Harlan Coben books in the near future.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlan Coben, and Grand Central Publishing for the eARC! As expected from the master of fast-paced, action-packed thrillers, this book delivers nonstop suspense, unexpected twists, and compelling characters. From start to finish, it keeps you on edge, proving once again why Coben remains a standout in the genre. A must-read for thriller fans!

Another excellent Harlan book. This one is a bit different yet still very intriguing and interesting. A real quick read and a page turner. This author can’t do wrong.

Nobody’s Fool by Harlan Coben
Detective Sami Kierce series #2. Mystery, thriller, police procedural. Can be read as a stand-alone.
Former detective Sami Kierce is an unlicensed private investigator now. One evening as he’s teaching his night school class, there is a visitor at the back watching him. Though he hasn’t seen her in more than twenty years, he recognizes his girlfriend Anna. A woman that was dead the morning he woke up with a knife in his hand. She runs as soon as she realizes he recognizes her and Sami chases after her. He still has nightmares from those days and he needs to know what really happened.

🎧 I alternated between an ebook and audiobook. The performance by Vikas Adam is superb. The tension comes through clearly during the story as does his love for his wife. The mystery is easy to follow on the audio but there are a lot of characters to keep straight. Often an ebook is easier to go back and search for a name which is why I like to read both formats at the same time. There are some timeline changes via memories but those are easy to discern. I did listen to this between. 1.5 and 1.7 to more closely match my reading and conversation speed.

Twists and brutal subject topics.
Riveting and engrossing. Always a good storyteller.

I was gifted a copy of this from NetGalley and Hachette Audio.

I enjoyed this mystery and it kept me guessing until the very last page. I enjoyed the way that the main character Sami’s amateur “detective” class helped him solve the mystery and the backstory on several of the characters and how it all came together at the end. Lots of juicy family secrets !

I have been a fan or Harlan Coben for many years and enjoy his writing style. He takes an event and fills it with lots of twists, keeping you guessing during the unraveling of the story. As with most of his books, this story has some “interesting” characters along the way that you learn to love, or hate depending on their backstory along with some moments of levity.

The main character of this story is Sami Kierce, who is down on his luck and is trying to get his life back on track. He started his career as an NYPD detective and was fired from that job. After leaving the police force, he does some private investigative work and teaches a Detective Skills for Amateurs class with students from very different backgrounds. One night will teaching class, a woman walks by his classroom who he thought was killed twenty-two years ago in Spain. There is also another mystery he is trying to solve associated with the death of his fiancé.

As the story unfolds, be prepared for lots of twists and turns, the uncovering of secrets and deceit, and danger along the way. Sami is a very relatable character despite all his flaws. He has his fair share of personal struggles but is committed to the truth and deeply cares about his family and friends.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

#NobodysFool, #HarlanCoben, #NetGalley

Nobody's Fool is not my favorite Coben book as it is a little slower than usual and took me a while to get into it. Once I did, however, I became caught up in the spider web that is woven with the mysterious woman who has haunted the main character for decades as he believes he murdered her. Or rather, that she was murdered by someone else and he was the scape goat.
When she reappears he feels no choice but to follow the mysterious path.
Well written, this book tells a story that winds up to a surprise ending.
I recommend this book - and that means sticking with the slow start.,

Going along with his rich friends on a backpacking tour of Europe after college graduation, Sami Kierce meets a woman in Spain whom he falls for instantly and completely. Sami abandons his friends to stay and spend time with Anna. Until he wakes up one morning to find her next to him in bed. Dead. And he's covered in blood. Sami has no idea what happened.

After fleeing back to America, he discards his plans to go to medical school and becomes a cop. After being a police officer, he becomes a private investigator, teaching a class at night to crime buffs. It's twenty-two years after Anna's death and Sami is happily married with a new baby at home. One night a woman enters his class, exchanges a look with Sami, and then disappears. Sami knows it's Anna, the woman who died in Spain over twenty years ago. Determined to solve the mystery that has haunted him for years, Sami chases after her, only to find she's holed up in an exclusive and well-guarded estate. Can he get to the bottom of the story and events that so dramatically changed his life?

This is another mystery fans of prolific author Harlan Coben won't be able to put down.

This was my first Harlan Coben book, and even though it was the second in a series, it was absolutely phenomenal!
Sami Kierce, a former police detective, is doing whatever it takes to support his loving wife and young son. On top of his private investigation work, he also teaches night classes. But during one of his classes, Sami is stunned to see a woman he once loved while backpacking in Spain. Someone Sami believed was dead and he was the one responsible. Now, faced with the shocking reality that she is alive and well, he's determined to uncover the truth behind her survival, no matter the cost.
This book had such an intriguing premise and kept me hooked from start to finish. Just when I thought I had it figured out, I was proven completely wrong. I truly sympathized with Sami as he fought to do what was right, all while grappling with the difficult realization that doing the right thing isn’t always in everyone’s best interest.

