This kept my interest until 3/4s in, then it started feeling repetitive. Maybe I’m tired of suspense books that all seem to have the same plot, just in different forms. They’re becoming as cliched as formulaic romance books, and this is an example. The missing person, the perfect couple that aren’t so perfect and so on. But the ending was surprising and good, especially the little twist at the end.

Bryden Frost does not pick up her daughter from
Daycare one day, and no one knows why. This story has a lot of characters that tie together. We have Derek, who is a stranger until Bryden hits his car. We have her best friend, her sister, her husband, and her parents, who all have secrets. Do their secrets include potential murder plans? Who killed Bryden and why?

This was filled with suspense and had me guessing who did it until the very end. It seemed that all the characters had something to hide. We all know that bad things happen to good people. True crime junkies know that people don't just simply vanish; they know that someone did the unthinkable. Just dive in blind Shari wont disappoint you.

Shari Lapena writes great suburban thrillers with twists in them. Nothing is ever as it seems and it is fast paced and exciting!

I really enjoyed this book. It's my first from this author. I will definitely be reading more based on this book. The story was just riveting to me. I just couldn't stop reading until the end. Highly recommended!

I normally eat Lapena's books up so quickly. This one dragged for me. I just couldn't get into any of the characters, this was a miss.

A thriller that will keep you guessing until the end. A book that is "unputdownable".

Starts out as a missing persons investigation but evolves into a murder investigation. There are so many different possible suspects, who could it be? My mind kept changing each chapter! I love it when that happens in a book. Who do you think could have done it??

Thank you, NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Viking Penguin | Pamela Dorman Books for this ARC.

Thanks net galley for the ARC. Wow! Shari Lapena has done it again. So many twists. I was hooked from page one. This one kept me guessing and guessing. Loved everything about it.

This was a bit underwhelming. I love the author but couldn't get into the plot nor the characters. I am not sure what happened here. Might be the missing woman trope?

I received a free eARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Shari Lapena is…not an auto*buy* per se, but an auto-library request for me! Even before I started working at the library, I was trying really hard not to buy books I could inhale in a couple of days (that I most likely wouldn’t read again), because it just seemed like a waste. I’ve been in a HUGE book slump lately - I kept picking up things that were supposed to be so amazing and I kept getting disappointed. I needed…well, something I could inhale in a couple of days! This was a perfect palate cleanser. It’s not doing anything groundbreaking with the domestic thriller genre, and I figured out whodunnit about halfway through, but I appreciated the lack of big swings. There aren’t any glaring plot holes, and it really did get me out of my rut.

The central mystery here is the disappearance of Bryden Frost. When we first meet her, she’s late for daycare pickup (again) and rear-ends a Tesla. The guy *seems* decent enough about it, but something isn’t quite right. Then we cut to six weeks later, when Bryden’s husband Sam gets a call that she’s failed to pick their daughter up from daycare. Given that Bryden was working from home that day, it’s concerning to say the least. In Lapena’s typical style, we hear from pretty much everybody - Sam, Bryden’s true-crime obsessed sister Lizzie, her best friend Paige, Jayne the detective, even Derek Gardner, owner of the rear-ended Tesla and sudden person of interest. I love getting to follow detectives, because I’m a sucker for processy stuff. The case takes some strange turns - Bryden and Sam seemed to be the perfect couple, but was one of them maybe having an affair? Was Tesla dude holding a grudge about the accident? And what exactly is the deal with Tesla dude’s wife? (We hear from her too)

It’s hard to say more without giving too much away, but this moves along at a good clip, and the ending, while somewhat predictable, is satisfying. Tiny spoiler: there’s an attempted rug pull moment near the end, but I kind of saw that one coming as well. I enjoy Lapena’s use of rotating perspective - it’s fun to be in a bunch of different heads. And yes, you do sacrifice character development to a certain extent, but if the plot is entertaining enough, I can kind of forgive that (plus you don’t need a ton of character development to figure out that most of these people are terrible). I also like hearing from the detectives - often in domestic thrillers the detectives are sort of like these defacto antagonists we never hear anything from. I like that Jayne was her own character.

In all, a very solid domestic thriller, and excellent palate cleanser!

This book hooked me from the beginning and I couldn't wait to finish it! It was fast paced with a variety of characters. Things were revealed about characters slowly, making you wonder who exactly committed the crime! Great read!

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

Another enjoyable thriller from Shari Lapena with a good pace and surprising twists.

I love Shari Lapena's writing. She always delivers the suspense and leaves me guessing until the end, and this book was no different. It starts with a missing wife and mother, leading to suspect after suspect. It was a suspenseful read that I didn't want to put down. The ending left me a little baffled. However, it could lead to a future series, which would be interesting. Overall, I enjoyed this read.

I have always enjoyed reading Shari Lapena. I definitely enjoyed this book. I did guess the ending but not until I was further into the book. I did enjoy all the twists and turns that Lapena always delivers.

Another good one by Shari Lapena! I enjoyed this one! Not my favorite by her, and the end was a bit predictable but still a solid mystery. I read a lot of mysteries so it does take quite a bit to stump me

She Didn't See It Coming
by Shari Lapena
Pub Date: Jul 29 2025

Ooooooooo! She Didn't See It Coming & most readers won't either! No spoilers, but while I did guess it...I didn't. Lovely twists, satisfying conclusion, no far-fetched ideas, and then pick your jaw off the ground ending. Bam!
Sam is not too worried when he receives the phone call from his daughter's daycare that his wife Bryden is late picking up their daughter and hasn't answered any of their texts or calls. After arriving home and seeing her purse, cell phone, and keys untouched, he knows something is terribly wrong.
His wife is missing and the more the investigation goes on, the more suspects pop up, including himself.
This was a fun, believable thriller. Something straight out of the news. One of my favorites by Shari Lapena so far.
#SheDidn'tSeeItComing
#ShariLapena
Pub Date: Jul 29 2025

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the opportunity to read this amazing thriller by one of my favorite authors. This story grabbed me from page one and took me on a twisty, turny trip through a murder mystery with more surprises than I anticipated. Another win for Lapena. Keep them coming.

Huge thank you to Viking Books for the ARC!

I love love Shari Lapena and have read all (maybe minus one) of her books and they are ALWAYS entertaining and fun! This one was no exception and may be up there in my favorites of hers!

The whole premise was so mysterious and creepy! A woman literally just disappears and goes missing while working from home in her own apartment. There are SO many sketchy people in her life and her apartment that could have something to do with her disappearance and the police aren't ruling anyone or anything out!

I loved guessing the ending in this one and even though I changed my mind every few chapters, I ended up being totally wrong in the end. That's what I love so much about Lapena's books! The journey is always a total blast and the endings always catch me off guard!

I can't wait for everyone to read this when it's out this summer! It's going to be a massive hit for sure!

Another great thriller from Shari Lapena. I really enjoyed this thriller and thoughts the pacing of the book was fantastic. She is great at leaving a trail of breadcrumbs that makes you want to keep reading to find out what will happen in the end.

Shari Lapena is always an instant pick up and read for me. I love the unreliable narrators in this book. It did have me guessing for most of the book. However I feel like I want answers about another murder that was mentioned in this book. I wanted to know that, that case was closed. Either way a wonderful roller-coaster.