Meet Avery Chambers —former therapist turned consultant (after losing her license five months earlier), the unconventional protagonist of writing dynamic duo Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen's latest must-read psychological thriller, THE GOLDEN COUPLE.

A minor setback was when Avery became a whistleblower calling the FDA concerning a pharmaceutical company's misdeeds. She is still in the game and the most sought-after therapist in the DC area.

Ten Sessions with Avery Chambers
Therapist | Consultant

The Confession
Disruption
Escalation
Revelation
Devastation
Confrontation
Exposure
The Test
Reconciliation
Promises

Clients: Marissa & Matthew Bishop
THE GOLDEN COUPLE

Avery is unlike any other marriage therapist. She is more like a whip-smart detective and intelligent sleuth. She makes it her business to KNOW everything about her clients and one step ahead of them. A widow, forty-one years old, with dog Romeo, is quite unconventional in her practices.

The Bishops begin therapy, and being the intuitive one, Avery sees upfront there is more than meets the eye with this couple.

Matthew is a DC law firm partner spending more evenings at business events than with his wife. Marissa feels lost in a constant swirl of activities, including running her boutique, Coco, cooking nutritious meals for her family, staying trim and fit, and serving on the auction committee at Bennett's (eight-year-old son) private school.

We soon learn as readers NOTHING is as it appears. Matthew is hiding something, as well as Marissa. Avery is determined to uncover their lies and deceit. However, there is much more behind the facade of this "golden couple," which is not so pretty.

Perfection is deceiving!

Told from alternating POV Avery and Marissa, we slowly learn this couple did not find Avery accidentally. Some complex moving parts intertwine with Avery's background and are more sinister than you can imagine. Avery also has her own secrets.

No one does cat-and-mouse psycho-therapy better than this duo! Enthralling and propulsive, you will be on the edge of your seat to see what happens next!

I LOVE AVERY! Hands down, the BEST therapist character ever. I enjoyed how she does not follow the rules. Plus the maverick is about to get even more popular after this case. I have a fondness for the name Avery (my fifteen-year-old granddaughter) who also has spunk.

If you loved their previous books, You Are Not Alone, An Anonymous Girl, and The Wife Between Us, you will be assured to devour THE GOLDEN COUPLE.

I have been a fan of Sarah Pekkanen for many years and the duo— having read all their books. I would not miss one of them. I love how the creative storylines came together brilliantly!

Unpredictable, gripping, humorous, and action-packed!

The audiobook narrated by Karissa Vacker & Marin Ireland was superb and highly entertaining!

A special thank you to #StMartinsPress #MacmillanAudio and #NetGalley for an advanced e-book and audio copy.

Blog Review Posted:
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Pub Date: March 8, 2022
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I enjoyed this one. It’s been a while since a domestic suspense story gripped me at all and I listened to this one in less than a day.
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The book at first seems to be the story of a therapist who has less than typical treatment methods. As enticing and fun as that set up is, it quickly becomes a tightly woven web of characters deceiving each other in multiple ways and for all the reasons.
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Everyone seems suspicious. Everyone has a secret, or several, and none of the narrators or characters feel trustworthy.
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This book comes out March 8th and is a perfect book for the beach, for vacation, for anytime you wish you were somewhere else watching someone else have worse problems than your own.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ecopy ARC in exchange for an honest opinion. I made it through most of this book thinking it was almost as good as the authors' first book, The Wife Between Us, but the ending fell flat for me. It was a fast paced story with twists and turns that was just an ok read for me.

It speaks to how I haven't loved loved many books this year, but this I think is my favourite read of 2021 so far. A delicious delightful psychological thriller--I thought I was sick of them, but apparently not! Twisty and turny and I felt like I could solve the mysteries and paused to think about what could be happening. Super fascinating and beautifully crafted.

3.5 stars rounded up. Marissa contacts a therapist to help her work on her marriage with Matthew. She contacts Avery, a therapist who has lost her license, but claims to help couples in 10 sessions. In the first session, Marissa admits to being unfaithful. The first few chapters drew me in, but then the book lost momentum and seemed a bit boring until the last 15-20%. I’m sad because I’ve loved all the other books by these authors; and this is now my least favorite book from them. 3 stars for the majority of the book, but I added another half star for the ending. The ending wrapped things up well.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Reading this story was like being in a house of mirrors. Nothing is as it seems. There are many twists and turns and questions.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a fun read, full of twists, turns, and red herrings. It totally kept me guessing. The characters are all flawed in their own way but likeable at the same time. I'd say this was a satisfying book to read and a strong 3.5

Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen are my favorite domestic thriller duo, and “The Golden Couple” is knocks it out of the park. Suspense, family drama, twists and turns… I loved this book!

