The Couple Next Door: A Novel

Written by:
Shari Lapena
Narrated by:
Kirsten Potter

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
1042
Narrator
102
Release Date
August 2016
Duration
8 hours 41 minutes
Summary
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Another thrilling domestic suspense novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Not a Happy Family

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

“I read this novel at one sitting, absolutely riveted by the storyline.  The suspense was beautifully rendered and unrelenting!” —Sue Grafton

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 lands 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.
Reviews
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monique c

I would listen to this book in the car and didn't want my drive to end because i wanted to find out what happened next!

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Mauri Pioppo

Poorly written, none of the characters were convincing. I thought the narration was overly dramatic and found her voice grating.

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Heather walker

The story repeated itself over and over. Would not recommend.

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cianna M

Best

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Anonymous

It was good! There were some surprises. The characters weren’t very likable, and that would have improved the story a great deal. I wasn’t exactly invested in the characters, so no tears at the outcome of all those twists. Narrator was not bad.

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Shannon E.

Ugh. What a mess. The story started out entertaining and suspenseful enough, but the conclusion was idiotic. Very over-dramatic and unrealistic. *Spoiler Alert* I hated that at the end you are supposed to be rooting for the husband, who cheated on his insecure and depressed wife who had just had a baby-a baby that he set up to be kidnapped in order to get MORE money from his in-laws that he apparently felt entitled to for some reason. I mean come on. In real life would you really forgive this guy? And the wife SLAPPED her six month old baby. Multiple times. And at the end you are supposed to be happy that the baby was returned to these psychos? Please. What a waste of 8 hrs.

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Michelle W

This was a different story from what I usually read. Great one to keep you hanging on and the narrator was really into it.

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Karyn Benchoff

Good read (listen). It will make you say, "just one more chapter!"

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Anonymous

Good story, not great ending

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Anonymous

I loved the story line!

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Richard K.

I enjoyed the book, the ending is very surprising.

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Kerry H.

I enjoyed it. Got a little slow and ready for it to be over at times but I enjoyed it

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Elena L.

Beyond bad. Read the negative reviews. They will explain every reason why. I can't waste another minute on this travesty of a "thriller." The narrator's voice and shapely enunciated consonants were so grating I nearly quit at the beginning. She improved after a while, but was still overwrought. Not totally her fault, however given the purple prose she was reading. Do not waste your money or credit on this book.

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Chris T.

I just didn’t like ANYONE in this story! And the narrator was quite annoying as she overdid each person’s voice. I was quite disappointed in this book.

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Jacquelyn E.

The ending ????

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Alyce J.

Excellent read!

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Shel G.

The story is written with short choppy sentences that leave you wanting for something else. The story itself has interesting twists but the characters are flat and it makes it hard to connect with them or make them. Listened to the end to find out what happened because I can’t leave a book unfinished but I would not recommend.

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Lauren T.

Pretty predictable. Twists were expected and not that dramatic. Ending was rushed. Kind of like a lifetime drama.

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Morrow L.

Loved this book! It was filled with twists and turns and kept my attention until the very last page!

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Daniel W.

The story and Narrator were excellent! I was eager to continue and finish.

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Molly A.

Very good ending, very good story time. Cynthia needed to go anyways haha!

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Denise M.

A good book. The narrator is awesome. I’m sitting on the edge. I like this one.

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Nicole Jorgensen

Great plot, keeps you guessing!

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Paul M.

Fantastic book great twist

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Julia T.

Very gripping book. so great to listen to.

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Serena B.

I enjoyed the story and the narrator did a great job keeping my interest. However I did find the ending quite predictable and felt as though I had solved the "who dun it" quite early in into the novel.

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Analisha Willard

The book as a whole is pretty good but if you don’t like books with cliffhanger endings and questions that will never be answered this book isn’t for you. Ending ruined the whole thing for me.

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Anonymous

very enjoyable!

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FNU Q.

Enjoyed listening to it. Great book.

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Jenni O.

