Member Reviews
Harlan Coben remains a must-read for me. He is the king of suspenseful thrillers for me, and this book is no different. I love his mastery of character development and deft use of humor.
Former Detective Sami Kierce makes a great protagonist. I loved the inclusion of his colorful classmates and Sherlock Holmes references. The dual mysteries were compelling and well formed. They're we're many twists and turns that I did not figure out in advance. Just a great book all around.
Thanks to Net Galley for the book to review.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Harlan is a clever, witty, and dry humored story teller, which I enjoy reading. I was sucked in, wanting to know how everything intertwined. The rat pack of wannabe true crime detectives were true underdogs of the story and left you cheering for them along with the fallen hero of a detective.
This was my first time reading this author and I enjoyed the book a lot, might be part of a series but was fine to read alone. Likeable hero, humor mixed in with the mystery, a cast of unusual characters helping him solve the mystery of a woman from his past showing up, after he thought he had killed her years ago. I think it will be good reading for my students and lots of issues to discuss about the truth and how it heals and harms. 4.5
Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the eARC.
This was my first Harlan Coban book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't read the previous book, but feel this one can definitely be read as a standalone.
Sami Kierce is a very relatable and sympathetic character. I also really liked Sami's private life with his wife and baby boy. The story is fast moving and tense with a good ending. All in all it's a great read and I will definitely read more of Harlan Coban's books!
I haven’t read any of this author’s works yet and I’m kicking myself for not checking him out sooner. I loved the way that the story moved and I really enjoy the characters. Definitely will be recommending this one!
Former New York detective Sami Kierce is Nobody’s Fool, the latest mystery by Harlan Coben coming out March 25. One evening while he is teaching an adult ed criminology class on the Lower Eastside, a mystery woman briefly pops into class. Thinking she is someone from his past, fast-acting Sami slips a tracking device into her coat pocket as she dashes out of the room.
Sami dismisses his students so he can follow the woman who he dubs “Maybe Anna,” a woman who he met in Spain when he backpacked through Europe with some friends after college 25 years ago. He trails her to an upper-class neighborhood in Connecticut where he is deflected from the estate by two guards.
Not to be deterred, Sami engages his students—many of whom are true crime fanatics--with the task of finding out the identity of the woman. He does not reveal his main concern: the last time he saw Anna in Spain, she was dead.
Anna’s death knocked him off his career path of becoming a doctor. Instead, he chose to join the police force, a job from which he eventually was fired for multiple violations of law enforcement protocol. In addition, he was being sued for causing a civilian to be seriously injured. To make ends meet as he supports a wife and son, Sami has been trading legal representation in the lawsuit for becoming an investigator in divorce negotiations, supplementing his income with his part-time teaching gig.
How can the visitor to his classroom possibly be a woman he met 25 years ago? What are the chances he can redeem himself and dismiss his guilt IF Anna is really alive?
Harlan Coben is a prize-winning mystery and suspense writer with the Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony Awards to his credit—the first author to have won all three. A dozen of his books have been adapted into the Netflix series including Fool Me Once, which premiered in January 2024.
My review will be posted on Goodreads starting January 21, 2025.
I would like to thank Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.
Harlan Coben NEVER dissapoints. What a great page turner and diversion for a lazy weekend afternoon. Before I knew it the book was over and loved it all.
Harlan Coben does it again! This was an action packed ride and fantastic story the whole way through. Sami has spent the last 25 years thinking he killed a woman in Spain then fled for safety. This is his quest to find out what happened.
Coben doesn't disappoint in keeping you interested and guessing in this fast paced thriller. It was an amazing story with a surprising ending for me, Loved going along with Sami on this journey to find the truth.
You know how they say “He makes a mean burger?”
Well, Harlan Coben weaves a mean thriller. It’s that PERFECT classic detective mystery that so rarely appears among the modern genres. I certainly haven’t read a wonderful semi-amateur detective mystery in a long time.
It’s one of those books where you read the first page and just know that this story already owns you and you are must finish it incredibly fast!
