I flew through this one!! This seemed like a dark version of friends or how I met your mother. I could not put it down and was shocked at every turn.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Adam, Lucy, Cora, and Scott have been friends for years. Lucy is a photographer and comes across a picture of a co-worker's honeymoon to the Maldives that has her feeling uneasy. Her co-worker said that the lovely couple's names are Jason and Anna. So why does he look exactly like Scott, who's supposed to be on a business trip in Japan? A few days later there is a missing persons report of a woman named Juliet, only it's not Juliet.... it's Anna.

This was my first book by Helen Cooper, and I will definitely be reading more. It was well paced and kept you guessing.

I loved the way the story was told - a podcaster is interviewing her favorite author. As the interview goes on it is obvious that there lives are going to intersect. It takes a while to get there. The story is told in both the current day and the past. The author kept the story going with great locations and travel spots well described. There was some family drama. That made the story read a lot like a mystery. Todd and Ann's romance and multiple reuniting's seemed a little far fetched. But overall the conclusion made sense and the book was enjoyable.

This book was easy to get lost in. While the plot was somewhat predictable and cliche, it's still an engaging read that will hold your attention. Overall I gave it 3 stars, as I wasn't surprised at the outcome but I did want to continue reading to the end.

I am normally weary of main characters who spend the entire book tiptoeing and being upset that they're left out of the big secret. I loved this book because it felt like I was reading a Lifetime movie. I was kept on the edge of my seat trying to figure out who this women was, what happened to her and how much Adam and Cora know. I read this book right after reading a complicated friends in paradise and old secrets coming out book so I was a bit worried I'd be let down but it was just the right amount of drama.

I didn't have much fun reading this, even if it was an easy read. I love thrillers anchored in a strong setting or wild and twisty plot- this didn't satisfy those needs. Boring characters with no personality, didn't enjoy the ending.

This book is one of the most addictive edge-of-your-seat thrillers I’ve read in a long time. I inhaled it in one day. Thanks to @netgalley, @putnambooks, and @helencooperwriter for the opportunity to read this novel before its 12/5/2023 release in exchange for my honest review.

While looking at her colleague’s honeymoon photos, Lucy sees one of a couple that was also on the trip. The man in the photo is her best friend’s husband, but the woman he is with is most certainly not her best friend. Lucy is sure of it but desperately wants to be wrong. Is he having an affair? Something worse? As Lucy pokes around for information, lives are put at risk, and she begins to question what is true and false and who she can trust.

A fast-paced mystery with many twists and turns, it explores how much you can know anyone and the lengths people will go to to protect what’s most important. The characters are all richly developed, and the story is complex but not in a contrived way. I was guessing until the final few pages how all of the treads came together. I absolutely could not put it down.

3.5 overall, very fast and entertaining read. Would be a great vacation read - it’s straightforward, pretty evenly paced, likable main character, and no weird tangents to keep up with or plot holes to take you out of the story. I really appreciated that this was a thriller that didn’t try to do too much, it had a good concept and stuck with it. It can be hard to maintain friendships as an adult busy with kids, so watching the nuances of these two couples and how they still go about life was a fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy and a chance to read this early. All opinions are my own.

This was a solid book. Easy to read, well-developed and relatable characters, and a plot that moved at a comfortable pace. I figured out the twist about halfway through the book, but I view that as a good thing. I enjoyed sitting back and watching the story unfold. I liked that I felt sympathetic and understanding of what each of the characters and why—I felt like I was part of the story.

This was Ok. It was enjoyable at times and a bit redundant at others. The end was somewhat predictable. The ending was weak. Overall, it was just OK. Character development was adequate in some instance and good in others. The plot varied between engaging and dull and I think that could have been fixed by condensing the story a bit.

The Couple in the Photo was unexpectedly phenomenal! The characters were well developed and the storyline so grippingly twisty. It truly makes you question every person you know, every person you interact with. What secrets are hiding?

I really enjoyed this one. A really good suspense story about two couples, told from the wife of one of the 3 college friends that comprise the two couples - the outsider who knows a selective history of their past. Now grown with 2 children each, some mysterious things start happening when the husband in the friends group shows up in a picture with another woman on vacation when he’s supposed to be on a work trip.
Gaslighting, additional crimes, unreliable narrator tones - the book has a quick pace so I finished it in one travel day. Don’t want to post any big spoilers but would recommend. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

This was an overall enjoyable read. There were a few twists that I didn’t see coming, but I had a few issues with the story itself.