*Thank you to Harlan Coben, Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC copy. I am freely leaving my honest review.

Any time that I see a new release from Harlan Coben it is cause for celebration. I know that I will lose sleep until I have read the last page. Nobody’s Fool opens with Sami Kierce as a recent college graduate touring through Europe before entering medical school. Meeting Anna in a Spanish night club changes his life. After days of partying he wakes up next to her lifeless body with a bloody knife in his hand. When he reports the death to the police, the body is gone and there is no evidence of a crime. With his life turned upside down, he forgoes medical school and joins the police. Later disgraced and terminated for skirting the rules, he supports his wife Molly and infant son by conducting investigations for a law firm and teaching a night course in criminology. He is stunned one evening when Anna enters his class. Trailing her to an estate in Connecticut, he discovers that her real name is Victoria Belmont, an heiress who disappeared for eleven years and has no memory of the time. Sami is the only person with a connection to Victoria during her disappearance and is hired by the family to fill in that gap.

Sami may have started as a naive student, but now he is a seasoned investigator. He never told Molly his whole story about Spain, but there is love and mutual respect in their relationship and she trusts him. His class is filled with would-be investigators, so he makes this assignment a group project. It is an odd group that is eager to offer help. Coben throws constant twists and surprises at Sami. Beginning with Anna’s supposed death, there are threats against Sami and his family, scammers, human trafficking and murders. Coben will keep you glued to the pages until Sami finally discovers the truth and proves that he is nobody’s fool. I would like to thank NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for providing this book.

This is a gripping tale about a man haunted by a past incident. Back in his early twenties, during a romantic escapade in Spain, he woke up to find a dead girl beside him. Choosing to keep the incident a secret, his past comes rushing back when he unexpectedly spots the girl, very much alive, while teaching a night class. Recognizing her immediately reignites a complex web of emotions and mysteries.

Harlan Coben masterfully weaves together various storylines, creating a deeply engaging narrative. The characters are well-developed, and the plot twists are both surprising and satisfying. "Nobody's Fool" has proven to be one of the best books I've read in 2025, thanks to its creativity and the compelling way Coben stitches together the different elements of the story.

This one was just…..okay.

I actually contemplating dnfing a few times - mostly from boredom. I normally fly through Coben’s work but for this one I didn’t really find myself invested in the story, causing it to drag for me.

Overall I was underwhelmed, and when I got to the end I was satisfied with how it was tied up but also like wow, this is how I spent my time? Just felt disappointed by this one. Three stars because it was tidily written and wrapped up, and I’m sure there are fans who will eat it up. Just wasn’t for me.

Harlan Coben’s one-of-kind wit sets this thriller apart. Features his trademark twists and emotional resonance. Coben manages to remain relevant and each book is, in fact, better than the last. Love the band of misfit sleuths!

Harlan Coben knows how to reel in his readers in just the first few pages and keep them hooked until the very end. This is book #2 in this series but this one can be read as a standalone without missing a beat.

The story opens with a bang. Sami Kierce, a twenty-something college grad wakes up next to the bloodied body of his girlfriend. And the stunner? He’s holding a knife. Now it’s two decades later and this event from his past has come back to taunt him along with another tragedy. Needing answers to both events, Sami races to find the truth at all costs.

This heart-thumping, fast-paced thriller had me hooked until the very end. I have never been disappointed reading a Harlan Coben book and this time is no different. I would pick up any book he writes.

Thank you to NetGalley, Grand Central Publishing and Harlan Coben for an early digital copy and this exhilarating ride.

Harlan Coben knows how to write a twisty thriller! This is book #2 in his new Sami Kierce series. Sami was once a NYC police officer. He's now a disgraced NYC police officer, a private detective and a new father, doing whatever it takes to make ends meet and support his family. His bad judgement from 20+ years ago comes back to haunt him. He recognizes an old lover who he thought was dead and the chase is on to find out the truth. Just when you think Harlan Coben couldn't write anything better, he comes up with this one. You won't find out the truth until the end and I'm sure not going to tell it! I don't know how you do it, Harlan! Now I need to go back and read book #1. My thanks to Harlan Coben, Grand Central Publishing and Net Galley for the ARC and the highly enjoyable read.