Fool Me Once Review (TV Series 2024)

January 01, 2024

"The film adaptation of the highly acclaimed crime writer's novel 'Fool Me Once' premiered on New Year's Day.

As one of the world's most influential crime novelists, Harlan Coben has seen his books transformed into numerous television adaptations. With his latest show, 'Fool Me Once,' debuting on Netflix on New Year's Day, Coben attributes his global popularity to a crucial element – the inclusion of unexpected twists.

“If you don’t like twists and turns, I’m not your guy,” says the author, who boasts translations into over 40 languages and over 80 million books sold.

“For every twist that ends up in my stories, I probably thought of 10 others that I cut out. I really enjoy playing with your expectations, and I think you’ll see a lot of bombs and twists dropping at the end of this new series too. The last one is a real gut punch.”

Fool Me Once," adapted from the novel of the same name, features a star-studded cast including Michelle Keegan, Richard Armitage, and Joanna Lumley. The eight-part series revolves around Maya Stern (played by Keegan), who grapples with the brutal murder of her husband, Joe (Armitage). However, when Joe mysteriously appears on her nanny-cam, Maya is thrust into a quest for truth, questioning everything.

Despite Harlan Coben's American background and his books being set in the US, "Fool Me Once" takes on a British production setting in the UK, aligning with the approach seen in several other Coben TV series such as "Safe," "The Stranger," and "Stay Close."

Coben suggests that "Fool Me Once" "almost works better as a British adaptation. The class distinction between Michelle Keegan’s character and Joanna Lumley’s (the latter plays Joe’s mother) really worked.

In the American version, yes, Maya came from a different background than Joe, but in the UK, you have that class thing that we don’t have as much in America. It made for some really cool scenes,” explains Coben, who previously created the 2016 British crime drama show "The Five." He expresses his affinity for the UK, attributing it to his creative team and the fact that his brother has been living in London since 1995.

“I also think there’s something that really seems to work in the hybrid of the American and the British that we put together [in the shows],” he adds. “If you don’t hear the accents, some might say this is a British show, and some might say it’s American.

Harlan Coben holds the distinction of being the first writer to win an Edgar award, a Shamus award, and an Anthony award simultaneously. In 2018, he inked a five-year contract with Netflix, paving the way for 14 of his novels to be adapted into Netflix original series or films. Coben assumes the role of executive producer for all these projects. Last year, Netflix extended the partnership for an additional four years.

Coben attributes the success of his stories on television to their compelling plots, early twists, and, significantly, their emotional resonance. He suggests, “I think the same thing that makes you turn pages in a book makes you binge TV episodes. It’s sort of a new thing with streaming services, where you keep hitting that next button.

“When Fool Me Once [the novel] was released, I’d say: ‘I hope you take it to bed at 11 o’clock at night and think I’m only going to read for 15 minutes, and the next thing you know, you’re turning pages at four in the morning and your eyes are blurry and all that.’”

Coben acknowledges his fascination with the theme of missing people, which he believes adds emotional depth to his stories. “I like hope. If somebody’s missing, you’re solving the crime, you can get justice; it’s an interesting puzzle. There’s always the chance that you can be made whole again. But if that person is dead and gone, that’s the way it is. So in a sense, I really often write about hope, which can be the coolest thing in the world.”

Harlan Coben unveils the secrets behind his intricate, rollercoaster storylines, revealing, “There’s actually much more memoir in these stories than I realised. I often quote Flaubert, who said: ‘Be regular and orderly in your life like a bourgeois, so that you may be violent and original in your work.’

“My life is sort of a placid pool and very calm. But I always think: ‘what if?’ Hitchcock put the ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances, and that’s sort of what I do as well.”

He delves into the genesis of "Fool Me Once," explaining, “Fool Me Once came to me through several things. I had met a woman – the very first female combat helicopter pilot – who flew missions in the Middle East, and thought ‘that would be a really interesting character’. At the same time, friends of mine were using spy cams to watch their nannies and kids, and so I combined the two.”

Despite having more adaptations in the works, Coben emphasizes the importance of avoiding writing novels with television adaptation in mind. He notes, “I think it’s the kiss of death to try to write a book thinking about an adaptation, actually. They’re very different, and you must keep that in mind.”