I know what you're thinking: "Ella, this is not your normal, witty, commentary we have come to enjoy (?) over time, another book review?"
And the answer to that question is: yes, another book review. I finished another book (2/25, in case anyone is keeping track) last week and it actually blew my mind. The book I read is "The Couple Next Door" by Shari Lapena.
If you know me to any degree, you know that I am unequivocally obsessed with true crime. I tend to stick with things that actually happened because fictional tales tend to scare me more. Why? I have no clue whatsoever. But I recently procured a Barnes and Noble gift card and decided to branch out with my purposes. But, not too far.
I heard good things about this novel before picking it up on various true crime Facebook groups and subreddits and it has been on my to-read list for a while, so I figured now was as good a time as ever and picked it up and "bought" it with my gift card.
I was finishing the other book I have reviewed thus far, "Stardust", when I bought it so I didn't pick it up until a couple days after the purchase. And, honestly, it was hard to wait that long because just from the description on the back it looked so good.
Spoiler alert (not really): it was so good. The novel follows a family who is struck by tragedy while attending a party at their next-door neighbor's house. I won't go into detail about said tragedy because it kind of (again, not really) is a spoiler.
As police and the family investigate the crime committed secrets are dredged out of the depths of the oceans and literally anyone, except for the police, could be involved in the crime. The gorgeous thing about this book is that you think you know the answer as to what happened a few chapters in just to have a page-flipping plot twist. And then right when you definitely have it figured out something else is revealed that you never even considered that changes everything.
I can't give much more of a plot summary without accidentally revealing something vital. But I will tell you that I read this book in one day--something I have not done since my Harry Potter days. If you are even remotely a fan of true crime you need to read this book. 12000/10 would recommend.
