User reviews

The story has some nice riddles and twists to it. The characters are pretty stereotypical though.

Everything seems to be comically over the top: the rich-people-houses, the unnecessary flashbacks (in case you forgot that you saw stuff in the previous episodes), the satirically silly film music (*boom* means: this is important).

The female protagonist is always styled to perfection, doesn't take her chique Trenchcoat off at home. Never mind the pouty lips. Her little girl is the worst child actor you have ever seen. The mother-daughter-relationship is nonexistent.

We laughed about these imperfections and enjoyed the story anyway.

Seems to be a trend making limited series that don't need 8-10 episodes! First episode gets you hooked but you see the signs of the long drawn-out development being framed.

Being fooled in the past from other shows, I now look for reviews that recommend the episodes to skip, that don't provide critical information. The reason for the 6 is the unnecessary episodes.

If you watch episode 1, and skip to last two 7,8... the rating goes up to a 8 for me. No critical information is missing and I like the ending, they tied up most of the plot lines.

Overall a great show, a little overly dramatized for a UK show which tends to be ground compared to US TV.

Another mystery set in an affluent suburb (British in this case), in which a wealthy, picture perfect family is torn apart by buried secrets.

There is something exhausting about watching the same plot reworked in all possible permutations. Coben mini-series are usually clever, but this one suffers from a massive logical flaw that renders the whole story absurd.

Cliche warning: It has many. How many people have best friends who know all about hacking and can run down license plates and do background checks? Tthere is the inevitable scene of someone correctly guessing a computer password. Writers should just stop putting passwords on computers instead of subjecting us to these scenes. And there are just a few too many coincidences and connections as the story unfolds.

As for casting, the plucky female lead is not quite convincing as the ex-military tough gal she is supposed to be. She is just too small and thin to believably take down some of the larger men she confronts. Her hair and makeup are always great, even when other characters tell her she looks awful and ask her what's wrong.

On the bright side, I didn't quite realize how little sense this story made until the end, so I enjoyed much of it. The sets are striking--a beautiful British estate and a post-modern home so large it looks almost like a condominium complex, both with bold decor choices. If nothing else, you may get some good ideas for your next couch.

A rating of seven seems fair. Maybe if it were a little shorter, I wouldn't be as annoyed that I spent so much time watching it.

I have to write because it seems that only people who dislike this series take the trouble to come to IMDb and register their opinion.

This mini TV series is very well executed. My compliments to the entire cast who did a great job. I found actors here being very talented and competent, even those with minor roles. I didn't know those British actors except Joanna.

The plot is full of twists and I really didn't expect the final, very surprising.

Maybe one minor thing here and there which is not properly explained. One think that bothers me a little bit is the characters constantly withholding information from each other, everyone with their own secrets - after a while it gets a bit too much.

But I give a 7 to this entertaining series which came as a good surprise specially in the work done by its cast and the little details inserted in the story line related to how characters interact with each other in daily life which was pretty sharp. I recommend.

Throughout this unintentionally hilarious mess I kept thinking, what does this acting remind me of?

Then it hit me, the tone, delivery and mannerisms were conjuring up something from some dark recesses of my mind.

Tracy Beaker ! It feels like a surreal and violent episode of Tracy Beaker. After this realisation I really started to enjoy the show, not as the creators intended, but as a farcical camp comedy laced with atrocious acting, dialogue and casting.

Keegans character pushes the boundaries of believability to the furthest it can go, an ex military hardass, despite weighing about 8 stone and being half the height of the men she throws about.

Truly awful entertainment for an audience of imbeciles.

Good fun though !

I don't often do reviews on TV shows, but I saw so many negative reviews (maybe because of the success) so had to throw in my 2 cents.

I have to say I really enjoyed this mini series. It's something that really keeps you guessing from start to finish. For me, what I enjoyed was that it didn't feel slow at any point. It went straight into it and nothing felt unneeded.

I will say I had one irritant which is that it did that cliche thing of "let's make this character do really suspect, when they don't have any relation to murder", which in theory makes you think that oh it could be this person. Which keeps you guessing. But, I found it just irritating, because I feel as though they massively overplayed it.

I see a lot of complaints about acting and Michelle Keegan, but honestly I didn't have an issue with it at all. It's not Oscar worthy acting by any stretch, but by no means was it poor. The character Sami I thought was really well acted and constructed, so special mention to him.

The final twists and the solution was really good I thought and it was something I really didn't even come close to getting. It answered all questions which is what you really need with a mini series.

All in all I'll give this a solid 7/10. It's binge worthy, fantastic for a lazy Sunday.

I've watched a lot of adaptations of Harlen Coben's books, many on Netflix, and have read everything he's written. This is one of the better ones that has been set in Britain.

