The Couple Next Door: A Novel

by Shari Lapena

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND GLOBE AND MAIL BESTSELLER

"Meticulously crafted and razor-sharp. The Couple Next Door lingers long after you turn the final page." —Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Fool Me Once

Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all—a loving relationship, a wonderful home and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately focuses on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story.

Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something, and both Anne and Marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets—secrets they've kept for years.      

What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family—a chilling tale of deception, duplicity and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist.

• ISBN10: 1400026881
• ISBN13: 9781400026883
• Publish Date: 24 April 2018 (first published 14 July 2016)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: CA
• Imprint: Seal Books
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 384
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/isbn/9781400026883

Reviews

[Joni Reads]

I had heard such great things about this one and couldn't wait to get into it once I found it for super cheap at Half Price Books.

I had a few issues with this book though. The narration style was off to me. It was more like an outsider was narrating the life of everyone involved but somehow had access to their thoughts at the same time. Like it was told in everyone's POV but at the same time. It took some time to get used to but I was able to make it through.

The twist and the ending was something I didn't see coming but mainly because it was so super unbelievable.

The storytelling itself though was interesting. I really like the way the author writes the characters. I would like to pick up other books by the author to see if the narration style is the same in the others as in this one.

[Kim Deister]

The Couple Next Door is one of those books where it seems like there is very little ground. You either loved it or you hated it. I’m on the love it end. To be honest, some of the things the hate-it crowd have mentioned (a propensity for plot development through internal dialogue, one-dimensional characters) I did see, but I saw them in a different light. The novel is a psychological thriller, full of secrets and manipulation. The focus of the story was a child abduction. It began with a truly “what the effing hell were you thinking” kind of moment when Anne and Marco leave their six-month-old baby at home with only a monitor while they attend a dinner party next door. Their babysitter had cancelled at the last moment, and so of course they have no other choice, I say sarcastically. As with any great thriller, there are a lot of twists and turns, a lot of unexpected moments. But what I liked most about the story development is that, unlike many others in the genre, the big reveal as to the bad guy didn’t happen at the end of the book. On the surface, that may seem like a bad thing, but it really wasn’t. Roughly halfway through, the bad guy is revealed, and the story develops from there in interesting ways, which I won’t share for fear of spoiling the experience. To address the hate things I mentioned above… Yes, there was a lot of plot development through the internal dialogue of the characters. But I felt like that was fitting for the story. Anne and Marco were barely communicating during this time, with each other or with anyone else, at least not in any real way. Secrets and suspicion kept them apart, and the amount of internal dialogue underscored that. As far as the one-dimensional characters, I think that’s pretty fair, at least for a big portion of the time, and I think that, too, fits with the story. Both Anne and March are each consumed with their daughter’s disappearance. It takes them over until there is almost nothing else there. Being so single-mindedly focused is one-dimensional, which seems right for these characters in this situation. For me, the book was engrossing, especially with two unreliable narrators. It was thought-provoking in its own way… making you question how well I really know anyone, even those close to me, whether or not you truly understand the inner workings of someone else’s mind.

[maggiefan]

????? wtf

[mrs_mander_reads]

So good! I haven't ready any of Lapena before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. This is a great thriller, told in the present tense - which totally kept me guessing. Recommend for general thriller readers, but also if you liked The Wife Upstairs (Hawkins) or Behind Her Eyes (Pinborough).

[Amber]

This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

I read The Couple Next Door in one sitting after weeks and weeks of battling through a reading slump. Apparently all I needed was a really good thriller. Who knew? I'm really happy with the way this turned out, so much so that I've pre-ordered Lapena's next thriller so I can read it right away when it comes out later this month.

I'm not going to lie, The Couple Next Door isn't the most original book out there. It's your standard thriller in terms of plot. You go around suspecting everybody, you form your own theories, and then the ending comes out of nowhere and THEN there's the second ending. You thriller fans know what I mean.

That said, Lapena's writing is really freaking captivating. I couldn't put the book down. I mean, I was on a plane at the time and I had nothing else to do, but I imagine if I had been sat at home reading it I would have flown through it just the same. I had such an easy time storming through the pages, and I hope that this is also true for Lapena's next book.

In terms of how the plot and the twists turned out, I have to say that it was kind of obvious. Admittedly, I did suspect pretty much everyone in the beginning, but I wasn't shocked at all when the big reveals happened. Thankfully, I was enjoying the book too much by that point to care.

I'd definitely recommend this if you're looking for an easy read. Take it on holiday with you if you want something exciting to read by the pool. You'll have fun trying to figure out what happened to the baby!

[cornerfolds]

Read more of my reviews at Cornerfolds.com!

*Review to come!*

[Leah]

The Couple Next Door is one of those books that keeps you turning the pages. It probably isn’t my favourite thriller as the pace is slower than I like, but it is fascinating to see the lives of everyone in the book slowly unravel, until the truth comes out. And boy, is it worth the read for the truth because it will blow your mind. I had questions the entire time I was reading – because who leaves their kid, even if you’re just next door, even if you have a baby monitor, even if you check on her every half hour? You just don’t, and it mirrors the real life Madeleine McCann case (except it wasn’t in a foreign country). The worst thing really, is that the innocent party in this is baby Cora, and that’s what made me so angry at Anne and Marco, because Cora didn’t ask to be left alone.

I genuinely trusted nobody but Detective Rasbach, because none of them could lie straight in bed, I’m not even kidding. Marco and Anne in particular had secrets and lies coming out of their ears, and it was so hard to by sympathetic to two people who couldn’t tell the truth if you paid them. But it was certainly fascinating reading the book, because you do become invested in what actually happened to little Cora. You do start to try and piece the plot together, though never in a million ways did I think it would all go down like that, and that was another plus, because some thrillers are super obvious, but Shari Lapena has written such an engaging, compelling plot, and not only that but she managed to outsmart me on what actually happened that night.

I can see now why everyone raves about The Couple Next Door, it was thrilling, with secrets coming out left, right and centre, and while it was a bit slower than I would normally like, it was still a fascinating, absorbing read and the tension never, ever lets up. I’ll be thinking about this book weeks after reading, that’s for sure and I look forward to what Shari writes next. Boy does she know how to tell a story!