This is my first book by Shari, but won’t be my last. It was totally unexpected. I thought I’d figured it all out and boy was I wrong. I can’t say the characters were likeable but I don’t think it mattered as the plot was there and kept me guessing throughout. I’m looking forward to reading her other books.

Thanks goes to net galley and the publishers for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

EXCERPT: Anne feels her scream inside her own head and reverberating off the walls - her scream is everywhere. Then she falls silent and stands in front of the empty crib, rigid, her hand to her mouth. Marco fumbles with the light switch. They both stare at the empty crib where their baby should be. It is impossible that she not be there. There is no way Cora could have gotten out of the crib by herself. She is barely six months old.

'Call the police,' Anne whispers, then throws up, the vomit cascading over her fingers and onto the hardwood floor as she bends over. The baby's room, painted a soft buttery yellow with stencils of baby lambs frolicking on the walls, immediately fills with the smell of bile and panic.

Marco doesn't move. Anne looks up at him. He is paralyzed, in shock, staring at the empty crib, as if he can't believe it. Anne sees the fear and guilt in his eyes and starts to wail - a horrible keening sound, like an animal in pain.

Marco still doesn't budge. Anne bolts across the hall to their bedroom, grabs the phone off the bedside table, and dials 911,her hands shaking, getting vomit all over the phone. Marco finally snaps out of it. She can hear him walking rapidly around the second floor of the house while she stares across the hall at the empty crib. He checks the bathroom, at the top of the stairs, then passes quickly by her on his way to search the spare bedroom and then the last room down the hall, the one they have turned into an office. But, even as he does, Anne wonders in a detached way why he is looking there. It is as if part of her mind has split off and is thinking logically. It's not like their baby is mobile on her own. She is not in the bathroom, or the spare bedroom, or the office.

Someone has taken her.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all--a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately focuses on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story.

Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. Both Anne and Marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they've kept for years.

MY THOUGHTS: Highly improbable, but extremely entertaining!

Where to start? This was one crazy read. It twisted and turned, then doubled back on itself. It is fast paced and full of lies and deception. Shari Lapena demonstrates great sleight of hand and misdirection in this, her debut novel. She will have your head spinning, and have you doubting every single one of the characters. And don't expect to like any of the characters. Except maybe Anne's mom. And that's only maybe.

My advice? Hang onto your hat, enjoy the ride, and prepare for a crash landing.

😉😲🤦‍♀️.8

THE AUTHOR: Shari Lapena is a Canadian novelist. Lapena was a lawyer and English teacher before beginning her writing career.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

A very enjoyable read. The story kept me interested and I kept reading, wanting to find out what happened. There are a few twists and turns in this book to get you guessing.

Unlying the story is the theme of postnatal depression , and also a partner who doesn't really understand the mental trauma that his wife is experiencing.

I look forward to reading more of Shari's books.

**spoiler alert**
I finally got round to reading this on holiday and must admit that I was disappointed. Whilst the plot premise was compelling enough (a 6 months old baby kidnapped from its cot whilst her parents are at a dinner party next door), it became obvious about 25% into the book that the baby's father was involved in the kidnapping. With such a small cast of characters (6 suspects plus the detective), the "Why" became pretty clear, too, and the final resolution of the case almost tedious.

There were important mental health issues that were used as plot vehicles, and yet I felt that the author glossed over them (dissociative disorder) or used them in a negative way (post partum depression) which was a real shame.

The writing didn't blow me away, but that said I am not looking for great prose when I pick up a thriller to read on the beach. What bothered me about "The Couple Next Door" was that it failed to "thrill" this reader and didn't have me speculating more as it was all so predictable. (Also, the title is silly as it's really not about the couple next door but about the web of lies within a marriage/family). However, it is an entertaining enough read, and I certainly didn't struggle to finish it.

Everyone has secrets, right? In this book, they finally caught up with the seemingly innocent. A suspenseful read and easy to get into, I enjoyed this book but not as much as I had wanted to. Although the writing style was good, I found I didn’t care about the characters. In fact, by the end, they were getting on my nerves. How feckless was Marco? There just wasn’t enough diving into them to feel any emotional connection had been made.

I usually love this author’s books - this one missed the mark somewhat, for me.

I loved this fast-paced, breathtaking psychological thriller! This is one of those 'just one more chapter' books, and before you know it, it's 2:00 am!
Marco and Anne are invited to their neighbours for dinner. Sounds non-threatening enough doesn't it? But Anne's not too sure. Manipulative Cynthia has made it quite clear that the baby isn't welcome at her husband Graham's birthday dinner.
Anne's been struggling with post-natal depression. Baby Cora is just 6 months old. Marco desperately wants a grown-up evening out. And so, a babysitter is arranged and it's decided that they'll go.
But the babysitter cancels at the last minute and although Anne's quite happy to stay at home and let Marco go to dinner without her. He insists that they stick to their arrangements. After all, they're only going next door. They can take a baby monitor with them, and pop home every half-hour to check on her. By 1 in the morning, Anne's had quite enough. They've all had far too much to drink, and nobody else seems to worried about the fact that Cynthia is shoving her cleavage in Marco's face!
When they eventually arrive home, their worst nightmare becomes reality when they discover Cora is not sleeping soundly in her cot ... or anywhere else. She's gone! And Anne realises that she was quite right to think she was a bad mother to leave her baby at home unattended.
A roller-coaster ride ensues in which the reader gets whiplash with all the twists and turns, all the allegiances and alliances, deciding who would have, could have taken baby Cora!
Very cleverly written with deep, dark pasts, secrets and causes for motives being revealed and no stones left unturned. Shari Lapena doesn't disappoint as she drags us along to a gasping finish!

