Another great book by one of the best. Loved the characters and the plot. Didn’t see the end coming. Highly recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Kierce is at the top of his game! My favorite Coben book to date!

Nobody’s Fool by Harlan Coben follows disgraced officer Sami Kierce as he is confronted with a woman from his past that he thought he murdered on a college trip with friends nearly 25 years ago. Tied together with the current prison release of Tad, the man who “supposedly” murdered Kierce’s finance Nicole years ago, due to Kierce’s fall from the Police Department (and his possible involvement investigating Tad’s “wrong” conviction). Now, Kierce is happily married with a child, doing some PI work on the side and teaching a criminology night class with a bunch of amateur sleuths. With the help of his students, Kierce is set to figure out who this mystery woman really is, and to put Tad back behind bars where he belongs!

Kierce as the “Pakistani Terminator” is a phenomenal character! Coben’s quick wit and banter displayed among these pages drives this novel from start to finish. My only issue, which is probably mine alone, is that now after the Netflix series for Fool Me Once, I now only see Sami Kierce as actor Adeel Akhtar, which in my mind is not how I visualize him!

The rest of the characters in this novel are a hoot as well (gave me The Thursday Murder Club vibe at times but for younger characters) – and I loved the Sherlock axiom’s thrown in as well as Sami’s father’s sayings throughout.

It’s amazing what wealth can hide and what the truth about the past can bring forward. Also, how easy it is to be played as the fool. The plot and writing were top notch and well thought out; not only will I highly recommend this novel – but I’m hoping there is another Kierce book in the future (while this is book 2 technically, it can be a standalone novel).

4.6 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley for this witty and suspenseful arc in exchange for an honest review!

And remember: “[y]ou can only tend the garden you can reach.”

I have read so many books by Harlan Coben and most of them are awesome. In this book a spin off from Fool me Once, it revolves around Sam Kierce a disgraced detective who wakes up to a dead Anna next to him. It then jumps 25 years later and he sees her. Well as usual with Harlan Coben there are twists and turns all the way. Suffice to say, this author never disappoints his readers. I received this book from net galley and the publisher as an ARC for an honest review. Another great book by Harlan Coben. Another must read. No spoilers here.

Nobody’s Fool by Harlan Coben is great story. Having read most of his other books I was excited to read this one. It’s a mystery with some twists and turns. Once you start reading you don’t want to put it down.
Sam, a young college student backpacking through Europe, wakes up in Spain with blood on his hands and a woman who he has spending time with is next to him has blood all over and is dead. The story fast forwards twenty some years later when Sam believes he sees the woman from that night in Spain. Sam is determined to find her and find what happened. Sam, together with his strange crew of students from his criminal investigating class, strive to figure out the mystery.
Well written story, easy to read and follow.

Nobody's Fool is another great book by Harlan Coben. This time a man's past comes back to haunt him in the most unexpected way. A fast-pace, great characters, and always a surprise, Coben delivers again a top notch book. Recommend.

Another twisty, surprising novel from the mind of Harlan Coben? Yes, please.

Nobody’s Fool introduces former cop turned PI Sami Kierce, still haunted by an event that changed his life forever. When his past rises up to turn his life upside down, he knows he has to find out what really happened all those years ago..

Highly recommended. #Nobody’sFool #NetGalley #SaltMarshAuthorSeries

As soon as I start reading a Harlan Coben book, I know I have to put the rest of my life on hold for the duration. This one was no exception. Billed as a follow up to the 2016 "Fool Me Once," it reads as a stand alone. I know I read "Fool Me Once," probably when it first came out, but I didn't correlate it to any of the events in this one. I probably just need to read it again. Regardless, like all of his novels, this one grabbed me from the first page and kept me reading through every twist straight through to the last page. I read it in one day. The characters are well developed, the story is fast paced, and those twists just keep on coming. Highly recommended

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an advanced reader copy.

Very typical Harlan cold book keeps you guessing the whole way I love books with scam artists and this was very entertaining

2000: Sami wakes up next to a woman named Anna who he believes is dead, with no recollection of what happened.
2025: Sami is teaching a class when all of the sudden, Anna is in the back of the classroom.

Nobody's Fool is a Harlan Coben classic - after Sami's first appearance in Fool Me Once and the subsequent Netflix show, I was invested in this book to see how his story shakes out. This book reminded me a lot of the Amanda Knox story with a twist - what could have been. I really enjoyed the book though it did feel a bit rushed towards the middle-end. I didn't expect the ending and it seemed a little far fetched but overall it was an enjoyable read that I'd recommend to others.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the advanced reader copy!

Despite being haunted by the murder of a summer fling 22 years ago and the later murder of his fiancee, Sami Kierce has built a happy life with his wife and infant son and is working to rebuild his life after being booted from the NYC police department. He’s teaching criminology to a group of would-be detectives. He’s trading detective skills for legal counsel.

But then the ghost of that first murder, Anna, appears in his classroom and launches him headlong into tracking down what really happened. His fiancee’s murderer is released on a technicality and Kierce is bent on returning him to prison.

Is Anna alive? Is she really a kidnapped heiress who resurfaced years after disappearing? Is there a connection between the two murders? Is it a coincidence that Anna resurfaces within days of the release of the fiancee’s murderer? Can turning both cases into class assignments for his oddball students help, or harm, his investigations?

Full of twists, laced with humor, this is Coben at his finest and I can’t wait for the next Sami Kierce story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK Cornerstone for providing an ARC e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Harlan Coben is a master storyteller and this book is no exception. . That being said, this book is just ok. The story is well told and is an easy read but nothing special and I found it hard to care by the end. I’ll still be back for the next one though.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Nobody's Fool is the second book by author Harlan Coben featuring Sami Kierce, a former police detective introduced in the first book, Fool Me Once. I did not read the first entry, but that is not a problem as the reader can follow the narrative easily in this book.

