Author: Shari Lapen
# of Pages: 308 (paperback)
Genre: Adult, Mystery, Thriller
Rating: ★★★★☆
Synopsis: Your neighbour told you that she didn't want your six-month-old daughter at the dinner party. Nothing personal, she just couldn't stand her crying. Your husband said it would be fine. After all, you only live next door. You'll have the baby monitor and you'll take it in turns to go back every half hour. Your daughter was sleeping when you checked on her last. But now, as you race up the stairs in your deathly quiet house, your worst fears are realized. She's gone. You've never had to call the police before. But now they're in your home, and who knows what they'll find there.
Review: This is a classic whodunnit mystery that's fast paced and easy to read. Perfect for some light reading that is actually best enjoyed if you turn your brain off.
The Couple Next Door is told in third person omniscient perspective, drifting primarily between the parents Anne and Marco and Detective Rasbach. This works well for the book aside from the weakness where the reader will obviously know more information than the other characters. Usually this is frustrating, but Detective Rasbach is great at his job, and I found that he (and thus the author) was always one step ahead of me.
The ending was sloppier than I liked. Lapena tried to incorporate too much for the grand finale that made unrealistic, and a particular character's backstory felt too underdeveloped.
Part of why this story is so easy to read is Lapena chooses to tell the reader all the possible theories rather than showing them implicitly through observations. This story could have been richer and grittier if Lapena showed rather than told, but it was still an entertaining read nonetheless.
This book definitely leaned more toward the mystery aspect than thriller. There was only one aspect of the book that was ominous but isn't the focus of the plot.
This was a solid read that I could not put down, but Lapen isn't doing anything groundbreaking here. It's in the low-mid 4 star range (low 4 for execution, mid 4 for enjoyment and readability). I would recommend it if you're a fan of mystery!
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