The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
Mystery/suspense
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
I raced off to grab this book after seeing a review for it from one of my Goodreads friends. This mystery/suspense novel involves the case of a baby who gets kidnapped while the parents are next door at a dinner party. I was originally turned off by this premise because I didn’t think I could muster up any sympathy for the parents. But after reading the review, I was intrigued.
A good suspense novel takes the reader through many twists and turns, and this story was no disappointment. As new facts were revealed, my theories and suspicions kept shifting. The tale is complex, the characters layered, and nothing is as it seems at first. Or second….or even third.
This was a 5-star read for me literally up until the final scene, where some of the setup and the way things were portrayed popped me out of my immersion in the tale. It was brought about rather abruptly and with some minor scene details that seemed implausible. That’s why I took 1/2 star off. Despite this, it was quite an enjoyable read that kept me riveted and page-turning from start to end.