Review: The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena is a domestic thriller. Anne and Marco Conti decide to go ahead with their dinner plans at the next door neighbor's house even though the babysitter has canceled. They leave the baby at home in her crib and take the monitor with them. They check up on the baby every half hour. And yet, when they go home, the front door is ajar. The crib is empty. Where has little Cora gone? This starts the thriller off.

"What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family—a chilling tale of  deception, duplicity, and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist."(Goodreads.com)

There are lots of twists. Some of them you can predict. Others you can't. I didn't totally expect the ending. 

The use of the third person point of view to tell the story made me feel distanced some from the characters. And I found that I lacked much sympathy for them other than that I was sorry that their baby had disappeared. I wondered if the author deliberately created the distance I felt for the characters as a way for the readers to experience some of the dissociation that Anne Conti felt.

Still, the book drew me on. I wanted to know what happened next. And I found myself reading quickly to find out. The pace of the book was slow in a few spots, but overall moved at a good rate. 

The book was good, but it put me off that I felt little for the characters. I gave it 3 stars out of 5.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.