Aimee Was Reading: The Couple Next Door (Shari Lapena)

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Published by Bantam Press in 2016

Pages: 344

Genre/s: Crime, Mystery

Buy on: Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes and Noble

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'Your neighbour told you that she didn't

want your six month old daughter at the

dinner party. Nothing personal, she just

couldn't stand her crying.

 

Your husband said it would be fine. After all,

you only live next door. You'll have the baby

monitor and you'll take it in turns to go back

every half an hour.

 

Your daughter was sleeping when you checked

on her last. But now, as you race up the stairs,

in your deathly quiet house, your worst fears are

realized. She's gone.

 

You've never had to call the police before. But now

they're in your home, and who knows what they'll

find there...'

 

The Couple Next Door tells the story of Anne and Marco Conti, whose worst fears happen when their baby daughter, Cora, goes missing. You'd think nothing could be worse than your child disappearing, but, when it happens whilst you're at a dinner party with your neighbours, it makes you question your morals as a parent. Through the character of Anne, a new mother suffering from post-natal depression, Lapena explores the anxieties stemming from the situation and cleverly takes us through the journey of Cora's disappearance.

 

I have to say- this is one of the best thriller themed books I've come across. Lapena brings an exciting narrative filled with multiple revelations, which left me desperately turning pages to find out what would happen next. Most importantly, I enjoyed the revelation of what happened to Cora, as it wasn't what I'd predicted.

 

The third person narration allows the reader to get into the psyche of the protagonists, particularly the couple who have lost their baby. Anne is quite troubled and Marco has his flaws. I think the third person narration allowed me to find out domestic secrets between the couple, as though I knew something one of them didn't- which you know means a juicy revelation is on the cards!

 

Whilst I read this novel incredibly fast, and did enjoy it overall, there were a few minor things that irritated me at times. The first and most major one being how the novel ends. I don't want to give any spoilers in my reviews, but the final event really disappointed me and made me feel like the progress made within the narrative was a bit of a waste.

 

Secondly, I felt like Lapena repeated things too much, and they were often things that are obvious to a reader. For example, I knew from the introduction of Cynthia that she's somewhat of a seductive and alluring female who knows she is attractive. I don't think this needed to be mentioned practically every time Cynthia was mentioned. Also, there were a lot of sections telling the reader how much Anne was crying or losing sleep during the investigation, which would be inevitable given the situation she's in. These aren't major issues, just things that I don't think added anything to the narrative.

In addition to this, the setting didn't seem obvious to me initially. I was imagining the characters living in a nice block of apartments in a fancy English town. It wasn't until the mention of New York that I realised this wasn't the case. Again, not a major thing that ruined the reading experience, but just something that was a bit off in terms of the writing style.

However, I can confirm that I enjoyed reading this book. I came across it by accident on a trip to W H Smith, and I am excited to read Lapena's other novel soon. I think this was a clever debut novel and really does justice to a quite overwritten genre. Overall, if you like books with twists and flawed characters, I would highly recommend this book!

 

Rating: 4/5