Have you ever seen a picture that you can’t let go of? It drives you crazy. You go down all the rabbit holes of what it could mean and if you saw it correctly, That is how this book starts.

Lucy is talking with her coworker who just got back from her honeymoon. She shows Lucy a picture and Luck knows her whole life is about to change. In the picture is her best friends husband Scott but not with his wife Cora. He is with another woman. Lucy cannot let this go. She tries to talk herself down and rationalize what she see, but then the woman in the picture is reported missing on the news. Things go from bad to much worse.

Lucy’s life gets unraveled. There is distance between her and her husband and then their best friends and their kids best friends. They have purchased a cottage together. They have built a life around each other. Was any of it true?

I can’t pinpoint what it is yet that made me not give this book 4 stars, but as I said it was an overall easy read once I got into it. I can say there was something about it that didn’t make me want to sit and read it all in one setting like I have done with other thrillers. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Couple in the Photo is a domestic thriller by author Helen Cooper. This is the first novel I have read by the author. I was immediately drawn to the premise of the book. Lucy and her husband Adam are best friends with couple Cora and Scott. Their families do everything together. One day Lucy is looking at photos from a colleagues honeymoon in the Maldives. Lucy is shocked to see Scott with another woman in one of the photos. Soon after, the woman in the photo turns up missing. Lucy starts her own investigation into the missing woman and Scott. She is quite relentless and finds things that were meant to be kept hidden.

I enjoyed the fast pace of the novel. Each chapter had me wanting more of the story. There are a lot of twists in the book and a surprising ending. I will definitely be looking for more books by Helen Cooper. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me this ARC to review.

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam & Sons for an e-ARC of <i>The Couple in the Photo</i>, available everywhere in December 2023.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Never is this more true than what's meant to be an innocuous photo. For Ruth, Lucy's co-worker, the people in the photo are a couple that she met while honeymooning in the Maldives. For Lucy, the man in the photo is Scott, a close friend of hers for over a decade now. What, exactly, is Scott doing in the Maldives with a woman who's not his wife? Torn between telling Cora, his wife, and starting her own investigation, Lucy opts for the latter. After learning the woman has gone missing, she has to wonder: is Scott not only an adulterer but a murderer too?

This book wasn't for me. Filled with too many storylines and implausible scenarios, I had a difficult time suspending my disbelief about how things were unfolding.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Couple In The Photo. Helen Cooper's book is expertly plotted, extremely well-written, and her characters are well drawn and believable. The twists and turns bring readers to another unexpected plot layer as the story deepens.

Lucy, the protagonist, tells the tale in a clear, reader-friendly voice that evokes empathy on every page. Though it's hard to imagine the crisis she faces in the real world, this reviewer was able to suspend disbelief and appreciate the ride. An entertaining novel and highly recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Putnam Books for providing an ARC for review. This review will post to Bayside Book Reviews at https://baysidebookreviews.com and its Instagram page on release day. Follow us! *NetGalley Top Reviewer*

Great read. I stayed up late reading this book. This has several twists and turns and everyone is a suspect till the end. Highly recommend this book.

This gripping psychological thriller was absolutely heart pounding nail bitting good!! I was there for all the twists. I loved this so much!!
I just reviewed The Couple in the Photo by Helen Cooper. #TheCoupleinthePhoto #NetGalley
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The story of the friendship of two couples and their families takes the reader on a roller coaster ride through many twists and turns until the surprise ending. Lucy and Adam, Cora and Scott were always together at each other's houses, or working on renovating a vacation cottage they owned together. Their four children were inseparable. Lucy was obsessed with recording all of their gatherings on her phone camera--until her new obsession turned to a photo of Scott with another woman. What did it mean? When Lucy sets out to discover what is going on in the marriage of her two best friends, she also sets events in motion that lead to an inconceivable, and devastating, outcome for both families. A very interesting, and unpredictable read.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing the advance copy for me to read and review.

Like any good thriller, this book had me guessing the whole time. I really enjoyed the short chapters and the fact that the language wasn’t too complicated. It was straightforward and direct and I appreciated that. It was action filled and I recommend this to anyone who loves a good thriller.