A review of “The Couple Next Door” by Shari Lapena
This novel by Canadian writer Lapena is a domestic suspense drama in the vein of “Gone Girl” and “The Girl On The Train” and indeed some have dubbed it “Gone Baby”. It has been a major best-seller but, in spite of a strong opening and a racy style, it is not as satisfactory as the other two works and sadly becomes weaker as the plotting unfolds.
Anne and Marco Conti are a couple in their early 30s living in upstate New York with seemingly a lot going for them: a six month old daughter Cora, Anne’s rich parents, Marco’s successful business, and friendly next door neighbours. But one night they suffer every parent’s worst nightmare: the abduction of their child.
Inspector Rasback suspects one or both of them and he find evidence to support these suspicions, but what parent would kill or kidnap their own child? Then again, as one character ruminates: “The whole world is built on lies and deceit”.
Written in the present tense, this is a dialogue-heavy tale; when the limited cast of rather wooden characters is not conversing with each other, they are ‘talking’ to themselves. So this is not great writing, but it is gripping enough at first before increasingly going downhill to a weak conclusion and an odd coda.