Nobody’s Fool, Harlan Coben

Nobody’s Fool opening lines: Did it all go wrong the moment I saw you? I was a mere twenty-one years old, just a baby now that I look back on it, freshly graduated from Bowdoin College and gamely beginning the backpack-through-Europe ritual so common amongst my ilk.

My blurb:

To the people who know Sami in the present, they think his life changed when an offender he was chasing jumped off a roof and died. Now, he is no longer a policeman. Instead, he is working as a private investigator, and teaching people how to do the same. But, in reality his life changed when he woke up to find the person next to him dead. And then it changed again, when that very same person walked into his classroom. Unravelling this con will change his life again, but this time for the better.

Nobody’s Fool

A year after the devastating events that took place in Fool Me Once, a secret from former Detective Sami Kierce’s college days comes back to haunt him. Present day is hard enough for 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 verdict:

Nine years between books is a long time for me to try and remember what happened in the past. But Harlan Coben has such a good way with words that it is easy to follow the threads of stories past. And this one does not fail to deliver. As well written as one can expect from this great author.

About the Author:

Harlan Coben is a  No. 1 Sunday Times  bestselling author and one of the world’s leading storytellers. His suspense novels are published in forty-six languages and have been number one bestsellers in more than a dozen countries, with eighty million books in print worldwide. His Myron Bolitar series has earned the Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony Awards, and several of his books have been developed into Netflix original series, including the  No. 1  global hit  Fool Me Once, The Stranger, The Innocent, Gone for Good, The Woods, Stay Close,  and  Hold Tight,  as well as the  Amazon Prime Video  series adaptation of  Shelter.  He lives in New Jersey.

Read an extract:

Did it all go wrong the moment I saw you?

I was a mere twenty-one years old, just a baby now that I look back on it, freshly graduated from Bowdoin College and gamely beginning the backpack-through-Europe ritual so common amongst my ilk. It was midnight. The nightclub’s music pounded and pulsed. I was nursing my first bottle of Victoria Málaga, the cheapest cerveza they served (hey, I was on a budget) at a nightclub on the Costa del Sol of Spain. I fully expected this to be a typical club night for me—lots of hope, fear of missing out, quiet disappointment (read: striking out)— when I spotted you on the dance floor.

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Publishing information:

Penguin Random House South Africa sent me this novel to review.

See the links below for blog posts I published on July 20:

• 2023: La Nuova Italia
• 2022: Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love
• 2020: Toum Hummus
• 2018: Cured Egg Yolks
• 2016: Taste The Little Karoo
• 2015: Fennel And Pork Sausages
• 2014: The Tombs
• 2012: Amarula And Mushroom Ice Cream
• 2011: Gorgonzola Mushrooms
• 2010: Lavender Sugar

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