A picture is worth a thousand words…..
But are they the right words? Is it the right picture?
A group of three friends from college have a secret. A big one. One of the three has married out of the group and this spouse has no idea. Until she sees a picture and starts putting things together but is it what she thinks? Could it possibly be? Things get twisting and turning and then there’s a twist straight out of left field. Never saw it coming. (This started as a 3 ( out of 5) stars for me. It was just kind of ho hum. As it progressed it turned to a 4 , then a solid 4.5. So, I’ll average it out at a 4.)
It was definitely an enjoyable read. I would recommend it.
It will be released December 5th 2023.
Thank you NetGalley and Helen Cooper for the advance copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

The premise of this book is so good — but the story itself didn't hold. I love an outlandish plot line and could have rolled with the improbabilities of this one. However, the characters all got under my skin, especially Lucy. Her fixation around the friend group was both unrealistic and annoying. If the mystery was suspenseful enough, I probably could have gotten past that, but the story was so slow-moving with too much filler, and it ended up in my DNF pile.

Meh. This book fell really, really flat for me. After reading the description I was intrigued, and I do definitely think this book had promise. Unfortunately, it was just wayyyy too predictable and slow, with really shitty characters. I knew the overall premise of the plot and most of the twists a few chapters in, but had to get through 30 more just to see the ending / if anything changed. I didn't hate this book, but I'm not sure if I would recommend it!

As always, thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing this ARC for me to read and review!

This was…. Not good. At least for my taste. Slow, boring, kind of ridiculous twist, and annoying characters.

I feel like this started off a bit slow at first but then before I knew it, I was halfway through. Then, just when I would feel like I had this figured out, something would make me doubt my hypothesis and pivot the narrative. Definitely snuck up on me and kept me guessing. The characters are all flawed but likable and the story gets more engrossing the further in you get. I was really surprised how much I liked this one! Thanks so much to Helen Cooper, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this e-arc!

This is a slow burn thriller, but do not give up on it quickly! You think you may know how it ends, but you don't. There was plot twist after plot twist, but spread out in a way where it was not overwhelming or confusing. I could feel the tension and intensity of the situation through Helen Cooper's amazing and descriptive writing. I could imagine Lucy's frustrations and emotions as she uncovers the secrets and lies around her. I also loved how the book ended. By the end, all my questions were answered and the story was tied up in a neat bow.
I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a murder mystery and marital/friendship issues.

3.5/5

It starts off really slow and I struggled if I should continue with the book. The book does pick up a little bit. Most of the twists were predictable.

I loved the premise of the book and was really hoping it would have been a little bit better.

Didn’t love it, didn’t hate it! Was suspenseful and kept me on my toes at parts, but the ending was a little lackluster!

This was a great read! Nice job Helen Cooper. I was totally invested from the very beginning and the action just kept hoping. Awesome characters development that kept me flipping pages long into the night.
Thank you NetGalley, Helen Cooper and Putnam Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I loved this one! I guessed the plot twist very early on but that didn't take away from how much I could not put this book down! So well written and will have you doubting everyone. Highly recommend!

“Could you ever know somebody absolutely? Did you just have to accept that you couldn’t and love them anyway?”

Cora + Scott and Lucy + Adam are best friends. Their kids are best friends. They own and are remodeling their vacation cottage together. For Lucy, life is perfect until one day she sees a photo of Scott on vacation with another woman.

Lucy launches into an obsession to find the truth about everyone and everything she thought she knew, lighting her relationships on fire and untangling a messy web of lies going back nearly two decades.

I’m glad I gave this book a chance. For the first half, the twist seemed so clear that I thought it was going to be a disappointment once I got to it. But about halfway through, I began to see the web this cast of characters had spun and were tangled up in. There were definitely intense moments of wondering what was going to happen, who was safe, and who wasn’t.

Within the first few pages we see Scott in the photo with another woman, so the story gets started right away. I wish there were a few chapters leading up to that developing the characters a bit more, specifically their relationships with one another. It was hard to buy into the whole they’re best friends thing when it starts the way it did.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the advanced copy of The Couple in the Photo.