Book was very predictable. Boo

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Michelle B.

Lots of surprises., unexpected twists throughout the book. Very well written - a book that is hard to put down. I immediately started another book by the same author.

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Danielle P.

Really enjoyed this book.

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Felicia S.

The reader was terrific. My friend bought the rights to this book and is turning it into a limited series.

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Susan R.

Boring. Way too long

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Anonymous

Book was ok. Struggled to finish listening. Harsh language at times. Redundancies. I stopped short of it's completion. Didn't get halfway through it.

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Judy L.

Great book, excellent narration.

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Andrea m

Shari Lapena was on the right track. This book could have been great but she didn't quite pull it off. Just not realistic at all. I was left disappointed. In the 1st couple of chapters the narrator seemed nervous and read way to fast. The sentences seemed jumbled and ran on and on. She did improve as the story continued.

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Martha T

OMG!! I loved this book. Started it on a five hour trip in my car and had to finish it the next day at home!! I didn’t want it to end!!!

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Carman C

really enjoyed this book ... I couldn’t stop listening

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Katie C

*****SPOILERS BELOW**** I almost didn’t read this novel after reading some of the negative reviews. I hate unlikable characters that make incredible stupid decisions and characters that don’t communicate. This is what you’ll get here. A cast of unlikable characters, some are a cliché (Marco) and others will surprise you. Anne is struggling with postpartum depression and her 6 month old baby, Cora, is kidnapped. She feels awful because she and her husband, Marco, decided to leave Cora home alone to go to a party next door. The couple next door has a secret… everyone has a secret. It’s a psychological thriller with a lot of plot lines. There’s so much going on with each of the characters that I found it thoroughly compelling. I really like the writing style and third person omniscient point of view. You got to read what each character was thinking and it made it so much better. It keeps you guessing and even when you think you’ve reached the climax, it throws another surprise at you.

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Kristen N

This book was just ok.. There were too many gaps and holes in the story to make it legitimate. The narrator has a heavy emphasis on her tone and enunciation of many words and is annoying and pedantic at times. A page turner for sure, and acceptable if you want a quick crime drama without having to commit cerebrally

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Krista N

Great listen! Perfect for a road trip! Didn’t care to much for the narrator.

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Maureen C

Book was amazing at every turn something new is happening. Every time I thought I figured it out I was wrong. I loved all the characters and I especially love the narrator. I feel the narrator can make the book I recommend this to anyone who likes drama whore Book was amazing at every turn something new is happening. Every time I thought I figured it out I was wrong. I loved all the characters and I especially love the narrator. I feel the narrator can make the book I recommend this to anyone who likes a good who done it

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Erin F

Although she seems like a good actor, the narrator's tone is a little too smug and reminds me of the narrator from Desperate Housewives. The story so far is interesting, haven't gotten too far yet!

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Karrie P

Great book. I like the twists and turns. Also just the right length to finish during sa road trip

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Karen B

Great read. Read it too quickly. It made me excited to get into my car to listen too.

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Priya S

Great book

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debra K

This is an awsome book. Reader is amazing. Suspenseful.

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Laura G

So good both the narrator in the story !!

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Alex V

hello. Great book

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Leslie H

I liked this book. Very interesting to listen to and made my drives more enjoyable.

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Danielle A

I loved this book. Great mystery with a twist at the end.

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Maureen W

Would make an excellent LMN movie to watch on a lazy rainy Sunday. A good read!!

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Barry B C

The book really accepted my travel time in a nice way. I enjoyed the story and can't help wondering how the author can keep so many details in mind. The narration was fine though, I found I had to adjust the volume in a few places.

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Sherri H

First audio book and I was not disappointed. Narration was very good and I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot. Maybe a little predictable, but i had fun with it, trying to predict what happens and then waiting to see if I am correct!

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Suzanne N

Never a boring moment!

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Amber J

Great book, finished within a couple days. Twist and turns keep you wanting to read more.

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Paige M

Loved this book! Finished it in a little over a day! Highly recommended.

