Another winner by Helen Cooper! Great story and characters. Flowed nicely- I was not on the edge of my seat but the story held my interest. Great plot twist that I was not expecting! For some reason three of the main characters-Adam, Cora, Lucy had their names abbreviated throughout the book which I found super annoying and unnecessary! First book I have ever noticed something like that! Thank you to NetGalley, Helen Cooper and Penguin Group for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. An enjoyable read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fans of Liane Moriarty's The Husband's Secret and others of her suspense novels will relish this book. Lucy and Adam and their children are almost inseparable from their best friends Cora and Scott. Their children are fast friends. They have purchased and are renovating a beach cottage together. Everything seems wonderful until Lucy spies a photo on her colleague's phone shattering all her illusions about her friends. From that point the tension mounts as she pursues the truth about her friends an husband, culminating in murder and deception. a page turner in which the ending is a surprise. Just the kind of book readers enjoy staying up late to read.

Complex and intense domestic mystery. Multiple views of past and present weave an intricate tapestry around two close couples, but who knows all the lies and secrets? To the very end, an intense read.

I was a little hesitant going into this based on the reviews I have read/seen so far. I actually enjoyed this book. It was a quick, easy read. The characters were a tad bit flat for me, but otherwise, I have no complaints. Its a nice thriller if you want an easy flowing story, or a quick beach read. 3.5 stars.

Whoa! So many crazy twists and turns! Good book! This book had a bit of everything! It had suspense, intrigue, murder, mystery, A great who done it, and a few crazy twists and turns! The storyline was very interesting and kept me glued to my Kindle! I definitely recommend reading this book as it was well worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

This was a good psychological thriller! The concept was refreshing to me and I found myself needing to know how it would end! It was fascinating to read how Lucy handled things after seeing her coworkers picture. And watching the story and her life unravel had me at the edge of my seat! This wasn't my favorite thriller I've ever read, but I enjoyed the story and would recommend.

This book was a quick read for me. Overall, I enjoyed the storyline and whole idea of the plot. The author does a great job of building up the suspense and keeping the reader engaged. There are a lot of twist and turns that kept the reader wanting to read on.

The book has all the essentials: friendships, love, murder, and lies. The only thing I disliked was the dynamics in the relationships. While I believe they were intended to be picture perfect to add to the shock value, at times it felt cheesy.

Not as good as the cover. I wanted to love this mystery/thriller but I didn't quite get there. I liked it but it wasn't amazing. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thanks so much Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for an advance read in exchange for this review.

Lucy is looking at her coworker's honeymoon photos and sees her best friend in the background with another woman. Then that woman's body washes up on shore. Is he a murderer?

Not a bad book, a very easy and quick read. It kept my interest enough to finish it to see where it was headed. I'm not sure I liked any of the four main characters, but I guess that made it easy to not be biased towards one.

Book: The Couple In The Photo
Author: Helen Cooper
Publisher: Penguin Group Putnam
Pub Date: December 5, 2023

The deceit in this book happens in the first chapter and it doesn’t slow down from there. You learn in the first chapter that Lucy sees her friend Scott with another woman in the Maldives. She sees the photo on her colleagues phone. From that second I was perplexed as to how Ruth didn’t recognize Scott. But don’t worry it all come out in the wash. The author does an excellent job at creating an air of secrecy. You know and feel that you’re one step behind and you feel just as crazy as Lucy feels. You feel the unease that Lucy feels with everyone around her. And what the heck Lucy! This has no bearing on anything but Adam and Cora are having an intimate conversation and Lucy just slinks away. Ummm heck no Sis….I would have marched right up to them! The ending was a perfect fit and I was scared it was going to end too neatly but thankfully the author did was what necessary.


Thank you Penguin Group Putnam and NetGalley for this sneak peak! Publication date is December 5, 2023.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam
for the eARC.
Looking forward to this book, I was a bit disappointed with it. I found the main character irritating because she was over the top worrying about her best friends and the fact one of them seemed to be cheating. She gets obsessive about finding out what the reality is and it got tiresome. I skipped many pages, but the ending was a surprise, which almost made up for the disappointment.

