Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me. I got about 40% in, but had no interest in finishing it, as it just didn't grip me the way I hoped it would.
I do like Harlan Coben's writing style, but this one just dragged on a bit too much for me.

Harlan is a gem. I’d read his version of a phone book to be honest. Every book just gets better and better and this was no exception.

Thank you, NetGalley, for letting me read and review this book. I am a big fan of Harlan Coben’s books. This is apparently the 2nd book in a series (I didn’t know that going in), but I think it can stand alone. Former detective Sami Kierce is caught up in a web of mystery when his past days of traveling through Europe come back to haunt him. At the same time, the man that killed his girlfriend also has his conviction paused and is being released from prison. Are the two events one in the same? This book was fast paced. I liked the writing style with the first person point of view. It also had some dry humor throughout which made me chuckle from time to time. You can never go wrong with Harlan Coben’s books. He keeps you entertained from beginning to end.

Harlan Coben always delivers a good story. I listened to the audio as that is my preferred way to get stories. It seems to bring them to life more. It is narrated by Vikas Adam and I feel he did a very good job. Vikas kept the pace and intensity needed in places. I enjoyed the mystery and the humor and I liked the characters. Lots of surprises and twists to keep you interested. When former Detective Sami Kierce is teaching a class a woman slips into his classroom and just as quickly runs away it changes everything for Sami. From then on he is on a quest to find her and prove she isn't really dead by his hand. It's a fast-paced mystery with heart and soul feelings. I am glad I listened vs reading I didn't want to put it down and didn't have to I could keep listening as I did chores and drove the family around.
Thank you, NetGalley and Hachette Audio | Grand Central Publishing I really enjoyed this story and very much recommend it. The story has character, love, humor, and mystery all the components of a good read.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of Nobody's Fool by Harlan Coben, narrated by Vikas Adam, published by Grand Central Publishing

I'll start by saying that I've loved every book by Harlan Coben, and this bok did not disappoint, loved it. This was an audiobook and the narrator was fantastic, amazing with his different voices for so many different characters.
This was a great, a real page turner. Great characters, plot, setting and twists. I was hooked from the start. I really liked the main character's relationship with his wife, as well as the others in the novel. He is great at handle all the situations he finds himself in.
I, like others didn't realize this was 2nd in a series, I didn't feel like I was missing anything.
I will continue to follow and read books by Harlan Coben

Nobody's Fool by Harlan Coben follows private detective Sami Kierce as he tries to unravel a decades old mystery from his early twenties that has resurfaced in his present day.

There were a few elements of this novel that felt a little unbelievable, but I'm always down for a good time and suspending disbelief so I let go of that feeling and just went along for the ride. Like all Harlan Coben books that I've read, this was a fast-paced and exciting thriller that kept me turning the pages just to see what was going to happen next. I do think that there are definitely some over the top moments in this book but I was having such a good time none of it really bothered me. Mostly I just wanted to get through all the twists and turns to find out where the story was going.

If you're a stickler for plots making absolutely perfect sense at all times this book might not be for you, but if you wanna read something that will keep you engaged and turning pages give this one a try.

Thanks to Hachette Audio for sending this my way, and to NetGalley for being the vehicle with which I received it. And thanks to Harlan Coben for writing a page-turning good time.

4⭐
Genre ~ crime thriller
Series ~ Detective Sami Kierce #2
Others in the series ~ Fool Me Once
Setting ~ NYC
Publication date ~ March 25, 2025
Publisher ~ Grand Central Publishing
Est Page Count ~ 344
Audio length ~ 11 hours 17 minutes
Narrator ~ Vikas Adam
POV ~ single 1st, present tense
Featuring ~ old secrets, good amount of action

Sami can't believe his eyes when a woman he knew back in the day shows up in a class he's teaching. How can that be when the last time he saw Anna she was dead? Dun dun dun.

If that's not enough, the man that killed his fiancé has just been released from prison. Thus sets forth not only his obsession with finding out what the heck is going on with Anna, but with this new development, as well. Good thing he has a supportive wife that doesn't mind him running around the city at crazy hours. Luckily he has students that help him out, too.