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Scott P

The book did not stray far from the typical production line templatized fiction that is common today. The author added a nice twist at the end however all in all it was not very engaging. Had I not been on a 30 hour road trip I would not have listened to the book.

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craig s

This was an excellent book. I really enjoyed. The narrator was one of my favorites! I highly recommend this book!

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Tracy O

Sadly predictable, drawn out.

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Sonja M

Fun story and excellent reader! Entertaining plot twists but odd, somewhat unsatisfying ending .

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Amanda Bacskai

Loved this book! So many twists and turns I couldn't wait to hear the next chapter! Highly recommend!

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Kenny Canfield

Entertaining!

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maria Andrade

So repetitive and predictable.

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ray burg

I couldn't stop reading this book!

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Cathy Higley

This was a good book, definitely kept me interested. It was somewhat predictable towards the end, but still a good book.

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Cynthia Gulbranson

It is a fast paced mystery and has all the right components for a good read/listen. The narrator was wonderful too!

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Ayela Mujeeb

I was recommended this book because I enjoyed "Girl on the Train". It started off strong but the last third dragged on. The ending was anti climatic and there were some unanswered questions. In particular, the last scene was really silly to me. Phrases were repeated multiple times which started to get really annoying "Anne sat up straighter" and "Anne sat perfectly still" were each repeated at least 7 times. The manner of Anna's sitting received more descriptive language than anything else about Anne. It drove me crazy. It was also difficult to sympathize with the characters. They all came off like spoiled jerks.

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Jenny Folsom

Just an okay book. The authors numerous sub-stories/attempts to provide twists were sub-par and predictable. I didn't like the ending.

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Jodi Sowa

Unfortunately I listened to this book for 1 hr and deleted it. The narration sounds like a really badly acted out school play. The book itself was probably great! However, I just could not get passed how the narrator assigned different annoying , dramatic voices to each character. Better luck I hope with my next choice!

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Alice Powers

The narration was not the best but the storyline kept my interest. There were several twists and turns that I didn't see coming.

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Dominic Chacon

Great book and great narrator, just a little disappointed in the ending

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Brandi Fields

Overall good book, didn't love the ending....

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Hortencia Juarez

Excellent book! I loved it, but now I want a sequel.

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Steffany Cummings

Overall good book. The first third took awhile to get into, the middle third was suspenseful and had me hooked, and the ending (last third) dragged out a little too long.

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Jenna Moore

This was a great listen. I loved the ending it was very unexpected.

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Kraig Vondran

Overall, I enjoyed the book. The twists were good and somewhat surprising. I didn't expect the crazy ending.

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Sharon Spofford

Suspenseful and very entertaining read. I really liked the ending. I will definetely be reading more books by Shari Lapena.

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Bridget Pomaski

The story wasn't bad, but I wouldn't consider it a suspense novel. It was quite predictable. Not bad, narration was pretty decent.

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Donna Burns

A very good read, it kept me on the edge of my seat! I would recommend this book to anyone.

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Donna Burns

This was very good, it kept me on the edge of my seat! Would recommend this book to anyone

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amy sara

What an amazing book. I couldn't stop listening to it. Seriously AMAZING!

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Tara Drouillard

I liked it! I didn't love the narrator at first (I just finished a different audio book where the narrator had a great accent!), but I really got into the book and forgot about it!

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Janet Steinman

The ending sucked. I don't know how else to put it. And the narration was pretty bland.

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susan kliesen

Could not stop listening. It was gripping from the first chapter. Lots of turns that I didn't see coming and an ending out of left field.

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Stephanie Kerwien

Started off with promise but a major let down! Ending was ridiculous.

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Casey Cunningham

Excellent book!!! Keeps you interested and excited the whole time. And makes you sit in your car even if you've reached your destination

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Kayla Sprague

I thought this is a great mystery book, really enjoyed it! Keeps u guessing until the end!

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Jackie Schwartz

Lame... But it was a good book to make me fall asleep fast.

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