TV shows we love: Fool Me Once
Harlan Coben has written an exhaustive number of novels and Netflix seems hell bent on bringing many of them to the small screen with varying degrees of success (they have been spread around differently speaking markets). But the platform’s latest foray certainly seems to have had the cash thrown at it.
It goes without saying that a murder is at the forefront of Fool Me Once, and not only one. Maya (Michelle Keegan) is agonised when her husband Joe (Richard Armitage, returning as a lead in the Coben/Netflix world after starring in The Stranger) is shot in front of her eyes. But of course, in order to keep up on the edge of our seats, all is not as it seems.
When Maya is advised to install a nanny cam so she can see what happens in her absence, she is rightly shocked to see her dead husband playing with their young daughter. Her sister in law later questions if she saw a body as a lawyer set to read the will says this is not possible as a death certificate for Joe has not been produced.
After this we are called to question the soundness of ex military Maya’s mind. And just to make sure we do, her brother in law questions it too. This is the man married to Maya’s sister who was shot only months before.
The links between the two killings soon go beyond Maya herself, with her niece and nephew hot on their mother’s killer’s trail. Dark secrets from Joe’s past are also brought to light and possibly shady dealing between glum detective Sami Kierce (Adeel Akhtar) and his family.
For lovers of a British murder mystery, Fool Me Once is a gift. The performances are top notch and the presence of Joanna Lumley as the snooty mother in law is a real treat although a major plot twist has split audiences. Although it has picked up a reputation as bingeable, I would take this around six-hour – the fourth Netflix Coben thriller set in luxurious areas of Britain – show at a slower pace. And rest in the knowledge the writer and the platform have signed a contract to bring 14 novels to life.