It has the usual issues in that it's really a story transplanted from America and there are the occasional jarring scenes or bits of dialogue that don't belong in a British thriller, but it does hurtle along and is clearly bingeable having got through it all today.

Michelle Keegan does a good job in the lead role as the tenacious investigating mother although I didn't quite buy into her as a helicopter pilot.

I particularly liked - as I always do - Adeel Akhtar - as the likeable detective, his relationship with his DS was very good and real highlight of the series. Joanna Lumley chewed up scenery with panache and was good at being the particularly unpleasant matriarch.

There's plenty of Coben's trademark misdirection and a plot that keeps you guessing right to the end.

I thought Danya Griver as Abby was excellent and hope we get to see more of her. I do have a big quibble with her accent though. Based and always lived up north in the series, with northern parents, but speaking with a clear southern accent really narked me and was really poor. Same with her brother.

All in all it was an enjoyable romp, clearly preposterous, but all of Harlen's books are and they are always great fun. Definitely would recommend this, especially if you're a fan of his books and other series.

Watchable, as long as you are willing to look over a few holes and inconsistencies in the story.

The worst part for me was the mis-casting of the lead , 'Mya'. She's meant to be a combat trained, helicopter pilot badass from the wrong side of the tracks, who somehow married into 'old money' but there she is with her lip filler and eyelash extensions in a war zone, clearly not a fighter. If it was a lesser role, it might have made it easier to watch, but she just didn't pull it off nor look the part.

Aside from this, I persisted and enjoyed the drama and a few twists, but would have been a much better watch with a more suitable lead.

I see a lot of reviews are really negative... Is it far fetched? Yes, absolutely. But aren't they all?

Are there some parts that don't really need to be there? Yes. But all in all, it moves at a fast pace throughout and always keeps you guessing. Entertaining, pretty well casted anx overall a good watch I thought.

It's very easy to binge watch, very hard to switch between episodes, so be warned, it may capture you for the day.

All in all, a very entertaining watch once you don't overthing it. You'll be guessing throughout, just gloos over the inconsistencies and occasional plot holes and it's good.

This was fun and binge worthy, but agree with other reviews that the lead was flat and there was too much filler. The entire military angle felt very Americanized. The clues were well sown, and mystery fully resolved, but there were so many ridiculous things happening to keep the story going. Like the interruption to the one time we actually see supposed career woman Maya working...

My advice: watch this for Sami's storyline. His had the most payoff and by far the most emotional weight. Pretend he's the lead and the Maya storyline is the secondary narrative, it helps adjust expectations and suspend some belief.

I don't understand all the bad reviews.

I mean it has some holes in all episodes but not the first or the last show with the holes in the script.

I saw this leading actress for the first time and I liked her. Acting in this series was on point, as far as I'm concerned.

Also, some people here are asking lame questions like why did some character did this, or that. Some things were just obvious and guys, sometimes you can explain some things simply by yourself, don't expect everything from the directors to give you on a plate. Like, what's the point then?

I find this show interesting, sometimes a little bit boring but yet it kept me interested and confused. Lots of twists and turns. The ending was not at all dissappointing like some people say here, it had to be that way, I didn't see any other ending or way out for the leading actress.

A decent 7 for me. The only thing I was a little bit annoyed was the kids who acted like a little police officers.

It is watchable, give it a shot..

Really! The first ten minutes were very good, but hindsight now shows me they were very bad and the whole show just stunk !. I must have missed something. I'm not going to watch it again to find out. We are sold a turkey and red herring from the get-go. I watched it last night and can't get it out of my head. Why oh why have they done this to me? Did I spite the script writers, director and actors in a previous life? My advice for all....... AVOID. I wish I had. I am not familiar with the author, but many here rate him highly. Is he better than this or is this his groove ? Oh well, you lose some , you win some.

The series had me fooled until the secret handgun popped up in the gun cabinet in episode 3.

For me the lead actress (Michelle Keegan) was wrongly cast for the role. I found her character Mia to be cold throughout the series, and especially when she was with her daughter.

The only reason why I watched until the end is due to the brilliant performance of Adeel Akhtar (DS Sami kierce) who had me emotionally connected to his characters health and wellbeing throughout the series.

'Fool Me Once' I would say is worth watching for Adeel Akhtar's performance alone, unfortunately for me Michelle Keegans performance of Mia is not fully believable and lets down what could have a been a brilliant series.

This is one occasion I'm glad I didn't rush to the IMDb review section before watching as I normally would before committing to a streaming service mini-series. I watched this purely on my mum's glowing recommendation, and I'm glad I did! I was hooked from the very start and stayed riveted to the end! I thought it had a marvelous plot with some great twists along the way. And I don't understand all the negative comments on the lead actress in this either. I've not lived in the UK for over 20 years now, so Michelle Keegan is a completely new face to me. But judging by some of the reviews I've read here, being petite and attractive seems to be her only 'crime'. Her acting was great, and in my opinion, she showed plenty of depth and range given the material she was working with (this isn't a Scorsese movie, people) And it doesn't hurt one bit that the camera loves her. She is effortlessly beautiful!

