Nobody's Fool (Sami Kierce #2) by Harlan Coben
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 6th September 2025
Published: 27th March 2025
★★★★ 4.5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
The present day is hard enough for former Detective Sami Kierce, but his past isn’t through with him yet…
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 begins to scream - and then he runs.
Twenty two years later, Kierce, now a private investigator, is a new father who’s working off his debts by 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. But as soon as he 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. Soon he discovers that some secrets should stay buried...
MY THOUGHTS:
A missing woman...a man with a lot to hide...
This is my first foray into Harlan Coben and what a ride! I am a huge fan of his Netflix adaptions of his books and so when I saw this one come up for request I just had to check it out. I'm so glad I did...and I will be coming back for more, that's for sure. It didn't matter that this is the second book in a series (one of which has already been made for TV "Fool Me Once" that I have yet to see). This book can be read as a standalone as I've not read the first one or seen the TV adapation. Basically, I didn't care - I just enjoyed the ride he delivered.
Twenty two years years ago, Sami Kierce was on a gap year in the Costa Del Sol in Spain before diving into med school to become the doctor he had so wanted to become; his specialty interest - cardiology. But on a night out at a ritzy nightclub where is's "murder on the dance floor", Sami meets Anna and soon he discovers that he "can't get [her] out of his [head]"! When his travelling companions move on to discover more of Europe, Sami elects to stay with Anna, falling hard for her and planning on moving in with her. They party for a few days - fun, sun and sex - some of it involving drugs and it doesn't end well. One morning Sami wakes from a groggy sleep to blood - lots and lots of blood. In a panic, he flies home to the US without stopping to pack, knowing he could spend the rest of his days in a Spanish prison for a lot less than waking up next to a dead woman.
Two decades later, Sami has tried to put the past behind him. He has never spoken of what happened in Spain to anyone - only his father. He never followed his dream of becoming a doctor. How could he? When he did nothing to save the life of the woman he had fallen in love with in Spain? Instead he became a cop. And he was a good cop. Until he wasn't. Now he's a private detective running night classes in criminology for those who find a twisted logic in solving the unsolvable.
One night as he is about to wrap up, after a lengthy debate with one of his students about GPS trackers, Sami spots a face from his past sitting at the back of his class. It's Anna...but surely not. After all, she's dead...isn't she? She sees him clock her and she's quick to make her escape. But Sami isn't going to let her go again, chasing after her...all the way to Connecticut. The place is fortified, secure and locked tight. He isn't getting in there in a hurry. And so, he takes the mystery back to his class...and together they set out to solve the puzzle of who this woman is. Is she really Anna? Or is she someone else who just looks like her?
With 352 pages, the tale is packed full of action, thrills, spills and even a bit of bloodshed. There are secrets, murder, assignations, assassinations, deception and plenty of Coben's trademark sarcastic dry wit and black humour which (despite the American humour being different) I simply love! He has penned a flawed yet believable protagonist in Sami and surrounding him with a deluge of complementary characters along with a handful of unsavoury ones as well. I'm glad he hasn't given Sami the stereotypical cop backstory of washed-up, divorced, drunken detective and instead given him a loving and understanding wife in Molly and humanised him as a father reading the renowned "Are You My Mother?" to his toddler son Henry. I love the banter with his student/cohorts - the pink panthers, Polly, Gary, Debbie, Lenny and Raymond - and that of his former colleague Marty.
My only complaint is the street descriptions and names. I'm not from there; I have no idea what or where any of it is and rattling off all the names in conjunction with other names and places does nothing to enlighten me. I felt the use of all the street names and places were redundant for those to whom New York is as a foreign as the Arctic Circle. Just a small complaint but it didn't detract from my enjoyment...especially as his sarcastic humour and witty monologue was enough to keep me entertained.
I did pick up a nod to screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst who adapts Coben's gems to screen in Brocklehurst Hall at an upscale rehab centre. Coincidence? I think not.
The plot is tight, filled with shocks and twists, and is a thrill-ride from start to finish. So much tension, suspense and action that is as addictive as it is entertaining. Just when you think you have it figured, think again. I had no idea where this was going but I didn't care...I just enjoyed the ride!
I would like to thank #HarlanCoben, #PenguinBooks, #CenturyBooks and #Netgalley for an ARC of #NobodysFool in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
His books have earned the Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony Awards, and many have been developed into Netflix Original Drama series, including his adaptations of The Stranger, The Innocent, Gone for Good and The Woods. His most recent adaptation for Netflix, Stay Close, premiered on December 31, 2021 and stars Cush Jumbo, James Nesbitt, and Richard Armitage.
Harlan is the creator and executive producer of several Netflix television dramas including FOOL ME ONCE, STAY CLOSE, THE STRANGER, SAFE, THE FIVE, THE INNOCENT and THE WOODS. He is also the creator and executive producer of the Prime Video series Harlan Coben’s SHELTER, based on his young adult books featuring Mickey Bolitar. Harlan was the showrunner and executive producer for two French TV mini-series, UNE CHANCE DE TROP (NO SECOND CHANCE) and JUST UN REGARD (JUST ONE LOOK). KEINE ZWEIT CHANCE, also based on Harlan’s novel, aired in Germany on Sat1. Harlan also appears in each of his adaptions to screen in a cameo - a concierge, a police detective, a passerby.
Harlan was born in Newark, New Jersey. He still lives in New Jersey with his wife, Anne Armstrong-Coben MD, a pediatrician, and their four children.
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