The Couple Next Door
Shari Lapena, 2016
Mystery, thriller & crime Contemporary fictionLiterary fiction
A couple leaves their baby alone next door for one dinner party. Walking home, they discover how little they know each other. A tight domestic suspense that keeps a low hum of dread under ordinary dinner-party talk, with cool, uneasy prose.
Feels like dread, unease and serenity. About society.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy domestic crime told through a marriage's cracks and small social pressures. Be aware that the dread stays heavy and the parents' choices are examined coldly, so it can feel bleak rather than comforting.
Why read it
It turns an ordinary evening into a sharp look at trust and proximity, giving you a tense, socially observant crime story that moves quickly.
A page from the book
The moment a quiet house becomes the wrong kind of quiet.
Anne feels her scream inside her own head and reverberating off the walls-her scream is everywhere. Then she falls silent and stands in front of the empty crib, rigid, her hand to her mouth. Marco fumbles with the light switch. They both stare at the empty crib where their baby should be. It is impossible that she not be there. There is no way Cora could have gotten out of the crib by herself. She is barely six months old. Shari Lapena.Canadian author Shari Lapena was a lawyer and high-school English teacher before turning to fiction; The Couple Next Door was her first thriller after two comic novels.
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Questions readers ask
- Is The Couple Next Door for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy domestic crime told through a marriage's cracks and small social pressures. Be aware that the dread stays heavy and the parents' choices are examined coldly, so it can feel bleak rather than comforting.
- What is The Couple Next Door like?
- A tight domestic suspense that keeps a low hum of dread under ordinary dinner-party talk, with cool, uneasy prose. Feels like dread, unease and serenity. About society.
- What should I read after The Couple Next Door?
- If you liked The Couple Next Door, try The Tenant (Freida McFadden), Sometimes I Lie (Alice Feeney) and The Turn of the Key (Ruth Ware).
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