It’s written in a mature, seasoned, clever writing voice.
The voice surprisingly not devoid of emotion and humanity.
I can’t help but love a good classy detective! And this one was great!
The writing, the language, the nuances, the way the author so artfully, so subtly leads you very gently in the direction of his plot twist. Without TELLING you, without making suggestions…. Just slowly nudging your subconscious in the right direction.
His writing voice is just such a pleasure. I always seek a humorous writing voice, one full of heart and meaningful soul. One that doesn’t take himself too seriously.
I want a writer who conquers you with the story, who wins the round of the guessing game every time. It’s a pretty difficult task. And Harlan Coben knows how to develop a tight perfect-puzzle double plot.
And to do it with grace, with talent of storytelling, genuine unexpected humanity… it was a breath of fresh air!
It was wonderful to read such a vibrant detective story that brings back all the greats - the Sherlock Holmes being the KING of the Detective Genre.
Nobody’s Fool by Harlan Coben
Following up his bestseller Fool Me Once, which was turned into a hit Netflix series, Harlan Coben is back with another tale featuring disgraced former detective Sami Kierce. Because of poor professional judgment, Kierce is no longer a cop. Instead, he is scraping by as an unlicensed private investigator and a sort of criminology teacher at a sketchy adult-education enterprise. Out of nowhere, he sees a woman from his past—or does he?
When he was a young college grad traveling through Europe with friends, Kierce takes up with a beautiful young woman named Anna. When one morning he awakes beside her covered in blood and holding a knife, he decides that discretion is the better part of valor and flees, believing that she is dead.
Twenty-two years later, Anna’s sudden reappearance upends Kierce’s entire life. At the same time, his former fiancée’s convicted killer is released from prison as the result of perceived errors in the case Kierce had helped to build against him. Kierce must deal with the anguish caused by this while simultaneously trying to solve the mystery that he has lived with almost his entire adult life.
If you’re already a fan of Harlan Coben, you know what to expect and you won’t be disappointed. This book is full of twists and turns, and the last forty or so pages contain one surprising development after another. This is another compelling thriller from Harlan Coben. Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the opportunity to read an advance copy of Nobody’s Fool.
I don’t think I’ve read a book in under 24 hours since middle or high school, being off work today greatly helped, but I just could not put this down.
The constant tug of war with our main character, the need to find closure, the need to move on, the need to find answers, the fear of losing what he has—but this has already taken so much from him. Five days. Five days was all it took for years of prepping a future, destined for greatness, dreams and hopes, to just vanish. But it was so much more than that, that was taken away that day.
What we embark on is a journey, of how life has a funny way of showing you, “What goes around, comes around” and “What’s done in dark, will always find its way to light.”
From start to finish, I empathized with the narrator. You can feel every pain, every terror, every question that he was feeling. Never fully feeling closure, and as more was exposed about that night in Spain, every question turns an answer that opens several more to follow.
Deception, lies, money, and almost heartlessness is what lies inside the walls of the Belmond “castle”. With great money comes great problems, or so I’ve been told. And nothing could be any more true than for the Belmond household.
Uncanny character connections, some likely twists with some still gut wrenching turns, Coben has created what I am positive will be a sure fire hit. I’ve never been consumed in a book as I was this. I, unfortunately as a reader and a dabbling writer, suffer from aphantasia—but I’ve never been able to physically place myself in a book as I have this. I always am able to imagine myself as a fly on the wall, hearing what one has to say. But here? I was there. I was in Spain. I was at the crime scenes. I was at the press release. I was in the Powell residence. I was there for it all.
Bravo.
*Huge thank you to NetGalley for allowing this read, for an honest review*
Thank you Harlan Coben for robbing me of 2 days/nights of my life, for giving my eyes that red tinged and droopy lids look, and for keeping me alert - looking for Tad. Sheesh! Every one of his books do this to me. As with his other books, this has a few twists that you don't see coming. Sami is a young man in Spain and he falls for Anna. He wakes and she appears to be dead - his money is gone and he reports this to the police who do not believe him. Fast forward 11? 25? years and Sami is happily married with a young son - when he sees Anna again in a class he's teaching. He runs after her without success.
