Shari Lapena’s She Didn’t See It Coming is a twisty, fast-paced thriller that had me hooked from the first chapter. When a young mother vanishes without a trace, Detective Jayne Salter is thrown into a case that’s as emotional as it is baffling. As the investigation unfolds and the woman’s body is discovered, the list of suspects grows longer—and darker. Lapena masterfully keeps the reader on edge, feeding just enough clues to spark suspicion in everyone, but never enough to feel sure of anything. It’s the kind of book that makes you say, “Just one more chapter,” until it’s suddenly 2 a.m.

The ending? Total jaw-drop moment. Lapena ties up the central mystery, but leaves just enough unanswered to make you feel like the story isn’t quite over—like maybe there’s more danger lurking in the shadows. I wouldn't be surprised at all if a sequel is on the way, and honestly, I hope there is. If you’re a fan of smart, chilling thrillers with strong female leads, this one’s definitely worth the read.

When a beloved wife and mother disappears when working from home in her condo, a detective is immediately called in. The body is found in the storage area of the condo. Her husband becomes a suspect, so does her sister, best friend, and a man that she may or may not be having an affair with. This book is full of well drawn characters and tense situations. It also some interesting comments about the state of society.












s murdered in her condo

Again and again and again…Shari Lapena does not disappoint! This book was such an easy and addictive read - I didn’t want to put it down til I found out how despicable these people actually were! She weaves a story that always draws you in and makes you think the best of the people and by the end of a chapter she shocks you will the reality of how people truly are.
A woman has gone missing. She never showed up to pick up her daughter from daycare. Now the police ar investigating and anyone who has come in contact with her for the past couple weeks are being questioned. Here starts the questions - how was your marriage to the husband, how was your relationship with her sister, what secrets has she been keeping to the best friend. Everyone is a suspect and the twists keep coming in this one. We explore how perfect people look from the outside but see how in reality it’s a mess. I loved how the twists were subtle and at times you predicted some of the things but you become just as suspicious as the characters and keep changing your mind on who is the guilty one!

Lapena is the Queen of roller coaster psychological thrillers and this one is one of her best! She grabs you from page one and keeps the "the pedal to the metal" until the very end - when she finally wraps up everything. As always, on the last page she leaves the reader asking for a little more! Well done and thanks for the ARC!

A couple with a 3 year old daughter, When her mother fails to pick her up from daycare, the mother is declared missing. A day later she is found dead. Suspicion falls on the husband as usual but they were a loving couple by all accounts. Could it be the pervy neighbor or the handsome guy she crashed into a few weeks before. Her sister seems to enjoy trying to solve the murder, maybe a bit too much.

In true Shari Lapena style, there are many suspects, a few twists and a few cliffhangers. Good page-turner.

I absolutely loved this book! It had the perfect amount of twists and turns that kept you guessing. I thought I had the plot figured out multiple times, and in the end I had it narrowed down to two characters, one of which was correct. The story flowed smoothly, with no gaps. It was an easy, yet enjoyable read by one of my favorite authors. I found several comparisons between this book and her last, What Have You Done, but they were different enough to make me keep reading. I am highly anticipating her next book. Even though I know I have some time to wait, I'll be ready and waiting as soon as it's released!

Sam and Brayden, a successful married couple with a toddler, seem to have it all.
Except when Brayden disappears and is later found murdered and stuffed in a suitcase in her condominium building storage unit, secrets come to light that show nothing is was it seemed in this marriage.
Who would kill Brayden? Her best friend who seems to not be such a good friend after all? Her sister, who is obsessed with true crime and developed her own website to interact with other murder aficionados? Her mysterious neighbor, previously accused of a violent sexual assault? Or could it be the narcissistic man who Brayden had a minor fender bender with - or possibly his equally narcissistic and seemingly sociopathic wife who has suspicions that Brayden had started an affair with her husband after the accident?
Questions swirl, relatives, friends and strangers as well as neighbors are questioned one by one until the shocking killer is unmasked.
Told in alternating viewpoints, this novel is among Lapena’s best.

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.