“Everyone is faking it, pretending to be something they’re not. The whole world is built on lies and deceit.”
A definite page turner, I read this book in a flash, probably as quickly as it took for Marco and Anne Conti’s lives to change forever.
Are you ever really able to truly know a person? No matter how close you get to someone, even if you marry them, will you ever really know all about them? All of their secrets? And for that matter, how safe are we with our neighbours? What could they do if given the opportunity?
Marco and Anne have it all: a beautiful house in New York state, a new baby girl who is the apple of their eye, a good marriage and no secrets. But how good is their marriage really? Could a flirtation, a stolen kiss, send it all crumbling down?
Cynthia and Graham also have it all. They live next door to Marco and Anne in a matching house, stamped by their child-free lifestyle. They have secrets from each other and from society but does it make them better people? Cynthia thinks so, and she has grown to despise Anne for holding Marco back with a baby and her post-pregnancy state of mind.
What really sets The Couple Next Door apart is that you don’t know which event will prove to be the most damaging to the careful little world we all create for ourselves. Is the story about Marco and Anne? Or is it about Cynthia and Graham? Bombshell after bombshell, I couldn’t tell which would be the card that made the house fall down. With every good ingredient for a riveting thriller in place, Lapena has written a book that will keep you turning pages long into the night, and probably creep you out a little bit as well!
This one is a quick read, great for the beach (if you’re lucky enough to be wintering overseas), but equally as good for curling up on the couch while we weather this weather! (see what I did there?)