63 pages • 2 hours read
Harlan CobenFool Me Once
Harlan CobenFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Class
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains descriptions of murder, war, and PTSD.
Class is a motif in the novel that Coben uses to accentuate the antagonistic aspects of secondary characters and interrogate the dark side of suburban life. Class privilege creates an illusion of safety in the novel, from the surveillance cameras that dot the lush campus of Franklin Biddle Academy to the bribes that Tom Douglass accepts to keep the truth of Andrew’s death hidden. The Burketts’ wealth insulates them from the harsh realities of the world, but Maya is a wrecking ball of truth. She is uncomfortable with the unnecessary size of her house and both amazed and turned off by Farnwood’s excesses.
Maya’s relationship with class complicates her character and suggests her antiheroic qualities. Maya is able to have it both ways, throwing stones in the glass house that is owned by her in-laws. She may feel like an outsider, but her financial stability distinguishes her from characters such as Isabella and her family.
The Mendezes are the Burketts’ loyal employees, and Maya muses that they are somehow as snooty as their benefactors despite the disparity in class. However, the Mendezes are outsiders, manipulated into trying to take down Maya without having all of the information about Joe’s death and its causes. Like Fred Katen and Emilio Rodrigo, they are pawns in the game being played by Judith and Maya. Theo Mora also fell victim to the sport of the “rich-boy robots” who attended his funeral (293). Theo’s death is swept under the carpet, unlike Andrew’s headline-grabbing obituary, as Coben draws attention to the lack of safety in suburban environments for those who do not enjoy class privilege.
Surveillance
Surveillance is a key motif in the novel, one that is directly tied to the theme of The Lasting Consequences of Trauma and Secrets. The nanny cam that Eileen gifts Maya sets the stage for the mystery that propels the novel. Isabella knows that she is being surveilled, which Maya intuits when she sees her smiling face on the footage. Aware of being recorded herself, Maya is able to pick up on Isabella’s act. Maya is familiar with having private moments broadcast for the world since Corey leaked footage of her murdering Iraqi civilians. What can be swept under the rug in the name of national security is exposed by whistleblowers.
Surveillance is an everyday fact of life within Maya’s world. The CCTV footage of Katen and Rodrigo enables her to initially pin Joe’s murder on them; Franklin Biddle Academy is rife with cameras to instill a sense of security into its students and their parents, though Joe was able to get away with his crimes on campus. While the doctored video of Joe rattles her, Maya is also grateful for the daycare’s standard of surveillance. She is able to access the live feed of Lily playing to assuage her fears. Both the negative and positive implications of surveillance contribute to the tensions in the novel.
Maya’s PTSD Flashbacks
Maya experiences PTSD that gets worse as the mystery unravels around her. Maya’s PTSD contributes to the theme of The Reintegration of Veterans Into Civilian Life, as they reduce her ability to feel at home in the world. The flashbacks also make Maya susceptible to Judith’s ploys to make her doubt her sanity. Erroneously calling them hallucinations until Dr. Wu corrects her in Chapter 19, Maya questions whether it’s possible that Joe is still alive even though she’s the one who killed him. After scaring Lily when she witnesses her episode, Maya asks for help and more readily acknowledges her behavior’s negative influence on her daughter.
Even though Maya contends that she does not feel guilt over her actions in combat, Shane questions whether her PTSD is the manifestation of her remorse. When Maya is dying at the end of Chapter 33, she assumes that the haunting sounds of helicopter rotors and screams will recur, but she hears nothing, finally at peace. This motif hence highlights the difficulty of leaving war and returning to civilian life.
Joe’s Playlists
When Maya is in the car alone, she finds comfort in singing along to the playlists that Joe made her when they were dating. Filled with love songs that contain dark warnings of tragedy, the playlists turn out to be prophetic. When Maya and Joe first got together, the playlists were a symbol of his love—the effort and care he put into the thoughtful groupings of songs communicated an emotional connection that Maya usually denied feeling. In Chapter 18, she admits that she pored over each selection, trying to glean Joe’s feelings. Letting the songs speak for him, Joe was able to hook Maya without having to be forthcoming about his passion.
In Chapter 29, Maya contrasts singing in the car with her usual behavior: At home and in the helicopters over the Middle East, Maya tamps down her emotions. However, in the car, she finds her bliss, getting lost in the things unspoken between her and Joe. Nevertheless, the lyrics hit close to home, as a motif of death is threaded within them. They speak to her and for her, and they symbolize the contrast between her life before the murders happened and after.
Unlock all 63 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
Related Titles
By Harlan Coben