Review

Wow. I could not put this one down. This twisty tale takes so many loops and spins. No one is what they seem. The Golden Couple, Matthew and Marissa, seek out Avery’s help with their marriage. Avery is a former therapist turned consultant after losing her license. She has a wildly unconventional approach to helping people that I absolutely love. She is unorthodox in her treatment approaches and is not afraid to do the right thing. She is witty and sharp. I absolutely loved her.
This is not your typical mystery. I highly recommend reading this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for a digital ARC.

The Golden Couple is the latest story by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. The authors tell the story by going back and forth between the point of view of Avery ( a therapist ) and Marissa (the client). Avery has lost her license but is able to still do sessions in her own unique way. Avery feels she can solve most problems in ten sessions if the clients follow her advice. I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an early copy to review,

Do you pursue unconventional methods to find a solution or are you comfortable with the traditional methods?

Maverick consultant and protagonist, Avery Chambers, is a risk-taker. In fact, she’s risked her marriage and her career in her search for the truth. When she takes on the Golden Couple, Matthew and Marissa Bishop, in an effort to diffuse and mediate issues preventing divorce, she knows there’s something more to this seemingly perfect couple than meets the eye. Her therapy is unconventional, but perhaps that’s why this couple wants her services.

Told from Marissa in third person point of view and Avery in first-person point of view, you’ll be trying to uncover who is telling the truth and what exactly is going on! I love to be kept guessing and the fact that this book has likeable characters and fabulously engineered plot twists is a bonus! You’ll read about guilt, anger and frustration caused by secrets and lies. You’ll be left digging for the truth because there’s always more than meets the eye.

I’m not as interested in reading about infidelity as I am about friendship, but I was thankful for an opportunity to see if the hype surrounding this co-authoring duo was all it was cracked up to be. I appreciated how the authors ramped up the suspension and tension, how they threw in twists at the last minute, and I really liked not knowing who to trust. As I progressed, I found myself liking the characters more and wasn’t as overwhelmed by the larger cast. There was an added bonus of a twofer; two mysteries in one story. As far as the narration goes, I’ve never been to therapy, but the conversations and communication between the characters seemed authentic. It was fast-paced and I was caught off guard. I can see this domestic thriller wildly successful after publication on March 8, 2022, and noted that it should be optioned for TV.

I was gifted this advance copy by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

I loved this story line! I was insanely captivated with the therapist/cheating spouse storyline. I couldn’t put the down as the story progressed. The only part that I didn’t love was the therapist medical storyline. It felt a bit unbelievable for me.

This month, the literary lovelies read an ARC of the Golden Couple! It was chosen by @a_novel_idea11 and it was the perfect January pick.

It’s a little hard to discuss this one without giving to much away, but the basic plot is that Avery is a very unconventional therapist who helps Matthew and Marissa with their marriage after Marissa confesses to infidelity. The book alternates voices between Avery and Marissa; it’s a good glimpse into life for the wealthy. The “Golden Couple” has more than a few secrets.

There are so many twists and turns in this book and several that made me question what I just read. I think this is one of the authors’ best novels and I highly recommend it. I can easily see this being turned into a movie!

Thank you so much to @stmartinspress, @greerhendricks and @sarahpekkanen for the advanced reader copy. The Golden Couple isn’t out until March 8, but you can get a copy now through @bookofthemonth!

4.5 stars

Hendricks and Pekkanen are such gifted writers and are so skilled at co authoring their novels. Their latest, The Golden Couple was right up there with their previous gems.
Mathew and Marissa are The Golden Couple, until one night, Marissa betrays their marriage with their best friend since teenagers. A referral to a counselor is suggested to repair the breach, but evolves into a nightmare, as dangerous situations invade their organized lives.
The story is told through two narrators, Marissa and the former therapist Avery, who has lost her license and now counsels her clients, using techniques that can be risky and dangerous, although effective.
As in their previous novels, they create wonderful characters, that bring suspense to stories that are gripping and difficult to put down. An unpredictable ending just tied the whole thing together.
My thanks to the authors, Net Galley and St Martin’s Press, for the ARC. I loved it and gave it a well deserved 5⭐️!

