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kjohnstone12's review against another edition
2.0
I felt the plot was predictable, having guessed within the first few chapters. This made the police officer characters feel clumsy. The ending felt a little contrived as a "and they lived happily ever after" moment, which was a bit of overkill.
dharma130's review against another edition
3.0
Well, my friend raved about this book so I bought it. It started out slow, picked up about Page 240-ish, then I really wanted to know what happened. I felt some things were so obvious and predictable, but I did enjoy the end, which was a little unexpected. It was not as suspenseful and thrilling as I'd hoped it would be. I'd give it 3.5 stars.
obsessivebooklover's review against another edition
5.0
The Perfect Couple follows freelance journalist Gemma and the police investigation after the disappearance of her husband, Danny, who just happens to share a striking resemblance with multiple victims of a serial killer who is on the loose in Bristol, England.
This month I have been in a reading slump. I haven't been able to finish a single book, even some of my favourites which I have been rereading. Having never heard of this book before, I decided to have a go at it and I am so glad that I did. I easily finished this book within 12 hours. The pacing, dialogue, police representation as well as sick, twisted characters that are essentially psychopathic made this book the perfect blend of domestic and crime thriller.
The whole story is full of twists and turns which maintain the pace throughout, building up to an ending which some may find predictable but was enjoyable for me nonetheless. This was the first book I have read by Jackie Kabler and I will definitely be reading more of her stories in the future.
This month I have been in a reading slump. I haven't been able to finish a single book, even some of my favourites which I have been rereading. Having never heard of this book before, I decided to have a go at it and I am so glad that I did. I easily finished this book within 12 hours. The pacing, dialogue, police representation as well as sick, twisted characters that are essentially psychopathic made this book the perfect blend of domestic and crime thriller.
The whole story is full of twists and turns which maintain the pace throughout, building up to an ending which some may find predictable but was enjoyable for me nonetheless. This was the first book I have read by Jackie Kabler and I will definitely be reading more of her stories in the future.
pelobookworm's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.0
nianarra's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
caitlucyrose's review against another edition
1.0
Not worth the read. Gemma’s treated so awfully vs how men are treated by police. So slow to get going and while I enjoyed the couple of twists and how things sped up towards the end it was just not enough to redeem it.
whamydid's review against another edition
4.0
I’ve been reading a lot of thrillers lately and 2020 is shaping up to be a good year for them.
The book follows Gemma and also the investigation into two murders in Bristol. When Gemma arrives home to find her partner Danny gone, she winds up reporting him missing - and is shocked to find the victims of the murders that have taken place all look like Danny.
With the police on the hunt for a serial killer, they aren’t convinced by Gemma’s story. She’s the only one who’s seen Danny in weeks and there is barely any trace of him in her apartment.
This book was really well paced. I thought the tempo was just right and the characters were well developed. I also enjoyed the twist and the ending was satisfying. I flew through this in one sitting. Definitely one to add to your 2020 to be read list.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Impulse for the ARC 9; this book.
The book follows Gemma and also the investigation into two murders in Bristol. When Gemma arrives home to find her partner Danny gone, she winds up reporting him missing - and is shocked to find the victims of the murders that have taken place all look like Danny.
With the police on the hunt for a serial killer, they aren’t convinced by Gemma’s story. She’s the only one who’s seen Danny in weeks and there is barely any trace of him in her apartment.
This book was really well paced. I thought the tempo was just right and the characters were well developed. I also enjoyed the twist and the ending was satisfying. I flew through this in one sitting. Definitely one to add to your 2020 to be read list.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Impulse for the ARC 9; this book.
mrsruthiewebb's review against another edition
3.0
A punchy story that kept you guessing throughout. I didn’t warm to the main character and almost wanted it to hurry up but I stuck with it because I found I was deeply invested in finding out what happened to Danny.
Not 100% happy with the resolution but I didn’t guess it so that’s a bonus!
