ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

I loved all the twists and turns in this story! Many times I thought I knew where it was headed and what was coming next and was completely shocked and surprised! The characters are well written and the two main couples in the story have great development and backstories. I really felt bad for all the kids in this book that would have to live with what their parents did to them and their closest friends. If you like psychological thrillers and domestic thrillers, be sure to check this book out!

A quickly moving story that examines how well we really know those closest to us. I didn't always love the writing style, but I thought the plot was relatively solid despite a couple of loose ends I didn't feel were wrapped up as well as I wanted them to be.

The Couple in the Photo is the perfect new thriller!
Two couples, four good friends, all with children the same age, living the all American dream. Until one day, Lucy sees a picture from a coworkers honeymoon that could change everything she thought she’s ever known.
Each one of them has secrets, but whose secrets are the worst of all? And what will they do to keep them?

This book sucked me in from the very beginning. Told from multiple POV, it gave a great glimpse and insight into each character. And had me on my toes to the very end!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for this ARC in return for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pub date: 05 Dec 2023

The secrets in the past, will come to light in the present/future. When a photo comes to light of a couple on vacation, but it is of Lucy's best friend's husband with some other woman, Lucy immediately gets upset. The book story goes downhill from there, with twists and turns that that were just interesting enough to hang on but some were just fillers. The book could've been shorter.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Group for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest reivew.

Two couples, Adam and Lucy and Cora and Scott are as close as can be. They have kids the same age, they own a fixer upper cottage together and spend all of their free time together. But when Lucy is looking at a co-worker's honeymoon pics, she is sure she sees Scott with another woman in one of the pictures and she can't let go of the idea that Scott is having an affair but then things get worse when they realize the woman in the picture has gone missing.

I really liked this book. I read it in a day. I never got bored because there was always some new plot twist or new information turning up. Of course Lucy seeing Scott in her co-worker's Maldives honeymoon photos was a stretch, but once you got passed that, it was very entertaining. I also liked that once I thought it was over and we knew what was going on, there was still more to the story. There were only a small amount of people who could logically be guilty and yet I really couldn't figure out who had done what. I will read more from this author.

Special thanks to Penguin Group Random and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

While I tend to now stay away from anything with the title "The Couple who, did, or is......," or "The Woman who did, this, that or the other thing....", because I've had my fill of those, but I do tend to trust anything attached to Random House, so I gave it a try and was pleasantly surprised.

When Lucy marries her husband, its a package deal with his two other friends from the past who are married and a great couple too. They do everything together. Their children get along well, they even invest in a property together but when Lucy sees a coworkers picture of her honeymoon in the Maldives, she notices her friend Corals husband in the picture with another woman. She tells
her husband who doesn't believe her and than her coworker starts to avoid her and she hears the woman on the island has turned up dead. And the lies start adding up and Lucy's life becomes not the happy life she's been so used to.

Altogether this book was a hit for me. 4 stars!

Helen Cooper’s The Couple in the Photo is wild and twisty. Literally everyone is keeping a secret, none of the characters are particularly likable, and I was there for every last second of it. Even though most thriller lovers will probably figure out the true villain, despite a few well-placed red herrings, it won’t matter, because the twists and reveals continue right up until the final page. I loved this one!

I found this to be a compelling story., and I quite enjoyed it. The mystery surrounding a woman's disappearance and the subsequent murder investigation involves a small cast of characters which means that you will definitely suspect the actual perpetrator of the violence at some point. But there are still plenty of twists and turns to confuse and surprise you. The real point is unraveling the entire backstory of the various couples because the nuances of their interwoven relationships are at the heart of the story. There are so many couples and so many photos. Which photo reveals the truth?

The Couple in the Photo kept me guessing for most of the book. Lucy has her life turned upside down- just by glancing at a coworkers honeymoon pictures. Who knew what lies the people closest to her had been keeping. While I enjoyed the twists and turns, I could have used more character development. I couldn’t seem to care about who ended up guilty or dead. But I still raced to get to the conclusion. So, a mixed bag for me.

Cover Image: The Couple in the Photo
The Couple in the Photo
by Helen Cooper
Pub Date: 05 Dec 2023

Loved, Loved. Loved this book. It had me guessing from the beginning until the very end.

It's a mystery/thriller with lots of drama and chaos. A very enjoyable read.

Thank you #NetGalley, #PenguinGroupPutman and #TheCoupleinthePhoto for and E-ARC of this book.

