The Couple Next Door is the best thriller that I have read in a long time!  It is a parent’s worst nightmare packed with suspense and twists and turns that keep the reader turning the pages long into the night. It is a book that readers will want to have enough time to sit down and read in one day and leaves the reader pondering long after the book is closed.

The story begins when Marcos and Anne Conti attend a dinner party next door.  Their babysitter cancels at the last minute and the couple make the fateful mistake and leaves baby Cora sleeping in her crib so they can join the dinner party.  They bring along the baby monitor and take turns checking on her every half hour.  Too much alcohol is consumed and Anne they return home to find that their beloved daughter is gone!

The panicked couple calls 911, Detective Rasbach arrives and he begins to unwind complicated secrets and lies.  Anne has been dealing with post-partum depression.  Marcos has business problems.  The idyllic family is rocked by the disappearance and suspicion lies with both parents as they race against time to find baby Cora alive.

The plot is complicated and full of suspense which keeps the reader guessing until the very last pages. Lapena has previously worked as a lawyer and an English teacher and has written two award-winning books.  The Couple Next Door is her first thriller and as described in a Globe & Mail article, The Couple Next door has been a “massive success”.

If you are looking for a great novel to end the summer which can be read before the kids are back to school, The Couple Next Door is the book to reach for!  If your book club is looking for a riveting conversation, this is the book to reach for!  As you shop for your back to school purchases at Costco, you will find it in the book section and I encourage  you to add it to your shopping cart.  The Couple Next Door will be the book of the season and I would predict that this will make a fabulous movie reminiscent, but better than Gone Girl!

Thanks to Double Day Canada/Penguin Random House for sharing an advanced reader copy of The Couple Next Door through a Goodreads Giveaway.  It was fantastic to receive this package wrapped with literary paper and I will be watching for an author event to meet this engaging author.