‘Fool Me Once’ by Harlan Coben

Published by Penquin Random House, 

24 March 2016.

ISBN: 978-1-78089-419-5 (HB)

Published by Arrow,

30 June 2016. 
ISBN: 978-1-78-475111-1(PB)

The book opens at the funeral of Maya's husband Joe who was shot and killed in Central Park New York in front of her. Maya is an ex-soldier who trained at the army Flight School and who used to fly helicopters. She served in the Afghanistan war and is haunted by dreams and horrific images of human conflict. So when she sees her dead husband supposedly appear on her “nanny-cam” she doesn't know whether to believe her eyes, or is she hallucinating?

A tape exists showing a failed mission Maya was on. And someone seems to be playing games with her head.

Making her own enquiries with the help of her friend Shane, she discovers that ballistics show the gun used to kill Joe was also used to murder her sister Claire four months previously. She also uncovers the fact that Claire together with a whistle blower named Corey had found evidence that the Burketts, Joe's family, had been developing drugs in third world countries that did not meet the require specifications. Could this be the cause of her death?

Maya's findings also turn up evidence that the death of Joe's brother Andrew, on board the family yacht years before Maya met him, is more suspicious than first thought. Especially as the coastguard who dealt with the incident has disappeared since she started making enquiries. Could these deaths be connected somehow to the school the boys attended all those years ago? There definitely is a secret that everyone seems to be hiding about the death of another young boy Theo at the same school six weeks before the incident on the yacht.

Eventually everything comes together after many different leads and Maya finds the answers she has been looking for, leading to an unexpected and thrilling climax.

I am a huge fan of Harlan Coben and have read just about all his books, and this one surpassed my expectations. This is a very clever and well thought out plot and kept me guessing right up to the very end.

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Reviewer:  Tricia Chappell

Harlan Coben was born 4 January 1962 in Newark, New Jersey. He was the first ever author to win all three major crime awards in the US. He is now global bestseller with his mix of powerful stand-alone thrillers and Myron Bolitar crime novels. He has appeared in the bestseller lists of The Times, the New York Times, Le Monde, Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and four children.

www.harlancoben.com

Tricia Chappell. I have a great love of books and reading, especially crime and thrillers. I play the occasional game of golf  (when I am not reading). My great love is cruising especially to far flung places, when there are long days at sea for plenty more reading! I am really enjoying reviewing books and have found lots of great new authors.