Is Fool Me Once based on a book? Is Michelle Keegan in other Netflix adaptations of Harlan Coben novels

Netflix series Fool Me Once is adapted from the novel of the same name by American crime writer Harlan Coben, which was published in 2016. The novel and Netflix adaptation follow Maya Stern (played by Michelle Keegan in the series), a woman who struggled to deal with the brutal murder of her husband.

When her nanny-cam captures a strange image of her supposedly late husband Joe, Maya is thrown into a world of mystery as her life threatens to unravel around her.

Fool Me Once was released on Netflix today (January 3) as an eight-part series and is the latest Coben story to get the Netflix treatment. The author has written dozens of books, several of which have been adapted for the screen.

How many Harlan Coben novels are there?

Harlan Coben has written 11 novels in the Myron Bolitar thriller series about a former basketball player turned agent turned detective. The series was published between 1995 and 2016, but another instalment, Think Twice, will be published in May. A three part spin-off series based around Myton’s nephew, Mickey Bolitar, was published between 2011 and 2014. A second spin-off focusing on Myron’s sidekick, Windsor  Horne Lockwood III was released in 2021 with the novel Win.

Coben has published two novels in his Wilde series about a man who had lived feral with animals as a child and has no memory of who he is or where he comes from. Additionally, Coben has written 18 standalone novels, beginning with his debut book Play Dead in 1990 - his latest is 2023 thriller I Will Find You. He has also written seven anthologies.

Overall, Coben has published 42 novels and anthologies in his career so far, averaging more than one new book a year since he started writing. He has sold more than 60 million copies globally and has a net worth of around $25 million as a result.

Which Harlan Coben books have been adapted for Netflix?

Six of Harlan Coben’s standalone novels have been adapted for Netflix. The first was The Woods in 2020, a murder mystery spanning a quarter of a century. Later that year, The Stranger, about a husband who becomes embroiled in a disturbing mystery when a complete stranger makes shocking claims about his wife, landed on the platform.

Three Coben adaptations were made for Netflix in 2021 - The Innocent about a man wracked by guilt over an accidental killing, Gone For Good, which follows a man whose girlfriend goes missing decades after two of his loved ones died, and Stay Close, about a man who goes missing 17 years to the day after an earlier infamous disappearance. 

In 2022, Hold Tight, a Warsaw-set drama about a man who goes missing soon after the death of his girlfriend, was added to the Netflix library. Additionally, a limited series Safem a mystery series about a widowed surgeon whose daughter goes missing, was made for Netflix in 2018 and written by Coben, although it was not based on one of his books. 

As Fool Me Once is adapted from a standalone novel, Michelle Keegan’s character does not feature in any of the other Coben adaptations on Netflix.