Absolutely loved this book. Can’t wait for the authors next one! A great debut

I had heard so many good things about this book and couldn't wait to give it a read. But I had read some reviews that did mention the ending was a bit iffy.

When a couple's baby goes missing while they are next door at a dinner party the police are called but you can tell straight away the expected the parents had something to do with it.

Even though I guessed who had taken baby Cory the story was still exciting to read and it has some really great twists. It goes to show you what one bad decision can lead to and how lies get bigger and harder to get out of.

I can't say too much without giving anything away, but the twist near the end was really great and I actually think I would make a great detective as I also guessed this before it happened too. As I was getting closer to the end of the book I was wondering where all the reviews about a rubbish ending where coming from as it seemed brilliant to me - until I got to the very last page. To be honest, I don't know why the author added this part in as it would have been much better without it.

Wow!!! Started this book and could not stop reading it until I'd finished!! Every time I thought I had things sussed, along came another surprise!! So rare for a story to catch me out, so well done to the author. I LOVED IT!!!

Clever, beautifully written and entertaining. And, what is unusual in the mass market of contemporary domestic noir/psychological thrillers, characters you actually care about.

I’ve been in quite the thriller mood recently and thought I would check this one out, as someone I met recently was in the middle of reading this and was enjoying it, so I though why not? I don’t regret it for a second.

The book wasn’t slow paced, intact I was surprised to learn it was only 352 pages once I had finished and looked. The writing style was different. Not in a bad way, how could it be bad if I had finished it in less than 24 hours, but there was something distinctive about it that I couldn’t put my finger on. It was a bit cooler, while the emotion was there and felt (particularly Anne’s) the writing seemed more matter of fact. As I said this wasn’t a bad thing, and it certainly left an impression on me.

In thrillers like this you often find yourself doubting the characters, often the lead character. With this book though, I pretty much trusted everyone, apart from maybe the neighbours. The detective obviously had their suspicions but I wasn’t such a sceptic. I especially trusted Anne, even though there was potential of her being responsible, there was something about her that made me trust that she didn’t do it.

I also liked Marco, he clearly adored Anne and seemed really supportive while she was suffering from post natal depression. I can also imagine how he felt with his in-laws. The rich-poor divide can be tough, especially when the rich male likes to shove their wealth and success in someone’s face as much as Anne’s stepfather did.

Obviously both parents are distraught and I wondered how I would sympathise with them if I were the general public, as in hindsight leaving a baby alone, however close they are was not a great idea (understatement of the century). However my heart did break for them.

Detective Rasbach was also a great character, while his questions were quite direct, it was clear he genuinely wanted to get to the bottom of what happened, and sometimes hard questions are needed.

Overall this book was as good as I’d heard, it lived up to the tenseness you expect from a thriller and constantly kept me guessing.

Absolutely fantastic read. A great disection of the human condition as each characters true colours come to the surface when tragedy strikes. Could not read it fast enough as I was desperate to see where the story would go. Can't wait to read more from this author.

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena is an engrossing mystery read that'll keep you engaged for the entire length of the book.

This book has a great plot and I enjoyed reading it because it was really engrossing. I liked the characterization and the plot progression and pacing was really good. In fact, I believe that the pacing and tension are the two things that made this book such a huge hit.

I liked the idea behind the novel and the execution of that idea was impressive. The writing style was simple and effective and the overall flow of the story felt very smooth. I read this book in one sitting as I really wanted to get to the end to see if I guessed the mystery right. And right I was, so this book was indeed quite predictable. You can guess the culprit before even reaching the 50% mark if you really focus on the mannerisms of the characters.

Though I liked this book, and I really liked it, I, for the life of me, can't seem to understand why the hell is this book named as 'The Couple Next Door." I don't want to reveal too much, but the couple really only comes in the picture at the very end and that too only the female mainly, so I felt betrayed as the title is misleading. Had it had some other title (a title which wouldn't have focused entirely on the couple that wasn't even involved in the case until the very end and that too quite indirectly) then I would have given this book a much higher rating because, for the entire story, I was trying to make the connection that was basically non-existent.

Other than the title, I don't have any other complaint and overall it was a nice mystery read. But if you really look at it, it wasn't a thriller as such, so the genre categorization was misleading too, but that didn't matter much. Still, it is something that has to be mentioned here.

I'd recommend this book to mystery lovers and I'm sure that cozy mystery lovers would love it as much. But if you're a hardcore thriller fan then you might want to skip this one as it is NOT a thriller read.

An OK psychological suspense thriller. This book didn't do a lot for me, probably because I struggled to like any of the characters.

Despite a few initial reservations on the writing style this turned into an excellent thriller with a storyline that should made you shudder in horror. The babysitter cancels at the last minute and a young couple Anne and Marco go to a neighbour’s dinner party, leaving their six month baby home alone because the hostess doesn’t want a noisy baby around. Anne is reluctant to go and doesn’t want to leave baby Cora but Marco persuades her. They take a baby monitor but despite one of them checking regularly the very worst thing happens and they return home to find the baby gone.

I thought I could see the direction the story was heading in but there were so many twists that spun me around and tied me in knots. There are plenty of characters to distrust here and my sympathies kept shifting with each new revelation. I didn’t really like any of the characters but then I don’t think I was supposed to but that didn’t stop me enjoying this well paced and cleverly plotted thriller. One lesson here is that people are not all they seem and who can you really trust.

This is the author’s debut novel – I’m really looking forward to the next one!

I enjoyed this book and the author shows lots of promise. Didn't engage with the characters.

thanks to this author I now look totally different at my neighbours. a thrilling, creepy novel. great!