Too many characters to keep track of with a lot of he said she said narrative that is hard to follow. The plot drags on and very repetitive. Would have been a DNF if it wouldnt have been an ARC. Thank you netgalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

A fun, suspicion driven mystery. Lucy sees a coworker’s photo of a couple they met in the Maldives that appears to be her husband’s best friend with a woman who was not her friend. The twists and turns, along with the friend dynamic, keep the plot moving at a fast pace. This is a great, quick read and would be a perfect beach read!

Lucy loves photos and the stories they tell. Eagerly looking through a work colleague's honeymoon photos one day, the a couple in the background catch her eye. Shocked to see who she thinks is her husband's best friend with another woman. Unable to accept it is coincidence or a doppelgänger, Lucy begins to ask questions of her husband, her husband's best friend Scott, and his wife Cora, all three of who were close friends from college days. As Lucy starts connecting more events to Scott, her husband and Cora begin acting rattled and secretive. Finally, Lucy finds evidence that the couple in the photo is connected to a much bigger picture and much uglier past than she could ever imagine.

This one has been on my TBR stack for awhile, and after finishing, I wish I had read it sooner! I mostly figured out where the story was heading early on, but Helen Cooper is a master at "...but wait! There's more!" that somehow fits without it being overdone or overdramatic. Great beach read!

Fairly generic for the genre, which is fine, but it didn’t stand out. Also, a bit too heavy with the romantic elements.

Thank you to Putnam Books & NetGalley for the advanced copy of The Couple in the Photo. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I sadly did not have time to read this book before its pub date (Dec. 5, 2023), and I’m sad that I just now got to it! Because WOW!

The beginning started off slow for me, but I’m happy I pushed through because it picked up quickly & kept me glued to my Kindle as much as possible. So many working parts to this mystery that leave you theorizing what could have happened, but with enough balance and details that the characters & events are easy to keep separated in your head.

Even though I had a suspicion, the answer to the (multiple) mysteries in the book will leave your mind reeling! I don’t want to reveal too much, so just know if you enjoy domestic thrillers with a “whodunit” trope, you’ll enjoy this one!

My first time reading this author but definitely won’t be my last. 4/5 ⭐️

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review*

Twisted and disturbing read - I couldn't get enough. Great read!!!

The Couple in the Photo is quite an unexpected ride, tethered to old friends and the old secrets that go along with that. This was a wild ride right up to the end!

This suspicion driven plot keeps the reader engaged. It will have you questioning how well you really know your friends.
Many thanks to PENGUIN Group Putnam and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a slow mover for me initially, but when I got to about 3/4 of the way through I couldn’t put it down. So many twists and turns, I didn’t know where it was headed. It’s very close to a 4 star for me, but missed the mark just slightly.

Thank you NetGalley & publisher for allowing me to read this one.

In the book The Couple In The Photo by Helen Cooper we meet Lucy she’s married to Adam who she met in college her and Adam‘s best couple friend is Cora and Scott who were Adam‘s roommates when he met Lucy and they’ve been like family ever since. This is why when Lucy was looking through her coworkers honeymoon photos she was shocked to see a picture of Scott with the dark haired woman in the same loving couple pose he does when she takes him in chorus photo she doesn’t know what to think but immediately goes home and tells her husband Adam he tries to calm her down and tells her he will talk to Scott about it and see what is up. When Cora comes over that same night to pick up the kids Lucy can’t help but to notice she looks ragged and rundown which is the total opposite of the zin like persona she usually gets from Cora. Scott supposedly has been out of town for the past two weeks in Japan, he helps put together Ariel shows all over the world but when Lucy sees him later she can’t help but to wander if he’s had an island vacation in the past two weeks. Per Adams advice she tries to go about her life like normal but when she sees a news broadcast saying a woman went missing from The same island resort and when she sees her photo she can’t believe it is the same woman she saw in the picture with her friend Scott. Lucy cannot believe Scott would do this to Cora let alone his kids but when every secret comes out into the open it will be more than just her friend Corus marriage at stake. She learns the people she loves most in the world has more than one side to them and the one they’ve been hiding isn’t so pretty. This book is mind blowing Lee awesome! Oh I was not prepared for where this book went I do want to say there were a couple of times when Lucy was snooping that I thought OMG this is going to be an eye roller, but no no no… This is an awesome tale that Helen Cooper has written. This is the kind of books I look for when in the mood for a great thriller I will definitely read more books by Helen Cooper if they’re all this awesome a truly great read and one that will be hard to figure out you don’t know until you know and when you know you will be mine blown. Truly awesome! I want to thank penguin group Putnamnum and net Galley for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

