Harlan Coben's third collaboration with Netflix, Fool Me Once, launched on New Year's Day and has already shot to the top of the streaming giant's UK chart, claiming the top spot consecutively since its release.
The gripping new thriller centres around Michelle Keegan as Maya Stern, a grieving widow who, just weeks after her husband's funeral, spots him alive and well sitting with their daughter on her nanny cam. In true Harlan Coben style, Fool Me Once is full of twists and turns. Harlan Coben told Netflix: “Fool Me Once is a pulse pounder—a shocking story of how secrets and deceit have the power to bring people together while simultaneously tearing them apart."
Fool Me Once also stars the iconic Joanna Lumley as Judith Burkett, Maya's mother-in-law who has always been protective of her late son, as well as Richard Armitage, the star of former Harlan Coben hits The Stranger and Stay Close, as Joe and Adeel Akhtar as Detective Sergeant Sami Kierce, who’s investigating Joe’s death. “Danny Brocklehurst, who worked with Harlan Coben on the screenplay for Fool Me Once, told Netflix: "Harlan’s books are storytelling genius, and it’s great to be entrusted once more in bringing his gripping stories to life,”
It looks like we've got an exciting TV schedule ahead, with The Traitors season 2 kicking off tonight and the highly anticipated release of Bridgerton season 3 coming in the spring. We're also tres excited for season four of Emily in Paris, which is reportedly in the works. This is why you should add Fool Me Once to the list.
What's been said about Fool Me Once?
The reviews from critics have been mixed, with Nick Hilton from The Independent giving it a scathing review, calling the twisty plot "convoluted and implausible". He continued: “Your tolerance for Fool Me Once will hinge entirely on your ability to switch off your brain and allow proceedings to wash over you. The plot, which is not really worth following, is further inhibited by melodramatic dialogue that swings between extremes of emotion.”
However, the reviews weren't all bad, with Ed Power at The Telegraph praising Michelle's performance as "scintillatingly stony-faced" and the show as "a post-Christmas thriller to cherish," (despite it being a tad "bonkers").
Meanwhile, the response from audiences has been overwhelmingly positive, with Fool Me Once viewers taking to X (formerly Twitter) to share their approval, saying the show had them 'hooked'.
"First binge-watch of the year! Amazing limited series was at the edge of my seat all day. All the suspense, twists and that ending though. Harlan keep them coming!" wrote one approving fan on the social media platform. To which another replied: "Just finished it and I am in awe and tears." And another fan commented: "Right! And it’s still on my mind an hour later."
While another viewer of the Netflix show wrote: "I binged #FoolMeOnce overnight coz [sic] I couldn’t stop watching. So many twists. It had me hooked."
Is there a trailer for Fool Me Once?
Yes there's a trailer for Fool Me Once. You can view it below.
The trailer shows the aftermath of the death of Joe Burkett, as his wife Maya struggles to come to terms with his brutal murder. After a friend encourages her to try a nanny cam to keep an eye on her two-year-old daughter Lily while she's not there, Maya makes a shocking discovery that her husband could still be alive as someone who looks just like him appears on the screen. What follows is a power struggle between Maya and Judith, with the latter refusing to believe that Maya is telling the truth.
While the pair are at loggerheads in the Netflix show, the actors get on much better in real life, with Michelle praising Joanna as a 'British icon' on a recent appearance on The One Show, though she did reveal it was somewhat difficult to shout expletives at a national treasure.
Michelle told The Once Show host Lauren Laverne: "Honestly, when I read the script, I was like, 'Oh no, oh no.' We had a bit of a laugh, didn't we, when we were rehearsing. I don't think I said it when we were in rehearsals, I was like, 'I can't, I can't'." Before Joanna added: "When it's not used very often, bad language comes... it slaps out of the screen at you, it does."
Fool Me Once is available to watch on Netflix now.
