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The Perfect Couple

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Member Reviews

The Perfect Couple by Jackie Kabler was a great book with so many twists and turns throughout I was hooked from the first few pages. The main character Gemma is helping police as her husband Danny has disappeared just weeks after they have moved into a new house. However she learns a serial killer is on the loose and the victim’s all look like her husband, is she to blame? A fab book.

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I was hooked on this book from start to finish. The plot, the words, how well written it is. If you haven't started this book, you need to.

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When Gemma returns home from a business trip, her husband isn’t there as expected. When he fails to turn up, she reports him missing. Recently married and moved to Bristol, she has few friends she can call on for help.
The Perfect Couple is a strange one, well-written with a good plot, loads of twists, but many with some unlikely turns. A good entertaining real but not especially memorable.
With thanks to Netgalley and Harper Impulse Killer reads

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Gemma and Danny are what seem to be the perfect couple. They’ve been together a year and a half and recently moved to Bristol for a new start. One evening she returns home to find no sign of Danny. Once she turns to the police she is horrified to find out that there is a serial killer on the loose and his recent victims looks exactly like Danny.

It was full of twists and turns and I had no idea what was coming next which I found easy to read.

Overall I found it to be an enjoyed and quick read but it was a bit too much and over the top for me.

I want to thank Harper Impluse, Killer Reads and Netgalley for generously providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Creepy serial killer story. Really liked the characters and the slight twist to the story. Men being murdered rather than women for starters! This will keep you guessing and it kept me up all last night too! Read in one sitting. Says it all. 5/5!

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I really liked this author and this book did not disappoint, it was an appropriately paced, page-turner that will have me hooked throughout the story.

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A pretty decent read. Good storyline and there were quite a few twists that kind of left you guessing what would be happening. It was all resolved rather quickly and the ending left me wanting a little more, but definitely worth reading.

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I have read mixed reviews about this one but I must say I loved it!
The story centres around Gemma whose husband goes missing but there is no evidence that he ever moved from London to Bristol with her. She is determined to prove she's telling the truth yet the more evidence that piles up the more doubt the police have in her story. Alongside this the police have two dead men who strangely look extremely similar the police worry they have a serial killer on their hands espically as Danny (Gemma's missing husband) fits the profile of the other dead men.

Gemma is an interesting character. I loved her determination and I loved in her chapters that she was almost talking to the reader. She's a very determined pragmatist yet there seem to have been read flags she had missed that to most might appear obvious. Yet this didn't make me dislike her I felt for her. I love that she uses her investigative journalism to do her own investigation as the police are focusing on her as a possible suspect and serial killer. She's determined as hell to prove her innocence problem is there is so much that makes it hard to believe her.

The police officers investigating the case aren't that likable esp the lead detective. She is very heavy handed and short sighted, she doesn't seem to want to do any real detective work. The other detective is a bit more likeable yet he is suffering from his own personal stuff, but he is a bit more likeable. Their chapters are in third person which makes it a bit better as we are able to detach from them slightly.

I found the prose very clever the twist and turns we are as readers investigating alongside the main characters. The main question we are pressed with is, is Danny alive or dead? Now I guessed correctly quite early on, I had also worked out the serial killer and the two twist at the end. But I didn’t enjoy it any less. I actually was racing through to find out if I was correct.


Honestly great psychological thriller I highly recommend plus it's quite an easy read. I happily give 5 stars.


Thank you Netgslley, Jackie Kabler and the publishers for the pre released text in exchange for my fair and honest review apologise for late review.

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Is there such a thing as a perfect couple?

Apparently not quite! A thrilling read, full of head-scratching, eyebrow furrowing moments wondering who did what and when?

An interesting take on a thriller. I would definitely recommend.

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I liked this a lot. I liked how we saw from Gemma's and the police's views. The twists kept coming and it was an exciting book.

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I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The ending of this book just hits you out of nowhere. It was wonderfully written and the characters were very well flushed out!

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

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The perfect couple … or the perfect lie?
A year and a half ago, Gemma met the love of her life, Danny. Since then, their relationship has been like something out of a dream. But one Friday evening, Gemma returns home to find Danny is nowhere to be seen.
After two days with no word from her husband, Gemma turns to the police. She is horrified by what she discovers – a serial killer is on the loose in Bristol. When she sees the photos of the victims she is even more stunned … they all look just like Danny.
But the police aren’t convinced by Gemma’s story. Why has no one apart from Gemma seen or heard from Danny in weeks? Why is there barely a trace of him in their flat? Is she telling them the truth, or are there more secrets and lies in this marriage than meets the eye?

