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 unravelling of a family, a chilling tale of deception, duplicity, and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist.

"Real men read women writers - because of books like this. Trust me." - Lee Child [fantasticfiction.com]
THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR by SHARI LAPENA (2016) | ISBN: 9780552173148 (UK PB) | Publisher: Corgi
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Picked up at an Edinburgh BookSwap - BookCrossing MeetUp, in September, though the book had a bookplate waiting inside it it had not been registered with BookCrossing - now it is! All labelled up and ready to travel.

ADDED - FRI 24 AUG 2018: Twisty turn-about plot with a pace that ratcheted up to sheer screaming tension as vile betrayals, gross deceits and callous indifference revealed some friends and family as monsters. Whistled through this rather as not quite in the mood for it when I looked at it in September 2017, but for sure it’s skilfully put together! Have a postal plan for it as I have recently discovered it on someone’s wishlist.

OK forgot to add these notes at the time I read this. I can recall I posted it in a frightful rush. Just heard from the book via journal alerts and wanted to update my notes as they are part of my reading log, and better added later than never.

Thank you soo much for this WishList book, which was the companion to my book for the Classics Sweepstakes.
Looking forward to reading it, you have put together a great parcel! :)

Currently reading it... this promises to be a real page-turner!

I have really enjoyed reading this one; thank you, rainbow3!
A very intriguing premise, I just could not put it down, as it is a real page-turner...
A plot full of twists and turns; though halfway through it I started to guess what had really happened.
I will certainly look for more novels by this writer; by the way, she is Canadian, and this novel will soon be on its way to the winner of the Canadian Sweeps (I didn't know this when I started reading it!)

Sent to the winner of the Canadian Sweeps; I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I did! :)

Thank you for the book! Never heard of this author before (but then, there are many more who I haven't heard of...) and would love to give it a try.

Thanks a lot for this wishlist book, I can't wait to read it! :)

This is totally my kind of books, I found it well written and with a lot of twists and turns.
I don't put a 10 because I have suspected for a long part of the book who was the culprit, but the suspense remained till the end anyway.

Sent to the winner or decoy of the "Tea and mystery sweepstakes".

I hope you will like the book as much as I did, and enjoy the teas! :)

Whoo, thank you for this book! Looks like this one might be the perfect read for me: I love plot twists and unexpected reveals, and I love guessing at everyone's motives and whereabouts at the time of the crime.

Well. The plot of this book is tailored to give those readers anxiety who are the parents of young children. I personally found every single character unlikeable, and the bad writing style that also included a lot of redundancy and repetition caused me serious boredom at times, especially during the first part of the book. I also have a problem with the wrong and negative portrayal of both people with sexual kinks as well as people with mental illness. There were also a couple of instances of casual racism. So no, I did not like this book. My spouse said he suspected as much when he picked it up from the coffee table once to have a look at the blurb and noted that the British newspaper quoted saying something positive about it was the Daily Mail. (And to top it off, they say that it's "utterly realistic".) I did finish it though and wasn't surprised that the ends all tied up rather too neatly, plus we get a very boring (and, to me, unmoving) bonus shocker at the very end. I for one shall not read this author again.

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