Review by therestlessrook - The Couple Next Door

therestlessrook 's review for:

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

4.25

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This is absolutely a page-turner - so much so I read this all in one day (in my defence, I was on holiday!). I cannot emphasise how unlikeable the cast of characters are and I was often so frustrated with certain choices characters made, but that's exactly what drove me forward because I had to know the reveal! Though the the steady narrative from the detective is a good constant throughout to counter the constant twists and turns of the other characters.
My only negatives are that I think there was one reveal that was too early and would have made later scenes more impactful if the reader found out afterwards in order to keep us guessing, and I think the end reveal was perhaps a touch too contrived, but that's just my personal opinion and speaks nothing to the very apparent storytelling skill of the author.
I really enjoyed how choppy the sentence structure was at times as I felt it really kept the pace at a high tension all through out, making it hard to put the book down. An all around great thriller, I definitely recommend for an easy, fun but dark read!

Content Warnings