Nobody’s Fool is classic Harlan Coben—fast-paced, twisty, and impossible to put down. The story follows former detective Sami Kierce, whose dark past resurfaces in the most shocking way. Just when you think you have it figured out, Coben throws in another curveball that keeps you guessing until the very last page. The mix of psychological suspense, emotional depth, and tight plotting makes this a standout thriller. If you’re a fan of Coben’s work—or just love a good mystery—you won’t be disappointed.
I would like to thank #NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the digital ARC in exchange for my review

Coben returns with another heart-pounding thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat. This action-packed, twisty, and highly entertaining mystery showcases his signature humor while bringing back one of his unluckiest characters. Yes, I'm talking about Sami Kierce - born and raised in Jersey, of Pakistani heritage, fluent in Spanish, and a rule-bender in pursuit of justice.

We first met Sami in "Fool Me Once," which wasn't one of my favorite works by the author compared to his ten-starred series (give me a Myron Bolitar book and I'll disappear until I finish it - I cancel everything for Myron and Windsor). Thankfully, this time Coben brings out the big guns by introducing us to Sami's criminology class members: the Pink Panthers (imagine Golden Girls turned amateur detectives with perfect tracking skills), Gary the golfer, crime influencers (or as these wannabe podcasters call themselves, "Three Dead Shots"), the quick-witted Debbie the goddess (I wish she'd return in his next book), and Leisure Suit Lenny with his mysterious gadgets. If Amazon and Netflix decide to adapt this book into a series, these characters will surely steal the show!

I’ve read a lot of Harlan Coben and I think this was my favorite one. I really liked the characters and how it ended up being wrong the whole time. You really didn’t know who this missing girl was going to be and what she remembered about her life.

I was introduced to Detective Sami Kierce by watching Fool Me Once on Netflix. What a wild miniseries that is. When I noticed that Sami is the main character of Nobody's Fool, I knew I wanted to read the first Harlan Coban book I've ever read.
I want to thank Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for my copy of the book. This is my own unsolicited opinion.
I was surprised right away that the setting is in the U.S., not the UK. I like that fact.
Months after the terrible personal devastation and investigation which led to Sami Kierce losing his job with the police department he is working as a private detective. He also has decided to teach a ragtag class of citizens how to be detectives. There are very interesting characters in the class.
Over twenty years ago Sami had his heart set on being a doctor. That is until he wakes up in a bloody crime scene with the victim, a young woman he had been seeing while on an adventure overseas. He ran home, his life never the same. One night, while teaching his class a woman walks in at the back of the room.
He recognizes her right away. It's the woman he thought he had murdered. Life changes again.
I thoroughly enjoyed the special 'investigative team' Sami pulls together from his night class. I appreciate the sarcastic humor throughout the story. I was concerned at how rough the language would be due to the Netflix dialogue and it's nowhere near as excessive. There's a lot of twists and turns that the author is known for.
Readers who enjoy suspense may find this a good read. I really like Sami's character.

I’ve never met a Harlan Coben book I didn’t like and this is no exception. This story pulls us into Sammi’s past when a summer in Spain 20+ years ago comes back to his present day life. There were so many twists that I never fully had it figured out until the end. Such a good albeit heavy story.

It's hard to believe with as much as I read and with thrillers and mysteries being my favorite genres that this the first Harlan Coben book that I've read. I've seen several Netflix adaptations of his books including Fool Me Once, so I was very excited to read this book and it did not disappoint!

Sami Kierce is quite a character! He's a former detective that was kicked off the force and now he is working as a private investigator and also teaches a night class to amateur sleuths. When an old girlfriend from his college days (that he thought he may have murdered!) shows up at his class and then disappears, he enlists this group of very cool misfits to help him solve the mystery of who this woman really is and what actually happened to her.

While I was enthralled with the mystery of it all, I was also entertained by Sami's wit. I loved his nicknames for his students including The Pink Panthers, Golfer Gary and Leisure Suit Lenny as wells as his names for the bad guys such as Gun Guy and Scraggly Dude. Sami's definitely a character I want to know better. I plan on actually reading Fool Me Once and because of the foreshadowing ending of this book I'm also really looking forward to the third in the series as soon as it comes out. But first, I've got to get moving on reading several Harlan Coben books that I already have on my kindle. I'm now a true fan!