Overall, I was gripped, engaged and totally invested throughout. Fans of Coben will be sure to enjoy this fast paced, suspenseful read.

Narration notes;
His normal voice is quite lovely, but all his other characters voices not so much.

Series notes:
I read book #1 9 years ago, so I have no clue if I missed anything.

Wow. That was impeccably good.

I want to start this review off with two things; I didn't read the first Sami Kierce book, and two, I honestly wasn't sure I was going to actually like this book.

I read Harlan Coben's book Tell No One, and thought it was good, but nothing as great as it was claimed to be. So, my expectations of this book were high, but not that high.

The book pulled me in early, especially not having any background from the first book in the series, I was in from the start. And it was full throttle from the get-go. And now that I have finished this, I will go back and read the first in the series.

The narration is great, the plot and characters are fantastic, and I look forward to the third book in the series. So thankful that I didn't let my first opinion of Coben stop me from devouring this book.

This book kept me on my toes, I didn't want to stop listening. Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen, I was surprised instead! This author has a lot of great twists & turns.

3/5 stars

I usually enjoy Harlan Coben’s fast-paced thrillers, but Nobody’s Fool didn’t quite land for me. The plot was serviceable and had some suspense, but it lacked the punch and urgency I’ve come to expect from his books. The characters felt a bit underdeveloped, and while there were a few good twists, they didn’t leave much of a lasting impression. It wasn’t a bad read—just not one I’ll be thinking about much after finishing.

Nobody's Fool on audiobook was a great listen. I love all Harlan Coben books. In the past, I enjoyed Steven Weber read, and Vikas Adam has done just as well in this book. Usual Coben suspense and twists that make him one of my favorite authors.

𝑵𝑶𝑩𝑶𝑫𝒀'𝑺 𝑭𝑶𝑶𝑳 𝒃𝒚 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒂𝒏 𝑪𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒏 is a perfect Thriller option from @grandcentralpub & @hachetteaudio so graciously provided to me via @netgalley and out March 25th!

If you are a thriller fan, you know Coben's signature style of intense plots with fantastic characters who have no shortage of sharp humor to go along with the intellect. This is no departure from form, and I was sucked into this story from the first page.

I also feel like a synopsis does no favors for thrillers, so all I will say about this one is that a past event from his college years comes hauntingly back to Sami Kierce, a former detective.

I loved this twisty story that gave another layer into Sami. I love this character and his reassembled life, not least of which is his banter-loving wife.

This suspense was quite unnerving. I loved the pace and multiple directions. It left me feeling like I was utterly inept at following clues and so glad I allowed this tale to pull me along.

I loved the audio, so expertly voiced by @vikasadam with all the tension and humor this story needed. I can only imagine how fun this was to read aloud!

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I hadn’t realised this was the second in a series but it didn’t take away from the story that I hadn’t read the first in series. Usual high standard of Harlan Coben book. Paced well, twisty story with a satisfying end

Liked this one but not surprised about that! Full of twists, one I never saw coming. Loved the relationship between Sami and his wife. She was hilarious and relatable.

