The Couple Next Door: A Novel

How I never read this sooner is something I will never reconcile with myself! Great characters and storyline. Kept me reading straight once I started. This is my kind of book. Highly recommend.

Is it true that you never quite know what's going on behind closed doors?For Anne and Marco Conti, the fact that they do their best to put their best foot forward is not as obvious as one would think. They've always appeared so perfect to outsiders : a seemingly flawless couple; beautiful and wealthy, successful in business and in family. No one would ever suspect the trouble that lay behind the doors of their expensive brownstone. On the inside of the Conti home, a different story is playing out altogether. There are cracks in the porcelain; there are irreparable runs in the fabric that has been meticulously woven together to complete the Conti household.Since giving birth to their baby girl, Anne has struggled with her identity. She's struggled with postpartum depression. She's struggled with her weight and feeling desirable to her husband. It certainly doesn't help that next door lives a neighbor who is not only dripping with seductive curves and a general air of sex, but that the woman makes constant eyes at Anne's husband. After years working with affluent collectors and purveyors of fine art, Anne is now bombarded with the constant needs of her new child; the years of having endless hours to spend perfecting her hair and makeup or carefully honing her body with a personal trainer are over, the time now spent cleaning spit-up off of her dirty and oversized t-shirt or thrusting a nipple attached to an engorged breast into her screaming infant's mouth. Cora isn't an easy baby, in fact she's the opposite of the sweet and cuddly angelic little figure Anne had in her mind during her pregnancy. She'd dreamed of days curled up in bed with her baby laying peacefully beside her, of afternoons spent pushing silky curls back from her daughter's face as she gurgled happily. But the reality is that Cora does nothing but cry, and Anne feels like a veritable failure as a result.So when a night away presents itself, Anne is intrigued. Marco insists they go next door to get away, to have a little time with other adults and have a few drinks. Anne is at first thrilled to disengage herself from the thickly formed vines of motherhood and spend a few hours in shoes that she used to walk in, to perhaps regain a bit of her old self. But when the babysitter cancels at the last minute and they cannot find another, Anne retreats into herself, becoming anxious to leave their daughter and questioning a night out. Why would she want to go next door, anyway? Seeing her neighbor Cynthia is only going to make her feel more self-conscious about her appearance; it will only solidify the festering feelings of unease in her own skin, will only remind her of the excess weight hugging her middle like a too tight hug. Anne doesn't want to leave Cora. Something in her gut is telling her no. She's uncomfortable with Marco's suggestion : that they take the baby upstairs, lay her down for bed, and spirit themselves next door as quietly as they can, the baby monitor in tow. He promises her that they will check on baby Cora every half an hour, and since they are next door after all, what could possibly happen?What happens is the unthinkable. When the couple returns home after midnight - only thirty minutes since the last check on their sleeping child - the door to their posh New York City brownstone in the well-maintained and quietly wealthy neighborhood stands ajar. Rushing upstairs, Anne and Marco find their baby girl missing, the crib standing vacant with the ugly truth.Cora is gone. Vanished, without a trace. The detective on the scene is seasoned and cautious. Detective Rasbach can tell right off the bat that something isn't quite adding up here. The emotional distance between the couple is palpable. The stressed relationship with Anne's parents is full of tension so thick it could be cut with a butcher knife. As the weeks go by, the detective will begin to peel back the many layers of the Conti family, laying bare their insecurities and their deepest secrets and forcing them to look at each other in ways they'd never imagined. Anne will discover the things her husband is keeping to himself, and Marco will unearth shocking discoveries about a wife he thought he knew. . . . but . . . where is the baby? Where is Cora? The Couple Next Door, the newest book by Shari Lapena, is full of twists and turns that will leave the reader dizzy and frenzied. As the plot unfolds from page to page, suspense and suspicion will mount and attack upon the senses, all leading up to the unexpected reveal. 4 out of 5 stars is given to this thrilling novel, and I recommend it to readers who enjoy fast-paced plots the like of Gillian Flynn and Megan Miranda. This quick read will leave you breathless and keep you guessing; the pivoting of the storyline coming as fast as you can turn the page.

The story, told from many viewpoints by unreliable narrators, keeps evolving in twists and turns, none of them surprising, logically following by clues set up earlier, yet kept interesting by mostly impeccable pacing.So, why only three stars?Because a turn of events towards the end leads to a big let-down and an ending that, while foreshadowed, is nevertheless deeply unsatisfying. My feeling, when I put that book down is one of disappointment.

This was a good read. Sometimes a bit slow and a lot of talking about the scene, but then it picked up.I may go on to the next one.

This book is good. Great storyline, reveals and twists. I enjoyed this one immensely. The characters, though, I completely loathed. All of them were horrible. But I think that was Mrs. Lapena's intent, LOL!4 out of 5 stars! I can't wait to read more from her book catalog.

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena is a suspenseful thriller about a nightmare of every parent, a child goes missing. We are familiar with the disappearance of children from Malls while shopping with parents. Warned by example, we take precautions. But how much more careful could Anne and Marco be? They wanted to go to a party that was located next door. The houses were not even detached, they shared a wall and were furnished so that they were mirror images of each other. The shared wall wasn’t even that thick. Anne and Marco nevertheless hired a babysitter to go next door to the party. Baby Cora was prone to crying and was pointedly not invited by Cynthia, the wife of Graham, the sometimes too friendly neighbor's next door. Cynthia was very friendly with Marco, didn’t like children and was tolerant, but dismissive of Anne.The babysitter canceled at the last minute but Plan B was available. There was a baby monitor that could be checked from Cynthia and Graham’s house. Anne and Marco agreed that they would switch off, each checking on Cora every thirty minutes. That plan worked out up until the time for last call and time to go home. One of the thirty-minute checks did not happen. Anne and Marco went home to find an open door and a missing baby, Cora.The police are called and the reader is introduced to Detective Rasbach who does the right police thing. He suspects everybody except for the baby. Before too many pages are turned, the reader will emulate Detective Rasbach. A car was seen exiting a lane running behind the homes that accessed resident garages. There will be a ransom demand which the police would never agree to pay. Marco thinks he can handle the ransom exchange without police involvement. He and Anne don’t have the funds, but Anne’s parents do. Marco is sure they will come through. Five million is nothing for them.We are halfway through the novel and we find out that Marco has had money problems with his business. We are not totally surprised that one of the parents, in this case, Marco, is involved. Detective Rasbach would say “I told you so.” But Anne has also had psychological problems when she was young that required therapy. She has problems now with postpartum depression. It may seem to the reader that Anne is trying to talk her way into accepting responsibility for Cora’s disappearance. Rasbach takes another look at both parents.We find out that there was a kidnapping. The act was not done by Anne or Marco. The man who kidnapped Cora is found murdered. Cora continues to be missing. There are no more suspects to be added to the investigation. Anne, Marco, Cynthia, Graham and Anne’s parents are investigated again. More of their faults and frailties are exposed as the novel moves to a surprising ending. It is not that the reader can’t guess who the ultimate culprit is, the question is the motive for the kidnapping.But in the end, it is not about the kidnapping.If the writer continues to write with this quality of storytelling, I will continue to buy her novels.