When Lucy married Adam, she married into a framily with his two best friends since university, Cora and Scott, who are now married to each other. Both couples have young kids and the two families hang out together all the time. Cora and Scott seem to have a picture perfect marriage, so imagine Lucy's shock when she sees Scott with another woman in a colleague's photos from her honeymoon in the Maldives. After talking about it with her husband, When the news breaks a story that the woman in the photo has been found dead in the Maldives, Lucy decides she needs to see the photo to be sure before she confronts Steve or tells Cora, but now the colleague who took the picture is avoiding Lucy and her husband tells her she must have been mistaken, leave it be. Lucy is caught between wanting to do the right thing and go to the police, and potentially ruining her friends' marriage and their friendship. I liked the book and found it hard to put down as things escalated closer to the end, but I didn't particularly like Lucy (or maybe I just found knowing her every thought and worry to be annoying) and, for me, the blurbs written from the perspective of a character who was not identified but was obviously intimately involved in the events detracted from the mystery. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

This is so good!
This novel takes place in England. It is the story about two married couples, Lucy and Adam Taylor and Cora and Scott Waugh. The two couples have been friends for fifteen years. Adam, Cora, and Scott have known each other longer. They met while in college. The two couples do everything together. They go on vacation together. They have bought and are renovating a cottage together. Their four children play together. Everything changes one day when Lucy’s coworker shows her pictures of her honeymoon in the Maldives. There is a picture of another couple also on their honeymoon. The man in the picture is Scott.
Lucy is not sure what to do with this information. Does she tell her best friend, Cora, that Scott is having an affair? Does she tell her husband, Adam? She then learns that the other woman in the picture is missing, and then she turns up dead. Lucy does confide in her husband who does not believe her. As Lucy uncovers more details, she starts looking at Adam, Cora, and Scott differently.
This book was full of suspense. Many secrets are revealed. There was one part of this mystery that I was able to figure out. The rest of the plot was surprising as the story unfolded.
“…lies cause damage.”

3.5 stars

Lucy and her husband Adam are best friends with Cora and Scott, whom Adam attended college with. When Lucy spots Scott with another woman in the her colleague’s honeymoon photos, she is determined to find out what is going on…until the woman he’s with in the photo turns up missing. As she works to uncover what happened and to prove Scott was involved, she finds out more than she could ever imagine.

The book started out a bit slow for me and I was having trouble getting into it. I wasn’t vibing with Lucy and I think that’s what was holding me back also. Then it picked up the pace and I became invested. I thought the characters were very well developed. The plot was slightly predictable—I figured out who the killer was about halfway through the novel—but there was a twist that I didn’t pick up on until Lucy started to figure it out herself. Overall, a fun read if you’re looking for a thriller!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

I loved this book!!! The best one I have had the pleasure of reading from NetGalley. This book keeps you guessing all the way to the end. I will be recommending this one to my friends and looking for more books from Helen Cooper. Thank you so much NetGalley for this ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the eARC.

This was a slow burn mystery/thriller for me. There was convoluted relationships, drama, affairs, the whole array of chaos. I would have liked more resolution at the end and wish that Lucy made a few different decisions, but overall found this to be an enjoyable read!

I was immediately captivated by this book right from the first chapter! The opening was fantastic. Lucy, a character in the story, thinks she recognizes her husband's best friend in a photo with a woman who is not his wife, while a co-worker shows honeymoon photos from the Maldives. Lucy is convinced that the woman in the photo is the same one who has gone missing. She tells her husband about her suspicions, but he doesn't believe her. These are their best friends, so Lucy tries to determine if the people in the photo are her husband's best friend and the missing woman. It's a great read, with lots of suspense and intrigue. Is Lucy being gaslighted? Is she wrong? Who can she trust?

I enjoyed Lucy's character. The author portrayed her as an intelligent woman trying to figure out what is going on between her husband and their best friends.

Hm...Not even sure what to say. I liked The Other Guest, and The Downstairs Neighbor was about the same as this one for me. My main problem with this book is that for the majority of the book I just could not stand Lucy. And then in the end I liked her but couldn't stand anyone else.

The book starts off with Lucy looking at a colleague Ruth's honeymoon photos from the Maldives. She sees a photo that Ruth claims is another honeymoon couple they met, but Lucy knows better--that is Scott, one of she and her husband Adam's best friends. And he isn't with his wife Cora in the photo, that woman is a stranger. The four of them have been friends for years, spending time with each other daily and they even own a beach cottage together. Who is this strange woman? The more Lucy looks into it, the more secrets she seemingly uncovers. How deep are the lies?

The first third of this book is all about Lucy and her obsession with endlessly googling this mystery woman and questioning everything and snooping on everyone, ad nauseum. It got so old. Once the secrets begin to be revealed, the pacing picks up, but then it gets so convoluted and so many eye rolls because I just couldn't actually believe some of the things could happen the way they did.

I think if the story had been tightened up a little and the revelations happen without Lucy getting so obsessed and hysterical. Once the story got going, it was actually decent. This author is very creative, I will definitely read another book of hers.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words...or is it?

I thought the premise was interesting, but the pacing seemed a bit inconsistent at times. It was a quick and easy read with enough suspense, twists and turns to keep me engaged. I thought the characters were well developed. I will read more from this author in the future!

pretty generic domestic thriller - it's initially pretty slow moving which made it hard to get into, but there were some pretty well-timed twists which picked the pace up along the way. it got a little too repetitive for me, i think it would've benefited from a little more editing (easily could've shaved off 70 pages to tighten it up)

2.5 rounded up to 3. This one sadly fell flat for me. The premise was right up my alley and I would have loved to feel more invested in the characters. Their so-called best friendship seemed rather forced and fake from the beginning. Everyone had some skeletons in their closet and there were a couple of twists that kept my attention. Overall it was just an okay read.

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam Books for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.