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ARC of Nobody's Fool. It's available to read now.

Classic Harlan Coben. NOBODY’S FOOL did not disappoint. I love the effortless way the plot unravels, how it all comes together, and how realistic the characters are. This is true for all of Harlan’s books that I’ve read so this was another I’m able to add to my five star Harlan stack. I love that after all the books he’s written that he’s still able to surprise me. I didn’t see the twist coming and definitely had a jaw dropping moment.

A fast paced thriller with an unlikable main character always makes for a good book. Excited for this to be published so other Coben fans can enjoy this as well.

Sam Kierce a private investigator, who also works off he’s debts teaching night school in New York. One evening he thinks recognitions a woman in the back of the classroom from 20 years ago when he was back packing in Spain. Their eyes meet and she sets off on a run sending Sam on a quest to solve what happened to her.

It’s hard to beat Harlan Coben for plots that twist and turn and bounce you off your seat with unexpected bumps. In Nobody’s Fool, Coben’s recently introduced detective, Sami Kierce , is trying to figure out how it’s possible for a young woman he thought he might have murdered Spain when he traveled to Europe after college graduation, can be sitting right in front of him. While his memory has some lapses he clearly remembers the body and the knife and then his quick return home. So how can Anna have appeared over twenty years later admidst a group of detective wannabes taking Sami’s class on crime and detection? And why did she run away after being spotted?

Sami and his old police partner, Marty, begin an investigation and soon the entire class of amateur detectives joins in. What ensues in a fun read with serious overtones and some very plausible theories as to what has happened to Anna in the intervening years. The author doesn’t shy away from societal issues such as
child trafficking and illicit drug use. I was completely immersed in the story and as Kierce started unraveling the mysterious circumstances, I was taken by surprise.

An additional subplot had Sami and his wife Molly getting frightening news that a killer, imprisoned for murdering Kierce’s former fiancée has been released from prison as trial evidence provided by Kierce can no longer sustain the conviction. Sami is a disgraced cop who has lost his badge Someone begins stalking Molly and it’s downright difficult to prove that the perpetrator is one and tie same as the released murderer. Or is it? He claims he’s being framed and maybe he was.

Although I found the beginning a wee bit slow, the pace soon picked up. I became immersed in this well scripted, interesting plot and very involved with magnificently drawn characters. Five bright stars for a thriller that will have you engrossed and guessing from beginning to end. It’s already been published so your copy of Nobody’s Fool is waiting for you. My thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an advance reader’s copy in exchange for my review.

3.5

This one had a lot going for it, a disgraced cop, a mysterious figure from his past suddenly back from the dead, and a chase full of secrets, regrets, and old wounds. Right from the start, I was pulled into the story. The mystery was solid, layered enough to keep me guessing, and for the most part, really satisfying.

Here’s where it got tricky - I didn’t vibe with the main character. For someone who's front and center in every chapter, I never felt connected to him. I listened to this one on audio while I read along with the digital, and honestly, I didn’t care for the narrator. That might’ve had something to do with my disconnect, but even aside from the performance, there was just something missing in his character for me.

The standout for me was the crime class. Those characters were so much fun, and I wanted way more of them. Every time they showed up, the story had this spark that I wish had been present throughout. If there’s ever a spin-off or more time spent with that group, I’d be all in.

One thing to note, you don’t need to read the first book to understand this one. There are a couple of cameos and little easter eggs for returning readers, but nothing that affects the main plot. It stands on its own just fine.

Overall, I was intrigued, and I liked the mystery enough to stick with it. But between not clicking with the main character and feeling like something emotional was missing, it didn’t completely land for me. Still, mystery/thriller lovers may enjoy the ride, especially if they get along better with the main character than I did.

Thank you to NetGalley, Grand Central, and Hachette Audio for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

Harlan Coben is a master at stringing invisible tripwire in our paths, knocking us backward, twisting us sideways, and sometimes hanging us upside down.

Lots of layers and complexities to this story, but it never gets out of control.

Another wild read by Coben.

*Thanks to Grand Central Publishing for the free eARC, provided via NetGalley.*

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.