I really enjoyed this fun read! The premise was great and right up my alley, keeping me intrigued the whole time. I look forward to reading more from this author. Definitely recommend!

Pub date: 12/5/23
Genre: suspense/thriller
Quick summary: Lucy saw a picture of one of her best friends on a tropical vacation - but the woman he's with wasn't his wife - and he denies the vacation when confronted. How far will she go to expose the truth?

If you like thrillers about groups of friends with secrets, definitely try this one. Lucy, Cora, Adam, and Scott seem like the perfect friend group - their kids are practically siblings, and they're renovating a vacation home together. But the cracks start to appear quickly after Lucy's discovery. I thought I knew how things would play out given past thrillers I've read, but the last 25% had so many twists! The ending really surprised me.

If you enjoy thrillers, this is a fun and fast read!

Thank you to G.P. Putnam's Sons for my e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Couple in the Photo is a gripping, can't-put-down domestic thriller. From page one, the book is packed with secrets, twists, betrayals, and murder. While I definitely predicted a few of the twists, there were still quite a lot that came as a surprise. Lucy has been best friends with her husband Adam and his two closest mates from college for the past 15+ years. Their families do everything together: movie nights, picnics, school drop offs, wine nights, and vacations. Lucy can't picture her and Adam's life without the other couple. Then, on a random school day, Lucy sees one of her colleague's honeymoon photos - a couple her and her husband had met at dinner. Lucy knew the man - Scott - but it wasn't Cora whom he had his arm around. As Lucy starts to dig into her friends' relationship, she discovers that there are many, many more dark secrets and lies, some of which involve her own husband. Just how close were Adam, Scott, and Cora at college? And what else could they be hiding? And who was the woman with Scott?

The Couple in the Photo was fast-paced and exhilarating. I honestly couldn't put the book down. I will definitely be recommending The Couple in the Photo to anyone who loves an exciting thriller.

This book was an easy read, but you could just about guess who did what or what was going to happen next.. I didn't feel like the story line had a reason or purpose.. I felt this book could have been better written then it was.

What. A. Ride.

Did not see any of it coming. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, BAM, I was wrong.

So many twists and turns. LOVED.

This book was hard for me. I wanted to like it so bad but it never really came together. There seemed to be three distinct storylines going on, and they didn’t merge until the end. It was very rushed and didn’t really make sense. There was too much filler about Lucy’s day to day life without it adding anything to the plot. Such as talking about work and her kids. More of the book should have focused on Adam, Cora and Scott, especially at school. Since it was important to the story’s conclusion.

Thank you Netgalley & Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved how things took off straight out of the gate in this book. It captivates you during the first few chapters. I enjoyed the plot-seeing a friend’s picture with your best friend’s husband in it was enticing!

However, I didn’t love any of the characters. Lucy is willing to wreck everything for a photo. It was odd how she just came to realize that Adam had feelings for Cora in this short period of time since they'd been friends for years. The twist was easy to guess but it was a quick, suspenseful read.

Very interesting premise for a book. Lucy is looking through a co-workers wedding pictures when she happens upon a photo that looks just like the husband of her best friend couple. Is it him? Is he cheating? As Lucy seeks answers she finds more than she bargained for, including - does she really know her husband and their closest friends. As more things happen Lucy isn't sure what or who to believe. Overall, this was a nice fast pace read that kept me wanting to read. Some nice twists thrown in to keep me a bit off-kilter. Very satisfying read.

Parts of this book were super intriguing and kept me turning the pages and other parts had me scratching my head. The overall premise was promising, but ultimately, it fell short for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I would not recommend this one. This is a domestic thriller with an intriguing first chapter. You will crave explanation from the very beginning (the makings of a great thriller). However the releasing of information is far too slow to keep interest and when info is revealed, it’s not enough to keep the reader satisfied. I DNF’d this one at about 25% and re-started due to it being the only book I had downloaded on a camping trip. At that point I trudged through it to the end and wish I had never picked it back up. I really try not to provide reviews like this but in this case this book was just not a match for me.

Lucy, Adam, Cora and Scott. Two families who have built a life together as best friends. Lucy and Cora are each-other’s go-to’s and their kids are inseparable. They’re so close they’re even building a vacation cottage together. Life is good until Lucy sees her best friend’s husband in a photo with another person… what more? That woman shows up missing. Lucy desperately works to find answers. Is her best friend’s husband a cheater? Did he cause a woman to go missing? She unravels clues slowly but surely. Will she get the answers she’s looking for? And will she find them in time?

This one was just too much of a slow burn for me and I would not recommend it. There are too many other thrillers out there that are more interesting. The premise sounds fantastic but it’s just not a satisfying read.

