Maya Stern Burkett is an ex-military helicopter pilot who has seen some terrible things during her time in the service. She also understands all about personal loss. Her sister, Claire, had been tortured and murdered. Now, her husband, Joe, has been senselessly murdered right in front of her. She is left to mourn him and is now a single mother to their two year old daughter, Lily.

Joe's family is one of the wealthiest in the state and they have known their share of loss as well. Joe's younger brother had died several years earlier. His father also passed away. His mother Judith is a psychologist and very successful at it. Yes, death does seem to follow this family.

Joe is no sooner in the ground than Maya experiences something that cannot be possible. Suffering from severe flashbacks, she is up quite early and viewing the new nanny cam that a friend had given to her. It is disguised as an animated photo frame and sits innocently on a table with other like items. While viewing the footage from the day before, she sees something that cannot possibly be true. Her dead husband appears in the footage.

Maya knows that something else must be going on and she begins to start investigating the Burkett family. As she uncovers more and more horrible secrets, she begins to wonder exactly what sort of family she had married into. There are things that must be done to right some wrongs and Maya knows that she might just be the only one to accomplish this. The question is whether or not she will get out of it with her life.

Fans of Harlan Coben knows that he has a way of spinning a tale that will make his readers do more than scratch their heads in puzzlement. He makes the impossible become quite possible as he takes his readers on a journey of nerve jangling suspense. Constant surprises and shocks wait around every corner. FOOL ME ONCE contains all of the elements that his readers have come to expect from him. In addition, if you are able to crack this case before the ending; you are a very good arm chair detective, indeed, because Harlan Coben does not write plots that will be easy to solve early on. This is one of his best qualities. You can be assured that you will travel a twisting and turning road of evil but you will not know what that evil is until the end.

FOOL ME ONCE is a little different in a couple of ways because this one just might make you cry in places. There is such emotion written into the characters here that you might even see some people that you know in your life in them. Whatever you decide about these people, FOOL ME ONCE will grip you from the very beginning and will haunt you for days after you read that final sentence. Do not miss this one!