When Kierce was backpacking in Europe in 2000 as a young man when me meets Anna in Spain, who quickly becomes a romantic partner. But within three days he wakes up holding a bloody knife and Anna dead beside him.

Pick up 25 years later and Kierce is now a disgraced detective living in NYC, teaching a night course in criminal investigation and trying to make a living for his wife and young son. One night a woman walks in late to his classroom, none other than Anna. He tries to make contact with her, but she runs away and is able to get into a car waiting for her.

This leads Sami on a quest to find out what is happening and how Anna is still alive. It is challenging to say much more without giving spoilers, which I don't like to do in reviews. Kierce uses his own investigative skills, along with that of his adult class, to try and solve the mystery.

Coben is a wonderful storyteller, and this book takes you on a thrilling ride with many twists and turns. I really enjoyed the book, and give it a 5 star rating.

I want to thank the author, Grand Central Publishing, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an ARC of this new book. I attest my review is my own unbiased opinion.

3.75/5 Stars!!

Thank you so so so much to Grand Central Titles, Harlan Coben, & NetGalley for sending me an arc copy of this book, you made my entire year!🤭


I loved so many parts of this book, but it was still missing something for me! I think my main issue with this book was that it didn’t grab my attention right off the bat, which I’m so used to with Harlan Coben’s books. The pacing was odd to me, I went from being bored to excited, back to bored. I did love the plotline tie-in from Fool Me Once though, and I enjoyed the characters a lot, especially Sami’s wife Molly. With all that being said Harlan is still my favorite thriller author and I will never not recommend a book from him. So..RUN to get this one from Barnes on March 25th.

When we first meet former Detective Sami Kierce in Harlan Coben's Nobody's Fool, Book 2 in the series, he sounds like the nerdy teen you hope will be your doctor when he finishes his studies. To celebrate the start of that long march from med school acceptance to anointed doctor, he takes a European trip with friends. Because of decisions he makes, it ends in disaster, ending everything about his bright future. We next meet Sami twenty years later, a disgraced former detective doing low level PI work to pay the bills and teaching a class to help him make ends meet. The same erratic decision making that ruined his medical career seems still in control of his present and yet, despite all the failed expectations, he is married to a woman he adores with a new child and unexpectedly content. His fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants decision making pops up again when a woman he thought he killed in Europe shows up in his class and then flees. He chases her down, but instead of solving the mystery that has haunted him for twenty years, finds a much bigger one begging to be solved. Of course, he can't turn his back on. At his core, he was never a doctor. He was a crime fighter. 

Throughout the story, the author drops tidbits of Sami's past explaining what happened back when it all started, each tidbit fleshing out the events more until the man I originally had little empathy for--almost disliked--becomes an empathetic guy with a good moral core who simply wants to unravel the threads that extend well beyond the part he played. By about a third into the book, I was hooked, waiting to see what cleverness Sami threw at what turns out to be multiple crimes, impressed with his detective skills, eager to turn the page. I award this an enthusiastic 5/5.

I can easily see this book being a Netflix series like some of his other books! I couldn’t for the life of me put this book down!

It hooked me from the beginning and I couldn’t put it down until I finished it! This book follows Sami Kierce, a now disgraced detective who teaches night classes. One day he sees a blast from his past, Anna, except she died 25 years ago.

If you’re looking for a gripping, fast paced thriller, I would highly recommend picking up this book!

Honestly didn’t enjoy this book. I was chosen as an ARC and it just wasn’t getting me hooked. But I’m sure other people will enjoy the story

Interesting story. I had never read any of his books. I’ve seen several series on Netflix based on his books so that led me to want to read one. I am glad I did.

Holy Moly! Harlan Cohen has delivered another thrilling, shocking, gripping, and hard to put down book. Nobody’s Fool is the second book in the Detective Sami Kierce series, but will work very well as a stand-alone. The past and present day collide when disgraced detective turned night school teacher, Sami Kierce has a blast from his past walk into his class before running out. As he tries to find the answers of what happened when he was a young man backpacking through Spain, he finds himself knee deep in mystery, secrets, lies, revelations, and danger!

Whew! This book has a lot going on and I was there for every page of it. As Sami has his class looking into a cold case, a man is released from prison on a technicality, and Sami is seeking answers for an event that left him reeling and with lifelong questions.

I loved how Harlan Coben built the plot. I had no idea where things were going but enjoyed where this book took me. This book has quite a few twists, turns, and revelations. The ending was a complete and utter shock which had me reeling. I did not see that coming at all! I had to pick my jaw up off the floor! I love it when that happens in books.

Wonderfully written, well thought out, and shocking! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there will be more books in this series *hint, hint, nudge, nudge.

Harlan Coben has done it again! For regular readers of his work, there are a few references to other titles, but it's not necessary to have read other titles before this one. It's touted as a sequel to Fool Me Once but works as a standalone. If you've come to expect the twists and surprises, you won't be disappointed.

3.5/5

-This author currently has nine of his books made in to Netflix shows with “more on the way.”

This story follows a disgraced police officer (who was also in the book/Netflix show Fool me Once) as he explores a mystery from his past. At first this was hard for me to get in to because I’m not used to reading books about male narrators, written by a male- it’s just different. But the story did end up taking off and I wanted to solve the mystery. I didn’t love the ending/the twists- but I do think it would make for good TV so I’m excited to see if this makes the Netflix cut!

Thank you to NetGalley for this arc, due out next month.