The Couple Next Door
By Shari Lapena
Pamela Dorman Books, Hardcover, 9780735221086, August 2016, 320pp.
The Short of It:
A story made-up of lies and secrets makes for a good page-turner.
The Rest of It:
Marco and Anne Conti attend a dinner party at their neighbor’s house while their infant daughter sleeps next door. Bad idea. Cora disappears and because Anne and Marco are too intoxicated to remember details, they can’t remember if they left the door unlocked or exactly when they saw her last. As the disappearance is investigated, secrets are revealed and no one can be trusted.
This is a book that is really hard to put down because every time you turn the page, someone is lying or blame quickly switches from one character to the next. NO ONE in this story can be trusted which is a little aggravating but somehow makes for good reading. Plus, Anne is suffering from postpartum depression so her take on the situation is rather skewed at times which makes you doubt what’s going on.
If you are sensitive to convenient story lines or tire easily of red herrings, you could grow bored with this one. I am typically that type of reader but it was a fun read and a great book to take my mind off of my first week back at work.
Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
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Book Chatter 
I was hooked on this book at the beginning but the ending was a bit too contrived for me.
The ending was abrupt but somehow fitting, too. A good page-turner. Nothing deep but entertaining.
I liked this one well enough. Rolled my eyes a few times, but it’s all good. I’d recommend it to others and have. 🙂
Oh, I rolled my eyes too. Is the story plausible? Believable? The concept is but it relies on the fact that no one can be trusted so the author was able to have fun with it. I picked it up to forget about my dreaded return to work after being off for three weeks. For me, it served its purpose.
Great review Ti………I have this one to read and review too!
I hope you enjoy it. It’s a fun, quick read.
Finished it on vacation this week. Great beach read. I see a movie coming!
I could totally see this as a movie. Reese Witherspoon seems to be making movies out of a lot of books like this one. I wouldn’t be surprised if she picked it up!
I know this one is well loved by many, but I found it pretty predictable. Reading everyone else’s positive reviews makes me think I should rethink my position. Maybe I missed something?
Nope. It was predictable. But sometimes I just review a book for the enjoyment factor. It was a good book to take my mind off of work and everything else going on. I didn’t expect a big reveal. In fact, if there had been one I would have been surprised.
It was a good page turner!
The ending was a bit abrupt but for the most part, it was very entertaining and fun to read.
Oh, those red herrings. I might have to stay away from this unless its on audio. Those seem to be less bothersome when someone reads to me.
You are spot on with this review. I thought it was a fun book to read, because of all its twists and turns. Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Sounds a little like Gone Girl?
I know a lot of publishers compare their books to Gone Girl because it was so popular but this one does smack of Gone Girl in the way it’s told, the craziness of the story and how no one can be trusted. With both, I kind of felt jerked around a little but for the sake of entertainment I went with it.
The fact that you can’t trust anyone in this story kind of puts me off, but otherwise this sounds like my kind of read. I do love a good page turner – I’ll have to look into this title. Thanks for sharing!
Yes. No reliable characters is probably its biggest flaw. Still fun to read though. Just know that going in.
I look forward to reading this one myself. I spotted it on my libraries eBook list.
Isn’t it great when some of what normally grates you ends up being no problem and you enjoy the ride. That seldom happens to me, but it feels great when it does. I attribute it to the crafty writing. 🙂
I’ve heard great things about this one. I cannot wait to read it!
I liked this one a lot even though it wasn’t perfect — it was quick.