Title: Just the Nicest Couple
Author: Mary Kubica
Publication: January 10, 2023
Publisher: Park Row
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 320
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
Two couples, two close friends, one missing husband…
Jake Hayes is missing. This much is certain. At first, his wife, Nina, thinks he is blowing off steam at a friend’s house after their heated fight the night before. But then a day goes by. Two days. Five. And Jake is still nowhere to be found.
Lily Scott, Nina’s friend and coworker, thinks she may have been the last to see Jake before he went missing. After Lily confesses everything to her husband, Christian, the two decide that nobody can find out what happened leading up to Jake’s disappearance, especially not Nina. But Nina is out there looking for her husband, and she won’t stop until the truth is discovered.
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
I want to start out by admitting that I love, love, love Mary Kubica’s book Local Woman Missing. It currently sits in my top five favorite books ever. So, full disclosure, I came into this expecting to love this book. Mary Kubica… did not disappoint.
Right off the book is so exhilarating. Action from moment one. It’s that glimpse at the beginning of a movie before the story jumps back to show you how you got there. I love the suburban setting we usually find ourselves in when you read Kubica novels. They typically are in a setting where it could be your real life neighbor, which makes them all more suspenseful. What if this was my neighbors? Creepy! While normally I would not love the jumping around of characters, I actually found I really liked seeing this from the different perspectives, just like I did in Local Woman Missing. It’s interesting how people look at the same situation differently and how they react. We read from Nina, Lily and Christian’s perspectives throughout most of the book, and I really enjoyed Christian. I enjoyed all of them, but Christian may be my favorite. His brain went right to problem solving and I related to him the most.
Just like in Local Woman Missing, Kubica had me thinking I knew the outcome of this until I realized I did not. And the funny thing is, I expected that. Each time I thought I had it solved, I second guessed myself because I knew Kubica was going to throw a wrench in my outcome. She came through! Yet another shocking ending and a great suspense thriller all the way to the very end. I know this book is just coming out, but I cannot wait for the next one. An absolute must-read and in my top books of 2023… and we are only 8 days in!