From the very beginning, the atmosphere and tone of Nobody’s Fool are distinctly that of Harlan Coben’s books and immediately recognizable and familiar if the reader is a fan of the author. The mood is tense, mysterious, and there is a sense of impending doom. You know you are about to go on a literary roller coaster ride without a seatbelt. The characters will be complex, duplicitous, and with dark secrets. There will be foreshadowing, suspense, and lots of psychological and sociological insights.
Coben’s recurrent character of Myron Bolitar is intelligent and warm hearted and when teamed up with his pal Windsor “Win” Horne Lockwood, is often witty and scarcastic. The series is a great read with dangerous situations, murders and crimes. The author’s standalone books ramp up the thrills and the anxiety for the reader. This story takes place one year after the events of the novel, Fool Me Once, in which Sami Kierce was named Roger Kierce, was Caucasian and British and in which he and his wife were not major characters. Sami is now portrayed in Nobody’s Fool as Pakistani-American and is once again is the protagonist playing a role much as he did in the Netflix series of Fool Me Once. Nobody’s Fool is a self-contained story. After being dismissed from the police force, Sami is now an unlicensed private investigator by day and an instructor at night, teaching criminology to a group of amateur detective podcasters. Coben’s typical use of sarcastic humor is at play here. Sami’s class at The Academy Night Adult School, the school being a joke in itself, is titled “No Shit Sherlock.” His students are overly eager, overly ambitious and very much involved in the plot.
Backpacking through Europe with friends, Sami meets a woman in Spain in a nightclub. He spends five days with her, and having spent the night taking drugs and drinking, wakes to find himself covered in blood with a knife in his hand and her body dead beside him. Sami goes to the police and he and a skeptical detective return to the scene of the crime but there is no body to be found. He returns to the US and twenty years later, he is an ex-cop, living in New York City, married with a baby and working surveillance with a law firm to pay off the legal fees connected to his behavior as a cop while chasing down a young suspect.
A woman walks in to his class one night and immediately leaves when Sami looks at her. Convinced she is the dead girlfriend, Anna, he runs after her. He has a history of acting impulsively and that trait moves the action from there. Is Anna really alive? Where has she been? Who is she really? Is she really Victoria, the kidnapped daughter of a wealthy family who was kidnapped eleven years ago?
A secondary plot involves a man convicted of murdering Sami’s fiancé who Sami helped to bring to justice. He has been released from prison on a technicality resulting from Sami’s dismissal from the police force.
Sami, determined to solve the mystery of Anna’s supposed death, her questionable connection to Victoria, and to put his fiancé’s killer back in jail, tracks down all leads placing himself and his family in danger. Family loyalties, deception, lies, and intrigue muddy the water. Sami is the victim of more than one scam but he is not the only character who has been scammed. Drugs and alcohol play a role in the events both at the outset of the tale and at the conclusion. Motives are in shades of gray. Honesty can come at a cost, causing hurt to relationships and resulting in family ruination. The story is messy but isn’t life messy? And just when you think all has been revealed, Sami has a sudden realization and now it is possible not everything has been resolved.
The narrator of the story is Sami Kierce. It truly is his story and narrator Vikas Adam brings his insecurities, his vulnerabilities, and his strengths alive in the audio version of Nobody’s Fool. As Sami, he directly addresses the audience and it is difficult not to feel Sami’s guilt, confusion, frustration, and determination. Adam tells Sami’s story with intense earnestness.
Here’s to hoping Sami’s story is not yet finished. At any rate, I would love to hear his students’ podcast.
I would like to thank NetGallley and Grand Central Publishing for an advanced audiobook of Nobody’s Fool. This is my honest review of Harlan Coben’s latest book. This is a review of the audiobook.

3.5 stars - Nobody’s Fool by Harlan Coben is a gripping audiobook that offers a captivating listen, though it’s not without its flaws. Narrated by Vikas Adam, the audiobook keeps you hooked from start to finish with its suspenseful and fast-paced plot, though there’s a certain sense of predictability to it. The story itself, while not groundbreaking or unique, still has enough twists and turns to maintain interest.

What really stood out was Adam's performance. His voice lends itself well to the tone of the book, bringing the characters to life with a level of intensity that aligns with Coben's writing. Adam’s narration helps elevate the suspenseful atmosphere, giving the story an added layer of engagement. His pacing, tone, and ability to capture the emotions of the characters definitely kept me on the edge of my seat.

However, the plot itself, while entertaining, doesn’t feel particularly fresh or innovative. Coben’s signature style of weaving in mystery, family dynamics, and personal stakes is evident, but there’s nothing here that feels particularly groundbreaking in the thriller genre. The twists are satisfying but not jaw-dropping, and the character development, while decent, could have used a bit more depth.

That being said, it’s still a very enjoyable audiobook. If you’re a fan of Coben’s work or enjoy a good thriller with a solid narrative and engaging narration, Nobody’s Fool is worth your time. It’s not a game-changer, but it’s a solid listen that will keep you engaged throughout its runtime.

I received this as an advanced reader audiobook copy.