This is a brilliant read.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.

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The title of this book suggests that you think you know whats going to happen, well actually you dont. I connected with the characters but the ending was very disappointing for me. It was over the top and out there.

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The Perfect Couple – always beware any book title that has perfect in it. Nine times out of ten it is anything but perfect. Gemma and Danny have the perfect life, the perfect jobs, and the perfect friends. Nothing and no-one are perfect, and Danny and Gemma are no exception. Gemma is a freelance journalist and Danny works in IT. Life is sweet, that is until Gemma goes on a business trip and comes home to no chilled prosecco, no dinner cooking, and no Danny. Initially Gemma thinks he’s been held late at work but the hours tick by and still there’s no Danny. She is finally forced to report him missing.

The synopsis initially got me overly excited at the prospect of reading The Perfect Couple. A twisty domestic thriller usually gets my pulse rocketing but no such luck with this tale. It’s not all negative and there were genuinely parts that had me intrigued enough to keep reading, and my favourite red herring trope had me questioning everything but by the midpoint of the book was becoming increasingly frustrated at the pacing and the direction that the author was taking the story in.

Although the premise of The Perfect Couple had serious potential to keep me hooked it just wasn’t a good fit for me. The pacing from the very beginning was slow (considering how it started, it didn’t sit well with me.) As it progressed, I really had considered DNF’ing it, but I wanted to see if I was right in my assumptions. By the mid-point it felt like we weren’t any further forward in working out what exactly had happened to Danny – although I’m sure every reader at this point knew what happened to him.

The Perfect Couple’s main character, Gemma just grated on my very last nerve. As a character she was mind numbingly dull and seemed to lack any substance whatsoever. She didn’t stand out (maybe that was the author’s intention) and for someone that had been a crime investigative journalist she was incredibly naïve bordering on stupid when dealing with different lines of investigation. The investigating detectives also seemed blind. It made me wonder what kind of cases they were used to dealing with in Bristol because there were facts that were staring at them in the face and they still couldn’t see it. Didn’t see the wood for the trees!

As a well-seasoned suspense reader, it just didn’t work well for me, there were more holes in the plot than a colander.

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I didn't enjoy this book at all. I found all the plot twists way too obvious. I didn't care for any of the characters, apart from Albert the Miniature Schnauzer

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I'm sorry this was a DNF for me -it was a bit drawn out and couldn't hold my attention- thank you for the opportunity to read and review it however.

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I'm glad I've never met people in real life who are like the characters in this book--utterly broken people and psychopaths. I understand how people can turn out this way, but it's still very shocking to read. I figured it all out just before the final reveal, but barely. Then the last few pages make you wonder if the story is really over....

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Thank you NetGalley and One More Chapter for this book.
What can I say, I loved it and as someone else has said it was a “head spinning book”.
It totally enthralled me and I couldn’t get enough of this. I was so disappointed when I finished it.
The book was interesting and kept me gripped with a great twist.
This was the first book I have read by this author and will certainly looking for more. Please keep writing I need another book to be totally engrossed in

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Personally am a huge fan of Domestic Thrillers with the brim of scandal, secrets, lies, deceit and a huge double whammy ending!!!!

The characters are strong (even the ones I didn't like) and all hold their own place within the story, the plot is thick with tension and the ending was epic... what more could you possibly want?

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This is my first book by this author and it was definitely a page turner. I read it in one sitting because I just had to find out the conclusion, which was a bit of a twist. The premise is anyone's worse nightmare, coming home to find your spouse missing and unaccounted for. Then, uncovering so many secrets and lies you never saw coming. There are two mysteries happening concurrently in this novel.

The first is the disappearance of Danny O'Connor, Gemma's missing husband. The second is the possibility of serial killer on the loose. The common threads that intersect is that the victims all have a striking resemblance to Danny and they all used the same dating app including Danny. The police are looking to wrap these cases up and are suspicious of Gemma but is she capable of such deception and multiple murders? This is where I had some issues with the way the story played out. The only character I found likable was Gemma's loyal best friend and former colleague, Eva, who never doubted Gemma's innocence. The police were incompetent, biased and not helpful at all. Danny was a character I tried to sympathize with but just could not and Gemma was an even more pathetic character. I recommend this book if you like quick mystery/thrillers and it's a pleasant way to pass the time.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for my complimentary e-book in exchange for this honest review.

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