First off, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy.

This was SUCH a wild ride! It was churning on a bit slow in the beginning but once the pace picked up and things began coming to light, I was gripping my Kindle! My guess was so wrong, which was great because it definitely sat on not being predictable to me. I was rooting for Lucy the entire time, hoping she didn’t back down and she did down disappoint!

Overall, a great read and a page turner!

thank you to netgalley, the author and the publisher for this advanced copy

a great thriller, i couldn't put it down

This was an interesting plot - a wife's intuition about her friends is confirmed via a random social media image, where the said friend is captured in the background. I thought the premise was original - I always find myself ducking in the streets avoiding the lenses of strangers/tourists, but it is unavoidable not be in the background.

I enjoyed the premise, I found the wife to be a bit more naive in the end. However I enjoyed reading the book and look forward to reading more from this author. 3.5 stars rounded up.

I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, it was completely predictable. I guessed the entire storyline early on and was right about all of it. I’m not sure why the author made the female character so clueless. That was rather annoying actually. Female authors need to stop creating dumb female characters!

This review was also published on Goodreads.

Fans of psychological thrillers will love this one! Lucy, Adam, Scott, and Cora are best friends. They’re children live each other, the own a beach house together and they are inseparable. But Lucy sees a photo of Scott with another woman seemingly on vacation with her. She wants to protect Cora from Scott’s infidelity, but then the woman turns up dead and everyone around Lucy starts to act a bit weird. Lucy begins to put the pieces together and realizes she may not know as much about her husband and friends as she thought. Twisty and turning, right up until the end!

How the secrets of the past influence and change the present. This was a light, twisted read, at times a little long winded. A fast read, at times a little unbelievable but also good escapist fiction 3.5 rounded up

A close knit friendship between two couples is strained when one of the women sees a picture of her friend's husband with another woman. Lucy's uneasiness about the photo is exasperated when she hears the other woman in the photo is found dead. She finds herself on a mission to discover the truth about not only her friend's husband, but also the secrets all of them including her own husband are keeping from her. The past comes back to haunt everyone involved and Lucy finds herself in a race against time to protect her family from the killer who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets from coming out. Told in alternating perspectives between Lucy and the culprit behind the murder, the story finishes with the ultimate climax where the truth comes pouring out.

This was almost a "Did Not Finish" for me as I struggled to get into the plot. The first part of the book is mostly character development and background as Lucy discovers her friend Scott in a photo taken on a colleague's honeymoon. The first few chapters moved slow and did not engage me as I read through them. By the middle of the book the plot picks up pace and suddenly becomes a page turner in every way. I had to keep reading to figure out who the culprit was. By the end of the book I was glad I decided not to DNF the book. Overall it was a solid story about the lengths people will go to cover up secrets from their past. This was a solid 4 star read for me. The characters were likable and the plot was mostly engaging once it picked up. The culprit was pretty predictable. I guessed who it was by the beginning, but I still enjoyed to see how the story played out.

I really enjoyed this paced thriller. Very plot driven and fast paced. I would recommend to friends and family.

This was on my list for a bit and then dove right in. I have mixed feelings about this one. On one hand it was a fairly basic, simple , starter level thriller read, but if you read a lot of thrillers you might find it predictable, repetitive, and filled with too much extra that was unnecessary and made it drag on.

Lucy and Adam are a married couple and best friends with another married couple, Cora and Scott. Well one day Lucy sees a photo of Scott on vacation with another woman and is told they go by different names. This immediately got her attention, rightfully so as she was trying to protect her friend, Cora. Things get even more tangled when the woman in the photo with Scott turns up missing. Lucy will stop at nothing and I mean NOTHING to find out the truth.

While I did appreciate a girl looking after her best friend… Lucy became annoying to me with this obsession and that was also due to how much this drug out. It was predictable in the end.

The fact in … marriages, friendships, and what you think you know can turn out to be not at all what you think you know and the dynamics of this friend group proves just that!

Thank you to the Author, Netgalley, Penguin Group Putnam, and G.P. Putnams Sons for this ARC.