Felt a bit slow and cliche during 1st episode. Almost gave up but kept watching a bit more. Before I knew it I couldn't stop as it gives you more and more plot twists with good character development.

A very strong mystery/ suspense show! Def a man at watch for 2024.

Felt a bit slow and cliche during 1st episode. Almost gave up but kept watching a bit more. Before I knew it I couldn't stop as it gives you more and more plot twists with good character development.

Watch it and you won't regret it.

Felt a bit slow and cliche during 1st episode. Almost gave up but kept watching a bit more. Before I knew it I couldn't stop as it gives you more and more plot twists with good character development.

I'll admit that the end has two incredible gotcha moments. However, There is no reason why this should have been 8 episodes long. From episode 2 through 7, it is mostly just run around. You get about 55 minutes of show with a result of maybe one small piece of information.

Most of the time I fought to stay awake and just sat there rather bored until the one piece of information was finally given.

I was not at all impressed with Michelle Keegan's acting skills. Anyone could have played that part. I also tired quickly of constant perfect make-up and her ridiculous filler-filled lips. (Credential: I am a retired plastic surgery nurse.) I mean no offense here, I am simply saying how I personally felt. You may feel differently and that's fine by me.

If you're an Armitage fan, don't expect to see much of him at all. I think he had maybe 3 minutes screen time (but really is probably much less) and most of it was repeats. The same thing over and over again.

This inserts annoying flashbacks that I'm pretty sure can cause seizures in some the way its done. Unfortunately, they do it over and over and over again. Once was enough, thanks.

Joanna Lumley though is great in this, she is always lovely. I would like to have seen a bit more of her, but alas, this was not to be.

Adeel Akhtar's brilliant acting skills in this is what made the show more interesting. I understand that the book doesn't really offer as much of Kierce's backstory as we see here. I think his whole story could have been a miniseries in itself. What a story!

While I really love Hattie Morahan's acting, I think her entire character and story was completely useless. They could have just ditched the Caroline character and no one would have even noticed.

All in all, this could have been a great production, but it really wasn't. I normally would not recommend it to friends, except for the shining Kierce story and the two big reveals at the end.

I think this could have been told in perhaps 3 parts instead of 8 and it would have been much better.

This show is utterly ridiculous. The acting is obnoxious. The main character is supposed to be some smart badass but in actuality she's the dumbest most frustratingly stupid character I've seen on a show in a long time. I wanted to scream at her for being such a dumbass.

This show feels like hallmark tried to make a mystery drama thriller and failed. I think the story could have been represented better, I'll admit it's the actors/acting that annoyed me most and made the show almost unwatchable. Love Armitage but he's not even in the show. Maybe I'm just in the wrong mood and the show didn't hit the spot. Maybe if I'd watched it on a dif day I'd have liked it. Maybe but probably not. This was a fail for me.

As someone who likes adaptations, I have to say that even though I tried getting through half the book and not to say that the book wasn't good because it was good I kind of gave up on it because it got too complicated however then I watched this adaptation and I have to say wow the show is incredibly and very awesome and interesting. Also this is what I was hoping it would be and what I hope the book was supposed to be it's incredibly faithful to the source material and some of the twist and turns were awesome it will keep you guessing till the end it's perfect as a limited series it would absolutely ruin the story if they made season two.

I don't understand all the low ratings. This series isn't that bad. When I see Harlan Coben I don't expect the reinvention of the wheel, but I know that usually I'll be moderately entertained for 6-8 episodes. This is not highly original but it's better than half the stuff that Netflix has been putting out lately. Between the ridiculous "action" movies, the unfunny comedy specials and the terribly dubbed series there isn't much worth watching.

The one thing that consistently annoyed me was the cop who continued to press on despite experiencing black outs. Come on! As a retired LEO this idea that law enforcement will stay on the case through any injury or illness always bothers me. If you have a broken limb, you're at home. If you're at work in any capacity it's assigned to a desk. To think that someone would refuse to be sidelined when they're experiencing blackouts is absurd.

The more I think about how this series progressed, the more it annoys me.

It starts as a fairly interesting thriller, but there are early signs of shoddy acting and a souless feeling to it all.

But then as it progresses, it spirals into absolutely atrocious acting, a complete mess of unnecessary plot twist upon plot twist which eventually crescendos into an overall ridiculous story.

If the book is good, then this series gave it no justice at all.

It just seems to get more and more stupid and unbelievable the further you get into it.

I had to make myself finish watching just to see how bad it got.

And ohhhh boy, it got really bad.