Nobody's Fool

Written by Harlan Coben

Narrated by Vikas Adam

In this stunningly twisty thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben, a secret from former Detective Sami Kierce's college days comes back to haunt him. His memory is clear, but all these years later, the facts don’t add up…which is something he cannot ignore.

Sami Kierce, a young college grad backpacking in Spain with friends, wakes up one morning, covered in blood. There’s a knife in his hand. Beside him, the body of his girlfriend. Anna. Dead. He doesn’t know what happened. His screams drown out his thoughts—and then he runs.

Twenty-two years later, Kierce, now a private investigator, is a new father who’s working off his debts by doing low level surveillance jobs and teaching wannabe sleuths at a night school in New York City. One evening, he recognizes a familiar face at the back of the classroom. Anna. It’s unmistakably her. As soon as Kierce makes eye contact with her, she bolts. For Kierce there is no choice. He knows he must find this woman and solve the impossible mystery that has haunted his every waking moment since that terrible day.

His investigation will bring him face-to-face with his past—and prove, after all this time, he’s nobody’s fool.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette Audio
• Release date: Mar 25, 2025
• ISBN: 9781668648186

Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben is an international No.1 bestselling thriller author. He is the winner of the EDGAR, SHAMUS and ANTHONY AWARDs - the first to receive all three. His books are published in 40 languages, with over 75 million copies in print worldwide. Both his standalone thrillers and series featuring the indomitable Myron Bolitar have been No.1 bestsellers in over a dozen countries, gracing the lists of the SUNDAY TIMES and the NEW YORK TIMES. His novel TELL NO ONE was turned into the smash hit French film of the same name, and received the highly coveted LUMIERE (French Golden Globe) for best picture as well as four CESARS (French Oscar). Harlan lives in New Jersey with his family. Find out more at www.harlancoben.com or follow him on Twitter @HarlanCoben

Reviews for Nobody's Fool

[Karen Bergt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

That a great book!!
Another five star from me of this Harlan Coben
book!!

[Emily Lassiter Branch · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Harlan Coben is a favorite author of mine, so I was excited to dive into this, his latest book. I'd read Fool Me Once, the previous book featuring Sami Kierce, back in 2017, and had also watched the Netflix adaptation of that book last year. I honestly didn't remember a lot about the character of Sami going into this book but as it turned out, that didn't matter too much. Sami was plenty interesting here as a man, a former police detective, who's fallen on tough times, making do the best he can for the wife and child he loves. When he glimpses someone from his past - someone he'd thought was dead for the past 22 years and whose death had completely changed the trajectory of his life - he becomes obsessed with finding that person and learning the truth of what had happened. It's twisty and turny, like all of Coben's books, and just as important for me, once again at its heart it's about the importance of family. (Also, it turns out that Sami is much more like the character in the Netflix series than the Detective Kierce from the book, which may be why I didn't really remember him from the book when I watched the show.) All in all, an excellent read all on its own, and the outstanding narration of the audiobook by Vikas Adam just added to my enjoyment.
My thanks to Netgalley, Grand Central Publishing, and Hachette Audio for providing copies for an unbiased review.

[Yolan Shiffrin · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This may be one of his best yet. The narrator was awesome. You know when you pick up a Harlan Coben book it’ll be enjoyable. The twist in this one was amazing and didn’t see it coming!!

[nyiper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such nice tight writing, AS usual, with Harlan Coben.....step by step. Every word works! The ending(s) were a total surprise to me! I just did not see them coming. Great characters, described in such detail that you can easily picture them and the scenes they are in!

[philipjhunt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really? How does Harlan keep churning out such quality? If he’s ever written a bad book, I look forward to never finding it.

Engagingly human characters enveloped in a complex plot through which Harlan guides us without a single moment that leaves us directionless. Twists and turns? Lots. But we’re in masterful hands. Very satisfying.

[bookczuk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A twisty story, with new characters and an interesting plot. Another "read it in one day on a rainy day" book. I guess Sami is the new lead for a series.

[rmarcin-630843 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Harlan Coben is one of my favorite authors, which is why I was surprised that he mistakenly said over and over again in this book that 1999 was the end of the century and the millennium. 2000 was the end of the century and millennium! I understand that the NYE party in 1999 was important to the story, but he could have clearly stated that people have mistaken this for the end of the century/millennium, and partied that way. This really bugged me!
Otherwise, I enjoyed the story and the tenacity of disgraced former police officer Sami Kierce to solve the mystery of what happened to Anna, the woman he met in Spain after college. I also enjoyed the love between Sami and his wife. The students in his class were fun to read, as they helped Sami determine what happened to Anna.
Enjoyable thriller, but unhappy that information re: 1999 and end of century was incorrectly stated over and over again!

[edwardsgt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent twisty plot which constantly catches you out as yet another twist is revealed.

[twink_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Did you get a chance to read Fool Me Once - the last book from Harlan Coben? It introduced us to Sami Kierce. He’s a great lead character and he’s back in Nobody’s Fool!

This latest focuses on a piece of Sami’s past. This is what Harlan Coben does so well - he takes a seemingly impossible event and drops the lead right into it all. And it takes the reader along for the journey. I always get lost in his tales. His storytelling is so good!

There’s a great lineup of supporting characters as well. I like the way Sami thinks. I enjoy the snappy dialogue. With all of these players you just know that someone is lying. The one place that Sami doesn’t lie is at home - to his wife Molly. I really liked her.

The plotting is just so good. I hated turning the last page but then I saw it. I have my fingers crossed that there’s another Sami on the way!

[lbswiener · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nobody's Fool takes awhile to get used to the book style with the narrator talking to the reader. Once one gets past the first 10 chapters, the story is good and interesting with the plot twists and turns. Four stars were given to this book.

[pgchuis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This starts with Sami seeing a woman he thought had died (indeed he thought he might have killed her himself) 22 years ago, and trying to catch up with her to find out exactly what happened. This has blighted his life and led to him dropping out of medical school, becoming an alcoholic etc, so it is quite a big deal. Sami is teaching criminology at a dodgy evening class school, having been fired from the police. He is also being sued in connection with whatever he did wrong in the police, and his former girlfriend's murderer's conviction has just been vacated and this is all Sami's fault too. So... there was A LOT of backstory and I got the impression these events must have featured in other Coben books, because they weren't fully explained here and I found them a bit of a distraction.

I found this a page tuner and the ending was pretty appalling when you think about it.

[kimkimkim-7 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of things I love about Harlan Coben’s characters are their humanness- mistakes, warts and all. Sami Kierce is a completely flawed guy. That doesn’t make him a bad person, just someone who is capable of screwing up and does over and over again. While he is digging his way up from a self imposed fall to the bottom, he is trying to sort out an old love affair that has the potential to destroy him once and for all. Unfortunately he rarely does the rational thing and you can guess how this is going to play out. He is going to chase it down and. it going too turn back and chase him and those he cares about.

This is a brilliantly plotted mystery which keeps pivoting and twisting in the most interesting fashion. There is typical Coben humor and smart dialog. None of the characters are perfect except for being perfectly drawn and detailed for their purpose. The reveal shows how deeply Coben has tasked himself and his characters with a difficult inward introspection, and maybe a just rationalization. It raises a lot of questions that begs an opinion - it’s up to the reader to decide or look away.

Coben once again demonstrates that he is at the top of his game and the top of the heap of the mystery/thriller writers. Five golden stars and many thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for a copy.

[madison_fairbanks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.