Couple Next Door (Lapena)

The Couple Next Door
Shari Lapena, 2016
Penguin Publishing
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780735221086


Summary
It all started at a dinner party. . .

A domestic suspense debut about a young couple and their apparently friendly neighbors—a twisty, rollercoaster ride of lies, betrayal, and the secrets between husbands and wives. . .

Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all—a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora.

But one night when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately focuses on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story.

Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. Both Anne and Marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they've kept for years.

What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family—a chilling tale of deception, duplicity, and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
Before turning to writing fiction, Shari Lapena worked as a lawyer and as an English teacher. She has written two award-winning literary comedies: Things Go Flying (2008) and Economic Happiness (2011). Tired of comedy, she decided to try her hand at writing a thriller, and in 2016 she published The Couple Next Door. The book became an immediate bestseller. Lapena lives in Toronto, Canada. (Adapted from the publisher.)

Book Reviews
The tale of a child stolen from its cot is full of suspense but promises more than it delivers.... [T]he set-up is fantastic – it’s just when Lapena has to deliver on the answers that the novel starts to slip. Without giving anything away, the big reveal feels like a bit of a letdown. Although I continued at a breakneck pace to the end, keen to see if Lapena would recover the tension she’d built up so well, it never quite recovered.
Alison Flood - Guardian (UK)


The twists come as fast [as] you can turn the pages.
People


[S]uspenseful, heart-wrenching.... Could the couple be covering up a kidnapping? Rasbach and Jennings suspect that they’re withholding something.... After numerous twists and turns, just when everything appears to be resolved, Lapena delivers one final, deftly crafted surprise.
Publishers Weekly


Brisk prose style and character development are almost beside the point in Lapena’s suspense-fiction debut; this is a plot-driven page-turner, and even the most character-focused readers will find it hard to put down.
Booklist


[A] paint-by-numbers police investigation, led by the personality-free Detective Rasbach, who seems to cycle through potential theories...the same way Lapena must have in her early plotting stages, except it all ended up on the page. When it's clear, or at least partially clear, what happened...any remaining tension hisses out like a pricked balloon.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
1. Imagine yourself in Anne’s position—would you have left your infant at home while going next door for dinner? Do you believe Anne is a good mother? How do you define that?

2. Why does Anne stay with Marco, even after everything she’s learned? Would you? Is it possible to build trust again after that type of betrayal?

3. Marco and Richard hate each other. How would each describe the other? Thinking about the way the story ends, how accurate are their opinions?

4. Rasbach says "It’s much easier to make money if you don’t care who you hurt. If you have scruples, it’s much harder to get rich" (p.284). Do you agree?

5. The press hound Anne and Marco, camping outside their door and assaulting them with questions. Do you think these kinds of media circuses are justified in the name of "news"?

6. At one point, Anne thinks that she killed her own child. Why? Do you believe she’s capable of that?

7. What was your reaction to the last line of the novel? What did Anne do? What will happen next for Anne and Marco?

8. What is the title of the novel meant to suggest?
(Questions issued by the publishers.)

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