The story line is very unique, but very believable and could happen to anyone. There were many twists and turns I didn’t see coming, which kept it interesting and hard to put down. Rich character development and plot development that made me feel so involved and invested into what happens next. This is the kind of thriller I live because I couldn’t guess what was going to happen next and I just had to know what happened next and couldn’t wait to find out. Absolutely loved this book! Such great work!

This took too long for me to get going and when it did, it was all over the place. I guess you could call it a thriller but it was a bit convoluted. The characters were annoying and the initial premise with the coworker's photo and Lucy recognizing someone in it was a bit of a stretch to explain and it was such a reach that I couldn't grab on to it. The end seemed like a hurry to the finish.

Thank you NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for sharing this e-arc and trade for an honest review. This is the first book I have read by this author but I was instantly intrigued from the beginning.

Lucy is at a party when a colleague shows her a photo that was taken along with a couple that her colleague had met during her own honeymoon. As Lucy looks closer at the photo she notices the man in the couple her colleague is referring to is Scott, who is married to her best friend Cora. Lucy soon starts raising questions and goes into a rabbit hole that leads her to find answers that makes her wish she never saw the photo in the first place.

This book has strong characters, a good plot and there was not a lot of fluff, which I appreciate. This is a thriller that will keep you on your toes and make you realize that we don’t know everything about those closest to us.

Highly recommend, this was a great read and I will look out for other books by this author!
#TheCoupleInThePhoto #NetGalley @TakeAThrillPill

While it was a little slow to start, it did have some really good twists! The storyline was a bit predictable and easy to figure out. This is a quick and easy book to read. It for sure kept me interested throughout.

This book is a wonderful addition to the many mysteries and thrillers that are arriving on our shelves! Middle-aged marriages are tough, it's great to read about how you're not alone.

The Couple in the Photo by Helen Cooper
⭐⭐⭐⭐
.
Lucy loves looking at photos, so it's no surprise when she takes an interest in a colleagues recent honeymoon photos. But while swiping through, she sees a familiar face, with a woman that is NOT his wife. Wondering if she saw what she thought she did, or if her mind was playing tricks on her, she can't help but start questioning everything.
.
This book has layers! Everytime I thought I knew what was going on, another piece of information surfaced. I felt like I was collecting puzzle pieces the entire time! It was a very quick, engaging read.
.
Told mostly from Lucy's point of view, with only occasional inner musings from another anonymous character (or characters?), you get a real sense of her desperation as she tries to sort out what her husband and best friends have been keeping from her. She's determined to get to the bottom of this, even if it changes everything in the process.
.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read an advanced copy of this book! I would definitely recommend checking it out in December 2023, when it hits shelves.

NO spoilers here. The following is my opinion/thoughts and not a synopsis of the book. I dove into The Couple in the Photo without knowing much about this story. I usually enjoy most suspenseful thrillers but the way an author ends a book is really big for me. I’m not sure I was wow-ed by this ending. It seemed a bit far fetched and just too much. The journey getting there, however, was great. I could not put this book down. There was always another “thing” that popped up making you question the characters and their motives. I don’t think this was one of the best suspense books I have read but I think it’s worth the read if you’re looking for a quick page turner. I would read another book by this author.

A twisty tale of a woman being gaslighted by her own friends and husband ... maybe. Or is Lucy grasping at straws? Her perfect life crumbles when Lucy sees a photo of what appears to be one of her best friends on a romantic vacation--with someone who isn't his wife. When she goes to her husband, he tells her to leave it alone, that she must have been mistaken. And it snowballs from there. Soon, the woman Lucy saw (maybe) in the photo is declared missing, then dead, and now Lucy begins to wonder if it's all in her head ... or are her husband and their friends keeping something from her? And if they are, how many things, and for how long?

Well-written and fast-paced, with a core set of characters that quickly become very memorable individuals. Told from Lucy's point of view, the reader can't help but be sucked in with her as she wonders at her own sanity, and drives her life right over the edge anyway.

This book was addictive, awesome and just what I needed during this little reading slump I'm in.
I'm currently in the middle of 6 books, yes - I know it's crazy but this slump is not fun.
Thrillers and mysteries are my go to when I'm slumping!

But back to The Couple In the Photo
How far would you go to keep a friend's secret?
I binged this one and almost finished it in one night, but my eyes got so tired I literally left the last 10% for the next morning which was so hard for me to do. No spoilers for thrillers! But let's say there's a missing person, lots of gaslighting, plenty of twists and turns and lots of who dun it moments. I loved it!

4 stars from me!

The author's other books are: The Downstairs Neighbor and The Other Guest, both of which I haven't yet read, however I'll definitely be adding them to my TBR.

Thank you @netgalley and @putnambooks for the opportunity to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this one! There some parts that were slow but it became a page turner as I continued reading on!