Review: The Couple Next Door @sharilapena #AltRead #Review

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This review is from: The Couple Next Door (Paperback)

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Programme

I am reviewing The Couple Next Door a book by Shari Lapena. Here are my thoughts:

^^ This is the story of a couple, Anne and Marco Conti, who plan to go next door for a party around their neighbour’s house, but after the childminder lets them down last minute, they convince themselves not to cancel but to go anyway, with the idea that it will be all right to leave their baby at home and check on her every half hour. After all, they have a baby monitor with them, too. What could possibly go wrong? It’s only next door.

^^ When the baby goes missing we delve further into each characters lives to discover what really went on. But it’s just not that simple, as with most stories like this, there are often unreliable witnesses and hidden story depths that make it less easy for the reader to work out the truth straight away. This is what happens in this book , and even though I had my suspicions instantly about who done it, the why and the how was not revealed until the very end.

^^ The Couple Next Door is told in different point of views and with a limited omniscient point of view where the author Shari Lapena limits the readers to being in one character’s head at a time. We hear their thoughts, see their actions, we understand what they are not saying to the other characters and know if they are lying to themselves. Writing this way is very clever and gaining popularity again.

^^ This story throws out all sorts of questions. What would you have done? Who really is in the wrong here? Is being weak a crime? It also shows you how life can change dramatically in a blink of an eye from one single bad decision. It’s the sort of story most people say ‘chances of that happening in real life are extremely rare’, but you only have to look at the news, on your computer, phone or newspapers to see the truth… People are people and some are capable of doing some very strange things.

Overall:
I’ve been lucky and read two books within one week that were equally enthralling, suspenseful and fast paced, so much so I didn’t want to put either books down until finished. With this one, Shari Lapena ‘s The Couple Nextdoor, I find it slightly beats the other as the story still lingered in the back of my mind long after I’d finished reading; the clever plot twists, the the red herrings, and other tension strengthening distractions, and the marvellous, most satisfying way it all came together at the end, but with more shocks to boot. I can happily recommend this as a well crafted story that truly made me think about what people really are capable of when pushed to their absolute limit. And I mean this from both the antagonist and the protagonist’s point of view.

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