When I jumped into this book I really didn't know where we were going. This is the tale of Lucy, a suburban wife and mother, who may (or may not!) have seen her friend in a photo with a woman who is not his wife. What stems from one single photos spirals into a series of possibly related events. First, the woman in the photo turns up dead. Then, the woman who had snapped the photo is cagey and claims to have deleted the photo. And as time goes on, she begins to wonder how well does she really know her friends? How well does she truly know her husband for that matter?

This was one of those books where the climax hit and I tried (and failed) to read the last 20% in one sitting. Everything you thought you knew was wrong.

In short, I loved this book. Mysteries are often too predictable for me but this one absolutely was NOT!

I'm going to have to check out Helen Cooper's other books now!

Huge thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for an e-ARC of this title in exchange for my honesty opinion.

The synopsis and the cover for this book makes it sound and look so intriguing. But I read a few chapters and it was confusing all the characters and it was a very slow start. Coming off a thriller that I just finished that hooked me immediately this one just wasn't for me. I'm happy others are enjoying it and maybe this is one in the future I will have to come back to. This is my opinion and will only be posted on netgalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Really great book. Well written and suspenseful. I l or it when I’m reading a book and I have no idea what might happened next. This one was hard to put down.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. It had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Took me less than a day to finish! 5/5 I would recommend to everyone I know and all my followers!

I love a book where the woman becomes her own detective. Lucy knows something is going on with her friend's husband and is determined to find out what it is. This book keeps you on the edge of your seat while the story begins to unravel.

Lucy and Adam, along with Cora and Scott, share a longstanding friendship. When Lucy stumbles upon a shocking holiday photo of Scott with another woman, claiming to be Jason and Anna, she delves into a mystery that unravels connections to the past. The novel starts slow, portraying a seemingly idyllic life disrupted by a single photo. Though some twists are predictable, others surprise, and character dynamics add depth. Despite uneven pacing and occasional repetition, it offers easy, entertaining reading, suitable for a relaxing day at the beach. Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley!

This is my third Helen Cooper novel. I loved the premise of a cheating couple getting found out over a careless vacation photo. Even better, the woman mysteriously disappears shortly after the photo was taken! This book had such an intriguing premise.

The main character Lucy was so determined to get to the bottom of what Scott (the cheater) was up to. I loved her ability to believe in herself regardless of the gaslighting she was subjected to.

There are some big twists in this one, so there's a lot to look forward to as you read.

Lucy is married to Adam and they are incredibly close with his best friends from college, Scott and Cora. Lucy, a teacher, is looking at a fellow teacher’s honeymoon photos when she spots Scott in a photo holding a woman that was not Cora. She goes home to Adam to talk to him about it and he contends that what she thinks happened, probably didn’t and to just let it go.

A day later, Lucy finds that the woman in the photo with Scott is missing. Adam still wants her to let it go but she can’t. And she starts digging deeper into what happened and with who. Secrets, layered on top of each other for years, start becoming uncovered.

This was a taut, psychological domestic thriller that leaves you questioning what you saw and why you saw it. I thoroughly enjoyed all the twists and turns. I figured out who it was early on but not all the whys. Quite enjoyable.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this eARC. The Couple in the Photo is out now.

This book started slow. I struggled to get into it but pushed myself to continue because I could feel something was coming. I am glad I did as the twists and turns that came I was not expecting. It was a fun surprise that I did not see coming and enjoyed the fact that I was thinking one thing and it turned out to be another. It wasn't as fast paced as I usually like but it was enjoyable.

Thank you NetGalley for this advance reader copy in exchange for my free and honest review. This is a true thriller that keeps you guessing from one page to the next. Excellent novel and nail biter that I highly recommend. Will be on the lookout for more by this author as well. .