The Couple Next Door

by Shari Lapena

[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!