Ponder Post: The Couple Next Door

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena is a real page turner. Had I not begun it at 11:00 pm, I would have completed it in one sitting. As it was, I finished it the following day.

The novel is a crime thriller about a husband and wife, Ann and Marco Conti, whose six month old baby girl goes missing. Has she been kidnapped or is there some other sinister explanation? Police cannot rule out the role of the parents, yet, if the mother and father are innocent, questioning them when they are going through such a traumatic experience is touchy and almost barbaric. Detective Rasbach is a well developed character, intelligent yet sensitive, dedicated to his job to the extent he can hold his own personal feelings in check. Throw in a little animosity between the Ann and Marco and their neighbors Cynthia and Graham, add some friction between Marco and his in-laws, and season it with money problems, the green eyed monster of jealousy, and status inequalities and the book becomes a delightful recipe to savor. I definitely give The Couple Next Door five stars. After I finished it, I handed it to my husband and he too completed the 300+ page book in one day, unable to put it down either.

Sometimes in a mystery genre, clues are often repeated to keep the reader engaged and up to speed. Reiterating information was certainly an approach in this novel, but the repetition did not seem redundant since the facts and assumptions were dissected and digested from different vantage points. Some of the reviews on Amazon are not quite as glowing as mine, though overall the book was favored. Check it out for yourself and see what you think.