Wow! I loved this book. And that's saying a lot because I usually can't stand domestic thrillers haha. Really well written and I thoroughly enjoyed how the chapters switched between the counselor and the wife. I was not expecting the husband at all! I would have liked to maybe see how the story of Tina became resolved and what happened further between the wife and Skip but it was a very entertaining read none the less! Thank you so much for this copy!

When Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen get together and write another novel, you know it will be full of surprises and secrets. The Golden Couple is just like that: thrilling and scary, twisting and turning every step of the way. Secrets are revealed, but there is doubt under them, doubt that you have finally learned what really happened, who is really lying, who is the most dangerous. And things will pop up that you never even remotely expected but make sense when you work your way backwards to the clues that were there all along.

Marissa and Mathew Bishop really are the golden couple—rich, successful, gorgeous, socially secure, happy parents of a happy child. When Marissa schedules a therapy session for them Matthew thinks it is to discuss their 8-year-old son. But Marissa reveals she’s cheated on him. It was only one night, it’s over, she’s truly sorry, she desperately wants to fix things and worries that her fear they were drifting apart, that maybe Matthew didn’t love her as much as she thought after all, will tear them apart.

Avery Chambers is the therapist Marissa chooses. Now unlicensed but not lacking for clients or notoriety. Her unorthodox methods have previous clients singing her praises. So Marissa takes a chance that Avery’s maverick, intrusive, sometime abrasive methods will bring her and Matthew close again.

Marissa’s story is told in the 3rd person, so we not only see what Marissa is doing but also what those around her are doing, including Matthew’s devastation at learning of her infidelity and a peek into their childhoods, past friends and enemies and life in their fancy neighborhood.

Avery speaks for herself in the 1st person. We cheer for her and admire her for breaking with tradition as she tries to help people, but there is also something a little off. As she reveals more and more of her own story, we wonder about her more and more. What is really going on with her? What are her motives? Are Avery, Matthew and Marissa somehow tied together? How could they be?

The Golden Couple is superb. Fast-paced, thrilling, solidly plotted with complex characters that you both hate and love. Allegiance shifts as we learn more about their present – and past – actions. You can’t feel sorry for or sympathetic with any one character all of the time. At some point you suspect everyone’s words and motives. There’s something happening that you don’t understand yet, so as always with a story written by Hendricks and Pekkanen you can’t put it down and keep trying to read faster and faster to get to the totally mind-blowing, totally satisfying conclusion.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing an advance copy of The Golden Couple via NetGalley for my reading pleasure and honest review. I loved it and recommend it without hesitation. All opinions are my own.

There are parts of the plot that are predictable, the perfect couple might not be so perfect after all, and they employe the services of a controversial therapist to help them repair their marriage; but that's where the predictability end. Avery is not your normal therapist, Marissa might be willing to tell her secrets to her husband but does Matthew have anything he's not telling Marissa? For the most part, the plot kept me entertained and intrigued. However, there is a "side story" relating to Avery that felt distracting and the full circle moment felt a little far fetched and at the end I felt "ehhh" about the book. It's a solid middle of the road read, it will keep you entertained but isn't going to blow your mind.

The dynamic duo have struck gold again. I spent an entire day, completely absorbed in the delicious new suspense tale by Hendricks and Pekkanen. I was approved for this book months ago, but have held off because I knew it would be delicious. Avery, the therapist, Marissa and Matt, the struggling couple, along with the rest of the ensemble, all woven together for a story based on lies and deception. I dug in, attempting to figure each character out.
I wasn’t able to figure it out until the very end because the authors deftly disguise so much until they want it revealed.
Is the Golden Couple as perfect as they project? Don’t forget Romeo and his bunny; that will melt your heart.

This one was a bit of a disappoint for me. I enjoyed the authors' previous books, but this one was a bit of a letdown. Avery and Romeo saved the story for me. I think the problem was that I just didn't care about Marissa and Matthew at all. If the story had been a bit less predictable as well, I may have enjoyed it more.

As it is, I would say that this was a 3 star read. Not awful by any means, but nothing memorable here. Unless you count Romeo. And he's a dog. Even so, I did want to keep reading to see how everything resolved itself.

I received an ARC from St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks Netgalley for a copy of THE GOLDEN COUPLE by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen.
Great story love the character of Avery, interesting story from several pov.