The Couple Next Door

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Published by Pamela Dorman Books

On Sale Starting August 23 2016

Rating: ★★

I've read this book before.

Well, ok, not this book, but I've read many of its fraternal twins, and the gene pool is starting to feel a bit shallow to me.

The Couple Next Door has an interesting hook: a six month old baby disappears from her crib while her parents are next door at a dinner party. It reminded me of the Madeline McCann case, and I was interested to see how the plot would develop. However, reading this book was at times like playing thriller bingo. The couple that seems perfect from the outside but is hiding deep, dark secrets? Check. A hyper-emotional, weak-willed woman who struggles with basic life skills and is increasingly made to feel unattractive and irrelevant by her seemingly loving husband? Yep. A cast of unlikable characters and a local police force that can't solve its way out of a wet paper bag? You bet.

But this book has problems beyond being derivative. The story starts strong, but deteriorates as it progresses. The writing is lackluster. Marco is a uniquely unsympathetic character, and I was so disappointed at the author's decision to portray him as a victim. What had the potential to be a compelling plot dissolves into a macho pissing match between Marco and his father-in-law. Poor, missing baby Cora gets lost in the fray. While this book certainly isn't horrible, it's impossible for me to recommend when there are so many other, similar thrillers that are executed better.