Is Fool Me Once based on a true story?
NetflixFool Me Once has been huge hit for Netflix since launching on January 1, but is the show based on a true story?
Starring Michelle Keegan, Richard Armitage, Joanna Lumley, Adeel Akhtar, and Emmett J. Scanlon, Fool Me Once is a crime thriller that plays out across eight episodes.
The show received negative reviews, but that hasn’t stopped Fool Me Once from making the Netflix Top 10 for the last week.
So is the plot – about betrayal and murder – based on a true story?
Is Fool Me Once based on a true story?
No, Fool Me Once is not based on a true story. The show is adapted from a novel by Harlan Coben, which was published in 2016.
The official synopsis for the book is as follows: “Former special ops pilot Maya, home from the war, sees an unthinkable image captured by her nanny cam while she is at work: her two-year-old daughter playing with Maya’s husband, Joe – who had been brutally murdered two weeks earlier. The provocative question at the heart of the mystery: Can you believe everything you see with your own eyes, even when you desperately want to? To find the answer, Maya must finally come to terms with deep secrets and deceit in her own past before she can face the unbelievable truth about her husband – and herself.”
The TV adaptation retains much of that story, but changes the setting from the US to the UK, with Fool Me Once shooting in Manchester in 2023.
More Harlan Coben on Netflix
Harlan Coben is a prolific writer of mysteries, and in 2018, he signed a multi-year contract with Netflix to adapt his works, one that was extended in 2022. The result of that contract is multiple adaptations of his works on the streamer:
- The Stranger (UK)
- The Woods (Poland)
- The Innocent (Spain)
- Gone For Good (France)
- Stay Close (UK)
- Hold Tight (Poland)
- Fool Me Once (UK)
Adaptations of the Myton Bolitar novels are likely to be next for Netflix. Coben also signed a deal with Amazon Studios to adapt his first Mickey Bolitar novel, Shelter, with the resulting series hitting screens in August 2023.
Fool Me Once is available to stream on Netflix now, and you can read more about the series below:
