Review by asourceoffiction - The Couple Next Door

asourceoffiction 's review for:

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

2.0

dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This was not the thriller for me. There were some moments to like, and one twist I actually didn't see coming. But it was quite heavily predictable in a lot of places, and ultimately I couldn't empathise with any of the characters. When there's a baby at the heart of the story, it's a bit of a fundamental issue when there's no one involved who you think actually deserves to take care of them.

The writing was ok, but I did struggle with repetition in a number of places. For example in one sentence something was unbearable, then in the next they couldn't bear it. Felt like we needed some heavy editing. And I absolutely could not get on with the superficial view of women's bodies. Anne sees herself as fat, and the fat shaming is rife. When in reality it seems like she's a pretty average size and probably quite attractive, but it seems having a baby is the same as "letting yourself go"... There's even a nod to ageing making us less attractive right at the end 🤦🏼‍♀️ And while the book doesn't go as far as to trivialise mental illness, Marco does talk about waiting to "get his wife back" while she deals with her post-natal depression.

I was interested to see how things would end and was desperate to know what had happened to Cora. But this stretched the realm of believability too many times for me. And I assume the conclusion is supposed to leave us on a tantalising unknown, but as with the whole book, by then I just felt bad for the baby. At least we (eventually) justified the title, but ultimately my issues outweighed my enjoyment of the story.

Content Warnings