Not 100% happy with the resolution but I didn’t guess it so that’s a bonus!
sarahgsreads's review against another edition
1.0
This was highly popular and I had high hopes but the plot was dull and the last bit of the book was even worse than the never ending inner dialogue of the first 75% of the book. Womp
miss_bct's review against another edition
2.0
I wanted to enjoy this book based on the blurb and because it was lauded so highly but ugh, there is very little to really enjoy about the book once you get to the end.
Firstly the narrative is so laboured and full to the brim of over zealous descriptions. I’m all for creating fleshed out characters but it was so clunky in places. I didn’t give a shiny shit that the inspector had backache, or that she ran, or that her wife was passive aggressive about food. I’m so over the trope of female characters always being slim, or slender, or slight, or alluring. Every character was given an in-depth description of their looks, why?
Secondly the plot was okay in theory but horribly obvious. I can’t explain how it was obvious but about 1/3 through the book I knew who the serial killer was and felt the twist was about as subtle as a bull in a china shop. At no point was there any kind of tangible suspect, and the time wasted painting the protagonist as the killer was just pointless. Building suspense is an art, but to have zero suspects beyond the clearly innocent protagonist meant it wasn’t a massive reach to figure it out by midway point.
The dialogue was just bland and felt so forced. Irish character? Let him say feck a lot. Yawn. The way Gemma and her friend Eva spoke to each other read as if a 15 year old boy was asked to come up with conversation between two mid 30s women. I’m mid 30s and I never talk like that. I couldn’t identify with the protagonist, hell, any of the characters. The police officers talk in such weird vernacular I pretty much glossed over those parts.
I skim read the last quarter - once Gem had met up with Quinn, I’d given up. I just wanted to know that my theory was correct. Serial killer siphons blood via a needle and collects it to splatter later? Sure. To believe this book is anything other than a half baked plot means you need to suspend your belief in nearly everything.
I’ve given it two stars - one for the actually not entirely terrible premise (even if it was executed poorly) and the fact they had diversity in characters - gay and lesbian characters, although the amount it was mentioned ended up feeling like a tick box exercise to score extra brownie points, which I suppose it did.
If you’re a fan of intellectual, well thought out thrillers, definitely give this one a miss.
Firstly the narrative is so laboured and full to the brim of over zealous descriptions. I’m all for creating fleshed out characters but it was so clunky in places. I didn’t give a shiny shit that the inspector had backache, or that she ran, or that her wife was passive aggressive about food. I’m so over the trope of female characters always being slim, or slender, or slight, or alluring. Every character was given an in-depth description of their looks, why?
Secondly the plot was okay in theory but horribly obvious. I can’t explain how it was obvious but about 1/3 through the book I knew who the serial killer was and felt the twist was about as subtle as a bull in a china shop. At no point was there any kind of tangible suspect, and the time wasted painting the protagonist as the killer was just pointless. Building suspense is an art, but to have zero suspects beyond the clearly innocent protagonist meant it wasn’t a massive reach to figure it out by midway point.
The dialogue was just bland and felt so forced. Irish character? Let him say feck a lot. Yawn. The way Gemma and her friend Eva spoke to each other read as if a 15 year old boy was asked to come up with conversation between two mid 30s women. I’m mid 30s and I never talk like that. I couldn’t identify with the protagonist, hell, any of the characters. The police officers talk in such weird vernacular I pretty much glossed over those parts.
I skim read the last quarter - once Gem had met up with Quinn, I’d given up. I just wanted to know that my theory was correct. Serial killer siphons blood via a needle and collects it to splatter later? Sure. To believe this book is anything other than a half baked plot means you need to suspend your belief in nearly everything.
I’ve given it two stars - one for the actually not entirely terrible premise (even if it was executed poorly) and the fact they had diversity in characters - gay and lesbian characters, although the amount it was mentioned ended up feeling like a tick box exercise to score extra brownie points, which I suppose it did.
If you’re a fan of intellectual, well thought out thrillers, definitely give this one a miss.