Cis H. (californiadreamin) reviewed on 5/11/2022 + 279 more book reviews

After I read The Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena, I vowed to never read another of her books. Oh, such juvenile writing style. I'm sure the essays and stories I read in high school were better developed. But a friend gave me her copy of The Couple Next Door and gushed over how much she enjoyed reading it. I could have just declined the book, stating my aversion to wasting time on mediocre writing but I didn't want to insult her opinion. And I knew she'd want to discuss the book so I had to read it.

I trudged through the first 7-8 chapters, just shaking my head at the absolute stupidity of Anne and Marco, parents of Cora who is only 6 months old. The parents are invited to dinner party next door and when their babysitter cancels due to death in family, they argue about not going to party but Marco insists Cora will be ok at home as long as they take turns checking on her every half hour. And they take the baby monitor to listen in. When they get home at 12:30a, the front door is ajar a few inches (to build suspense) and Cora is missing. No spoilers here but a few red flags. This couple is rich (Anne's mother's money) so why do they use a baby monitor with a broken video screen? And Marco has been using back door to access house but front door is open. Did Anne leave it open? She can't remember.

Story twists and turns, lots of suspects and police questioning. Overall, I was somewhat surprised by the motive of the kidnapping even though I suspected the culprit. No more Lapena books for me!

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