Lucy and Adam and Cora and Scott are best friends. They do everything together and their children are like siblings to each other.
Life is good.
Until it is not.
Lucy is looking at a teaching colleague's honeymoon pictures and comes to picture that stops her dead in her tracks. Scott, who was supposed to be away on a business trip in Japan, is pictured on the beach in Maldives, where her colleague
honeymooned, with a beautiful woman: who happens not to be his wife, Cora. Her colleague informs her they were at the resort and met this wonderfully friendly, happy couple and spent time with them. Lucy is frozen and in that instant, her happy carefree life is changed forever.
The intrigue begins as Lucy tries to unravel the story behind "the couple in the photo", and starts finding out that her husband, along with Scott and Cora, have a past that is not exactly what it always appeared to be. When the woman in the photo turns up dead, mystery surrounds her everywhere she looks for answers. Great suspense, and the developments come fast and furiously. All of a sudden, not a single thing in Lucy's life seems real.
Terrific, deep character development and great, interesting balance of " yesterday" and today.
Super good read. But knowing how I enjoyed others by Cooper, I did not expect anything kess.

Honestly, I didn't vibe with this book. I didn't particularly care for the plot, storytelling, or the characters. The mystery/suspense was fine. This book was very meh for me.

EXCELLENT THRILLER - I could not get in front of this story to solve the mystery.

Lucy has a perfect life with her two children and loving husband who brought a great couple to the marriage - his best friends from college who then became her best friends as well. The couples eat together at least once a week and their children play together on weekends at their holiday home. All is perfect until Lucy sees a recent holiday snap of one of her colleagues, she recognizes Adam's best friend at a romantic dinner in the Maldives...Lucy quickly goes into overdrive to try and solve the puzzle and keep their tight friendship alive. Everyone keeps telling her she is imagining things..is she? Perfectly paced and a great concept. If you love thrillers, twisty stories and a great heroine, The Couple In The Photo is for you!
#penguin #penguinbooks #TheCoupleInThePhoto #HelenCooper

The Couple in the Photo by Helen Cooper had potential to be an engaging suspense novel, but ultimately fell flat for me. The characters were unlikable and the plot was predictable. Lucy, the protagonist, was frustratingly nosy and meddling, and her obsession with protecting her friend from her husband’s potential infidelity bordered on obsessive. The story lacked the tension and intrigue that a good suspense novel should have, and the pacing was slow, with too much time spent on mundane details. The resolution felt rushed and unsatisfying, with loose ends left untied. Overall, I was disappointed with this book and would not recommend it to others.

The Couple in the Photo
By Helen Cooper
Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2023
Putnam
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
This book was great! It kept my interest throughout!
4 stars

The synopsis and book cover compelled me to read this, but I wanted to like it more than I did. I found it somewhat slow-paced and skimmed through it quickly, eager to get to the ending. I would recommend for mystery and suspense readers who don't mind a slow build up. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This did not disappoint! Such a great read. Such a nice twist and the development of this plot was wonderful. I wish it had been a longer read is my only downside.

A fast paced storyline, I was compelled to continue reading to learn the twists and how it all came together in the end. Fans of Freida McFadden will enjoy this story. The main storyline was enjoyable and I appreciated a new twist on a story with a marriage at the center.

A second narrator entered the picture but I did not feel the additional narrative added context beyond the main storyline. Due to the formatting, it was not clear to me when the second narrator began and the main storyline ended. Perhaps if the second narrator revealed information that could not be gleaned from the main storyline, it would add more to the story.

The description sounds like it could be a great book, however there are way too many strange punctuation errors. (Such as numerous hyphenated words that shouldn't be hyphenated) Also, changing character dialog right in the middle of one of the thought process of another character, causing the reader to be very confused.