Shari Lapena

The Couple Next Door

Not very well written, craft-wise, but the plot kept me engaged the whole way through.

Antonia Murabito

A Novel

A mistry novel.predictable with good twists.

Shidehdeishidi

Ryan Mateyk

Although the writing was basic and kind of juvenile, the story was a twisty, gripping, wild ride.

finished in one night bc i couldn’t put it down, lowkey corny writing but not bad at all for my first proper suspense thriller novel

prachi

mallorie 🦌

Megan

I loved this book. That being said, there’s a lot going on. I don’t think everyone would like this. There’s a lot going on within a short amount of pages. It’s a beach read in my opinion and the effect is the best if you read it all in a short amount of time. Try to pick it back up after putting it down a month ago? You’ll probably be lost.

Maria

i’m torn on this one it was a 4 star read for me for about 75% of the story but the ending felt lackluster to me, especially the final ending. so overall it’s probably around a 3.5 maybe? 
- that being said this was very hard to put down, and i am personally not big on thrillers, but i devoured this in a day
- i thought the intricate relationships between characters were quite well done (again, up until towards the end) 
- the blurb on this book says that “people are capable of almost anything” and yeah these people have no scruples whatsoever 
- i might’ve found the ending to be lacking bc i figured out a part of who the possible culprit (well, one of them) could be so who knows? also i think that last chapter could’ve either not existed at all or simply been handled differently idk 
- also how pathetic is the husband he was so annoying 🙄

Nabila Azahra

3/5 stars.

pretty enjoyable, yes. gripping? not really. this book just has quite a lot of "ow shit" moment. but overall it was predictable. i didn't care much of the characters.

Best-seller internacional muito aguardado no Brasil. É o aniversário de Graham, e sua esposa, Cynthia, convida os vizinhos, Anne e Marco Conti, para um jantar. Marco acha que isso será bom para a esposa; afinal, ela quase nunca sai de casa desde o nascimento de Cora e da depressão pós-parto. Porém, Cynthia pediu que não levassem a filha. Ela simplesmente não suporta crianças chorando. Marco garante que a bebê vai ficar bem dormindo em seu berço. Afinal, eles moram na casa ao lado. Podem levar a babá eletrônica e se revezar para dar uma olhada na filha. Tudo vai dar certo. Porém, ao voltarem para a casa, a porta da frente está aberta; Cora desapareceu. Anne e Marco se envolvem em uma teia de mentiras, que traz à tona segredos aterradores.

O casal que mora ao lado

Ana Luiza

Fiquei muito presa até os 50% do livro, a narrativa é rápida, fluida e muito interessante de acompanhar os diferentes pontos de vista. Na metade do livro já dá pra saber que foi o autor do crime e eu perdi o ânimo, mas mesmo assim li o restante rapidamente. Achei que faltou um pouco de emoção, na hora dos reencontros e das revelações parece que os personagens não estão nem aí. É um livro legal para se distrair.

Lauren

This book was amazing. It had me on the edge of my seat. I highly recommend.

I sure did lose a lot of sleep staying up late reading this! 

Coley T

This book kept me on my toes throughout the book. I was constantly trying to figure out the twist and which way it was going. The twist on who did it was great, the ending was terrible and ruined it for me.

Kassidy May Leaver

jess larry

very meh, & anne's a dumb bitch

whole thing would've been 200 pages shorter if she just called that damn police officer

also makes 0 sense how margot or wtv he's called got NO sort of punishment for his absolutely careless, selfish and stupid actions

2.5, took forever to finish

Melissa Palmer

Book #121 Read in 2016
The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

This was a good mystery/thriller book. Anne and Marco's baby daughter is kidnapped. Who has her? Who is involved? This book has many twists and turns to keep readers engaged and a host of dysfunctional characters to keep it interesting. While an adult book, I think high school readers would enjoy it too. I highly recommend it.

Jule

Joa....ne? Vom Hocker gehauen wurde ich jetzt leider nicht. Ein Thriller, der mal schnell gelesen ist, aber nicht lange im Gedächtnis bleibt. Ich bin mir unsicher, ob es an der deutschen Übersetzung lag, aber die Erzählweise klang für mich sehr gehackstückelt durch zu viele aneinander gereihte Hauptsätze. Auch der Schreibstil schien mir sehr amateurhaft, was ich eher in Jugendkrimis erwarten würde. Dadurch habe ich mich auch wenig für die Charaktere interessiert, wobei Marco noch der nachvollziehbarste Charakter der Geschichte war. 

