Fool Me Once - Season 1

Maya Stern starts her own investigation when she encounters strange irregularities after her husband's murder. Is his murder as random as initially thought?

Another new Harlan Coben series has been released. When I heard this I immediately got excited. Harlan Coben is a writer of mysterious thrillers, quite a few of which have already been made into films. He has signed a major deal with Netflix, which has spawned the series The Stranger, El Inocente and W głębi lasu, and Shelter, which was released on Amazon Prime. The latest series based on a book by him is called Fool Me Once and was released in its entirety on Netflix on January 1, 2024.

The ending of Fool Me Once is surprising and intense.

Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan, Our Girl) has lost both her sister and husband in a year and we get to know her during her husband's funeral. Together with her daughter, just a toddler, she tries to shape her new life while the police are busy investigating the murder of her husband Joe Burkett (Richard Armitage, Obsession). When she installs a 'nanny cam' and sees her deceased husband passing by, her mind goes crazy. What is going on here, is her husband really dead, why does the nanny flee when confronted with the images and does the dubious past of Joe and his wealthy family still play a role in all of this?

Maya's sister, Claire Walker (Natalie Anderson, Emmerdale), also appears to have died recently. Her family is logically having a hard time with this, although her children seem to be able to deal with the loss better than their father. When an old camera is found while clearing out some boxes, daughter Abby (Dänya Griver) starts her own investigation into her mother's past. Does her death have anything to do with the photos on the camera and what did her mother keep secret from her family?



Fool Me Once is a typical Harlan Coben series with different storylines that gradually come together but each has their own ending. This time too, the whole thing seems a bit complicated at first, but the pieces of the puzzle increasingly fall together as the episodes progress. The cast is great and although it is striking that we are seeing Richard Armitage for the third time in a series from this series, this is not disturbing. The book is set in America, but the series chooses the UK as the location of the story. A good choice in my opinion because the British down-to-earthness makes the story more believable.

Detective Sami Kiers (Adeel Akhtar, Sweet Tooth) leads the investigation into Joe's murder but struggles with his own problems in the meantime. He suffers from inexplicable blackouts that increasingly hinder his daily life. Maya also has more worries than just the deaths in her family. It appears that she recently left the Air Force following scandals surrounding her actions in a war zone. Although she was able to prevent this from getting completely out of hand at the time, it appears that there is still evidence in circulation that could seriously damage her reputation.

The series has a nice balance between tension, drama and mystery and a fitting ending.

The ending of Fool Me Once is surprising and intense. Unexpected things continue to happen until the last moment and the final jump twenty years forward in time completes the whole. The way of telling makes the story ideal for binge-watching and the eight episodes in total are just enough to conclude all storylines properly. All characters also have sufficient depth, even the smaller supporting roles. Were there no areas for improvement at all? Of course, but in all honesty, this is mainly nitpicking because Fool Me Once is simply a rock-solid series.

Fans of Harlen Coben stories will certainly enjoy this series again. Within its genre, Fool Me Once is, in my opinion, a real winner and definitely recommended for fans of this genre. The series has a nice balance between tension, drama, mystery, and a fitting ending. Although Maya clearly plays the leading role, this story is characterized by all the supporting roles that are also very important. I enjoyed Fool Me Once and thought it was a very promising start to 2024. Hopefully, there will be many more similar series of a similar level this year.