Who’s who in Harlan Coben’s twisty Netflix thriller Fool Me Once

Fool Me Once corrals an award-winning ensemble on Netflix — meet the stars powering the twisty thriller everyone is binging.

Netflix has another Harlan Coben nail-biter on its hands with 'Fool Me Once' — a twisty eight-parter that kicks off with two bodies and a nanny cam moment designed to make you question your eyesight. It comes out of Coben's ongoing deal with the streamer to adapt his page-turners, and yes, the show wastes no time turning up the heat.

Who is steering this thing?

The adaptation is written by Danny Brocklehurst, who already knows his way around a Coben puzzle after teaming up on 'Stay Close.' Behind the camera is BAFTA-winning director David Moore, and the whole setup leans hard into the book's tightly wound tension — the kind that keeps you one scene ahead and three theories behind.

The setup (no spoilers, just the spark)

Michelle Keegan plays Maya Stern, still reeling from the murder of her husband, Joe. Then a home nanny cam blindsides her: it appears to show Joe alive, casually playing with their young daughter. Detective Sergeant Sami Kierce, meanwhile, is running the official investigation while Maya starts digging into secrets tied to her own family and her very powerful mother- in-law, Judith Burkett. And the deeper Maya goes, the murkier it gets — including the uncomfortable possibility that Joe's death might connect to the earlier murder of Maya's sister, Claire.

It is one of those shows that keeps stacking questions faster than answers — on purpose — and it keeps doing it across eight episodes that escalate from curious to jaw-drop territory. It is already streaming.

The cast doing the heavy lifting

• Michelle Keegan as Maya Stern — previously front and center in the BBC's military drama 'Our Girl' and more recently in 'Ten Pound Poms.'
• Richard Armitage as Joe Burkett — a familiar face in Coben land thanks to 'The Stranger' and 'Stay Close.' Movie folks will also clock him as Thorin Oakenshield in Peter Jackson 's 'The Hobbit ' trilogy.
• Adeel Akhtar as Detective Sergeant Sami Kierce — a BAFTA winner for 'Murdered by My Father,' also seen in 'Sweet Tooth' and the acclaimed feature 'Ali & Ava.'
• Joanna Lumley as Judith Burkett — actress, activist, and former model; recipient of the BAFTA Fellowship in 2017 (the academy's top honor) and a Tony winner for the Broadway revival of 'La Bete.'
• Marcus Garvey as Eddie Walker — known for 'Hijack' and 'The Gold,' with credits that also include 'Viewpoint' and 'The Lodge.'
• Emmett J. Scanlan as Shane Tessier — you've likely seen him in 'Peaky Blinders' and 'Guardians of the Galaxy. '
• Dino Fetscher — part of the ensemble here; past work includes 'Banana,' 'Paranoid,' 'Years and Years,' and 'Foundation.'

Should you watch?

If Coben's Netflix adaptations are your comfort food (the kind spiked with stress), this one delivers: sharp writing, a cast that knows how to play secrets, and a mystery that tightens the screws as it goes. It is built to keep you busy right up to the final reveal — which, fair warning, is exactly the point.