Und das Ende ... war einfach too much. Das hat das ganze dann von 3 auf 2 Sterne dezimiert.

Patricia Nelson

This book was great! I had heard it was good, and it came up available on digital loan from the library, so I started it thinking it would be a good read for a plane trip. Wow - the twists and turns kept coming, and I didn't see any of them in advance! Great book if you enjoy a good mystery and psychological thrillers.

I don’t like the ending and the characters were annoying the only okay character was Anne’s mum other than that I liked the plot and the twists and turns m

amelia <3

Kanzie Ilombu

It was alright, didn't like the ending though.

Charlsy Sekyere

⭐️2.5-3

From the beginning, I expected this book to be a shitshow. As newly parents, how can you leave your 6 month old daughter (Cora) alone next door, just to attend someone's (your alarmingly creepy, weird next-door neighbours, Cynthia and Graham) adult-only small dinner party? It's your child, so forget about the baby monitor and bring the baby to this gathering, because anything could happen. Bring your child to dinner next door or don't bother at all. Marcus is an idiot, and Anne is spineless. They're so irresponsible and careless. The lack of accountability throughout the book between the characters, especially between their parents, is shocking at times. 

Having read Not A Happy Family written by Shari Lapena, Anne and Marco's dynamic reminds me of the couple, Catherine and Ted. This is primarily due to the lack of communication skills of both couples and the mistrust in their marriages. Marco reminds me a lot of Dan, mostly because of his financial problems. IYKYK. 

The characters of Catherine and Ted, along with Dan, might have been inspired by Shari Lapena's earlier work on this book. As I have read two other thriller/mystery novels by Shari Lapena, I can see how many of her characters are similar. 

Except for An Unwanted Guest, Shari Lapena's characters are usually one-dimensional and flat in every book I have read so far. That's pretty much how I feel about all the characters in this book, from Detective Rasbach to Anne's parents, Richard and Alice.

In regard to the disappearance of Cora, Marco is a spineless and selfish person who is unwilling to contemplate how his actions and deeds affect the people around him. In fact, all of this could have been avoided if he had demonstrated a little bit of backbone and logical reasoning skills. He comes across as such an imbecile. It's truly mind-numbing.

I thought the plot twists were okay and the background and exploration of Marco and Anne were fine. There's nothing too shocking or surprising. 

Written in the third person while emphasizing characters' motivations and personalities with the 'telling not showing' technique is a style used extensively by Shari Lapena, to the extent that it is synonymous with her. This manner of writing, however, becomes tedious and monotonous as the story progresses, making it harder to continue reading it. It is made worse by the fact that I have already read two other books by Shari Lapena in the same writing style (Not A Happy Family and An Unwanted Guest).

Despite a great plot, the execution is poor as character and plot details are not fleshed out, and the writing pattern is monotonous, repetitive.

As long as you don’t mind the writing style it is a really good book. There is not much world building but you get to live in the moment with the characters and experience it all with them. 

Renee Jones

Although the writing style is not one of my favorites, this book kept me on my toes. There is not much character or world-building. However, it is extremely fast-paced, with plot twists around every corner that keep you interested. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and the ending was quite unexpected; leaving a deep yearning for a second book just to find out what happens. 

Keilan

Emmm :p

I READ IT WITHIN HOURS!!! i couldn’t put it down this book is so gripping and just incredible oh my goddddd!!!!!!! yesss YESSSSS

I don't really get the Shari Lapena hype. Second book of hers I've found completely average and forgettable. Characters are meh. Story is all over the shop and incredibly repetitive . Not sure I'd bother with anymore of her stuff.

Rebecca McCombe

This was such a good whodunit for me. Every time I thought I knew what was happening there would be another twist. So many of the characters had me teeter tottering back and forth about what I thought of them. Every added element was new and exciting. Even on the last page there was something to get you again. Absolutely loved it. I personally think this would make an excellent movie. 

The Couple Next Door

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