Harlan Coben's Fool Me Once in review - Netflix's most binge-worthy series of the year so far

A review of the hit Netflix series Fool Me Once (2024) starring Michelle Keegan, Adeel Akhtar, Joanna Lumley, Richard Armitage.

Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan), attends the funeral of her murdered husband, Joe (Richard Armitage), at his family's stately home, then thinks she sees him, days later, on a hidden nanny cam.

Is Joe Burkett alive? Maya sets off on a mission to find answers. Joe was wearing his green shirt on the nanny cam footage - Maya checks the wardrobe - the green shirt is nowhere to be found.

The nanny who looks after her daughter Lily arrives at the house and it becomes clear she knows more than she lets on after she pepper sprays Maya and runs away when questioned about Joe's appearance on the nanny cam. She even steals the nanny cam and deletes the footage, so whenever Maya brings it up to anyone, people can only assume that the grief of losing her husband is starting to get to her. Is Maya going mad?

Throughout the series we see Maya struggling with PTSD having previously served overseas in the army. I felt that Michelle Keegan portrayed this struggle rather well and the show took a realistic approach to exploring the theme. We feel even more for Maya, having recently lost her sister Claire in a burglary gone wrong and now widowed after losing her husband Joe, who were both murdered in mysterious circumstances. It's also not the first time Michelle Keegan has played an ex-army soldier having played a similar role in the BBC series "Our Girl", a series following the extraordinary adventures of female medics in the British Army.

Joe's mother Judith (Joanna Lumley) expresses her concern for Maya, recommending that she go to therapy when Maya angrily confronts her at the manor. Judith refuses to listen to Maya and dismisses all of her questions about Joe. Maya even swears at Judith in her living room, their complicated relationship on full display.

Michelle Keegan and Joanna Lumley shine in their portrayal of the main characters of the story. Maya is a grieving widow who is having a hard time coming to terms with her sisters unsolved murder while desperately seeking answers. Judith is the sour mother-in-law and resents Maya to the bitter end and will go to great lengths to protect her family's interests.

Fool Me Once Official Trailer:

Maya continues to fracture her relationships with family and friends in her search for answers while putting herself at risk of suspicion for Joe's murder. DS Sami Kierce (Adeel Akhtar), the detective leading the case, tries to piece the puzzle together and prove Maya's involvement while having his own struggles to deal with.

Fool Me Once is full of heart-pumping scenes with cliff-hangers that leave you on the edge of your seat. The storyline is also plausible from start to finish with an ending you wouldn't necessarily expect. It ties the loose strands of the story together and completes the full picture exceptionally well. It's one of those series where you go "Oh so that's what that meant!" at the end. The end scenes were shocking and unexpected, which is exactly what you want to see in a thriller series when you've been invested in every episode.

It's no surprise that Fool Me Once has raked in 84.9M views in its first month on Netflix, and it’s still making its way up the ranks! I would say that Fool Me Once is definitely one of the most binge-worthy series to watch this year. Netflix has also recently announced two more Harlan Coben adaptations are on the way: Missing You and Run Away.

Stay tuned!