I used to read Harlan Coben a lot. And this book wasn't up to my memories of this author. There were a bunch of things in this book that just didn't feel "right".

The hero is a small Pakistani-American man, born and raised in New York. The narrator uses a gruff noir detective style voice to tell this story and it was perfectly fine. The author is an older white man and I'm not sure he was able to capture the character in a way that felt real. Yes, he's told by his dad "you're a brown kid in a foreign country. Come home", but that's pretty much all the "flavor" we get that this guy is not the typical white detective.

He very much comes off as a gruff police detective with a big ego and sketchy behavior. Thankfully, he has chosen to not lie to his wife, which I appreciated. But I didn't connect with his character much.

The mystery isn't super intriguing to me and the twists at the end didn't feel very interesting.

The technology in this book didn't feel right either. From the GPS tracker to the way this guy uses his smart phone and what apps he has... it just felt like an old guy trying to tell a story but not understanding modern technology. There are also references that are older than the character would comfortably use.

Finally, the timeline doesn't make sense. Twenty-two years ago, something happens to the main character and he decides to change from medical school to police academy. Four years later, he's a police detective (that seems really fast) and somehow he's in charge of a case enough at a VERY young age that when he later gets shown up as a hothead this 18-year old conviction gets overthrown. Let's remember that this dude had to change, be depressed for a while, go to police academy, work his way up to detective, solve this murder, find the killer, the killer had to stand trial and be convicted... all in the space of 4 years!? Doesn't compute.

This was fine, but there are much better books in this author's past.

Wowza. What a story.
Nobody’s Fool is book two in the Detective Sami Kierce series. I’ve not read the first book and I did not have any issues following along. I was fortunate to listen to the Audiobook for this story. The authors words coming right off the pages. The narrator also did a phenomenal job.

Sami is a former detective that has fallen from grace. He’s now working with an attorney for exchange for assistance in some of his legal matters. He had some skeletons in the past that he has tried to distance himself from. However, one day while he’s teaching his night classes he sees a woman. A woman he thought was dead.

Sami has a bit of an impulse problem. So he gives chase. He can’t believe his eyes. Is this the woman that he thought he killed over 20 years ago?

So what does Sami do? Enlists his students help along with his former partner to investigate. The investigation takes readers on twists and turns.

This was a phenomenal story. Looking forward to more.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

Sami Kierce is a returns a private detective now and a night school teacher for people who what to be private detectives. One night a familiar face enters the lesson, someone he thought he killed while in Spain twenty years earlier. Full of twist and turns in this well plotted novel. Can't wait to see this on Netflix. Vikas Adam bring this book to life with his excellent narration. Thanks to Hatchette audio and Netgalley for this review ARC.

**Nobody’s Fool** is a fast-paced thriller packed with buried secrets, unexpected twists, and high-stakes suspense. Sami Kierce, a former detective, has spent years trying to move on from a traumatic event in his past. But when a woman he believed to be dead walks into his criminology class, his world is turned upside down. As he digs for answers, all roads lead back to the powerful and secretive Belmond family, pulling him into a tangled web of deception, betrayal, and danger.

Harlan Coben expertly weaves together past and present, slowly revealing connections that change everything. The dual timelines make the mystery even more intriguing, as the layers of Sami’s past peel away to reveal shocking truths. Just like Sami, the reader is left constantly questioning what’s real and who can be trusted. Every new clue shifts the picture, turning what starts as a frustrating mystery into a deeply satisfying journey toward justice and redemption.

Listening to **Nobody’s Fool** as an ARC audiobook was an immersive and thrilling experience. The characters are well-developed, each carrying their own secrets and motivations, making every interaction feel tense and unpredictable. Sami’s struggle to make peace with his past while uncovering the truth felt raw and real, and the deeper I got into the story, the more I appreciated the intricate web of secrets tying everything together. By the time the truth came to light, the weight of every choice and every revelation hit hard.

Overall, I really enjoyed this audiobook. It’s a gripping ride filled with suspense, emotional depth, and twists that keep you guessing until the very last page. If you love thrillers that pull you in and don’t let go, **Nobody’s Fool** is definitely worth the read!