Before he was married, his fiancee Nicole was killed, there was a trial, and a dude named Tad was convicted. But now he's out of prison and pleads his innocence to Sami.
These two events intertwine and it will keep you guessing until you give up - and then the twists come.
That's all for now. I've gotta get some sleep. Oh - and thanks for the publisher for this advanced copy. zzzzzzzzz
Sami Kierce’s world begins to crumble when his long-buried past comes back to haunt him. Years ago, a passionate romance with Anna in Spain ended in a nightmare—he woke up covered in blood, and Anna was gone without a trace. The truth of that night has eluded him ever since. Now, as a husband and father, Sami’s carefully built life is thrown into chaos when Anna unexpectedly shows up in his class. What follows is a gripping journey as Sami unravels the truth about Anna and the mysterious events that have haunted him for years. A compelling read that needs to be added to your 2025 reading list.
Harlan Coben has done it again! I’ve read several of his books and they always pull me right in. This was no exception. If you like twists and turns, don’t sleep on this book! Read it now!
The number of times I thought I knew what was happening is only one less than how it actually happened. I did call one thing correctly - just one. And it is likely the storyline of his next book, at least I hope so!
Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an early read of this book!
#netgalley #nobodysfool #harlancoben
Nobody's Fool is a quick, action-driven read. I've been a fan of Harlan Coben since I would pick these novels off my dad's shelf as a teen. Former police officer Sami Kierce thinks he sees a woman from his past that should be dead in a class he teaches one night. This turns into a big web of lies to untangle.
I found the premise intriguing but didn't 100% love the delivery. There were a ton of characters to keep track of and lots of them weren't distinctive or memorable. There are a couple subplots to follow and at times there is a little too much going on. I hadn't read any previous Sami novels so the references to previous drama was lost on me. Interesting twist at the end, but a lot of loose ends. I'm always skeptical at how much old witnesses remember and how willing they are to talk to strangers in cold case books like this.
WOW.
Harlan Coben delivers an amazing thriller about an ex-cop who "sees" his dead ex-fling from 25 years ago. Being the cop he is, he tracks her down and goes down a huge rabbit hole to figure out what happened in the past and has to confront things along the way.
My first Harlan Coben novel did not disappoint! I love how fast paced the story is, I read this in less than 6 hours. I definitely did not see the ending coming, I had a feeling about Victoria but wasn't completely sure but never would have guessed the part with Anna. I've watched a couple of the shows on Netflix, but this book was so much better than I think any show would be. I am now hooked on him and am excited to dive into his other books.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.
Imagine living your best life on summer vacation in Spain. You meet a cutey at the club and yall become inseparable only for you to wake up one morning with a knife in your hand and the girl's dead body laying next to you.... This is exactly what happened to Sami Keirce.
Fast forward 25 years later, Keirce, no longer a NYPD detective, is teaching criminology night classes when the "dead" girl Anna walks into his class and he stops at nothing to find her and find out the truth.
WOW the storyline had me hooked and I felt like I was right there with Sami Kierce to find out what happened to his Anna. The more digging he did, the more he realized that everybody was lying but as the title says, Kierce is nobody's fool. My mouth dropped when things finally came together.
Read this ASAP!
Pub Date: 03/25/2025
Thank you Netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for my advanced readers copy.
This is another engaging, fast-paced book from Harlan Coben. It has plenty of twists and turns which kept me guessing until the end. I really enjoyed how Sami, Molly and all the characters interacted. His students helped make the book fun. I recommend this book to all mystery lovers. Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Another compelling read from one of my favorite suspense writers. Nobody’s Fool is a page Turner with twists all the way up to the thrilling conclusion. It’s not required to read the first Sami Kierce book but I’d recommend it so you have the context on all of the characters who appear.
Another outstanding book by Harlan Coben (and yes, I can see this on Netflix). As per usual, I never figure it out. Great twists until the end!