“The wife is always the last to know, right?”
The Couple Next Door is the bestselling 2016 domestic thriller by Shari Lapena. In it, readers follow what is every parent’s worst nightmare when Anne and Marco Conti attend a neighbour’s dinner party, leaving their six-month-old baby at home. When the night comes to a close and they return home, they discover that their child is missing. A gripping and psychological ride, the book dives into the secrets that can be hidden beneath even the most idyllic neighbourhoods and households, as well as the extremes individuals can be pushed to when it comes to the ones they love. Join us today at What We Reading for the best domestic noir and psychological thriller books like The Couple Next Door if you love all things Shari Lapena!
The Perfect Nanny – Leila Slimani
Kicking off our list of the best books like The Couple Next Door is The Perfect Nanny, a 2016 psychological thriller by Leila Slimani. The story follows Myriam, a French-Moroccan lawyer who is looking for the perfect nanny for her two children. She and her husband can’t believe their luck when they find Louise.
Louise is devout and dedicated, more than happy to clean the family’s chic Paris apartment, stay late, and sing the children to sleep. However, what begins as a dreamy situation soon leads to both the family and the nanny growing increasingly dependent on one another. And, with this dependence, jealousy, suspicion, and resentment begin to take over their idyllic tableau.
The People Next Door – Tony Parsons
Lana and Roman Wade have exchanged their flat for a honey-coloured house in the rolling hills of Oxfordshire. Perched in a residential close known as The Gardens filled with pleasant neighbours, it appears to be the quintessential idyllic neighbourhood. So, why does Lana feel so uneasy?
While they might look like the popular couple, Tony Parsons shows how looks can be deceiving in his 2022 crime thriller, The People Next Door. As the pair struggle to move on from the ghosts of their past, they begin to suspect that those affluent, charming neighbours around them may also be hiding grisly secrets of their own. Secrets that may be connected to the deaths of the occupants of the building they’ve just moved into. Secrets that could spell danger if Lana were to ever find out what they are. A gripping psychological thriller full of twists turns, murder, and passion, The People Next Door is the perfect follow-up for any fan of Shari Lapena’s books.
The Wife Between Us – Greer Hendricks And Sarah Pekkanen
Like The Couple Next Door, The Wife Between Us is another psychological thriller that explores the manipulation behind a seemingly perfect household. Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen’s viral hit introduces readers to the messy love triangle featuring the enigmatic and successful Richard, his new fiance Nellie, and his ex-wife, Vanessa.
As Richard and Nellie attempt to kick-start their new life together, Vanessa seems to become more and more obsessed with their relationship. Yet, there is much more to this dynamic than meets the eye. The Wife Between Us is full of surprising twists, depth, and heart.
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The Spare Room – Andrea Bartz
From the New York Times bestselling author of We Were Never Here, The Spare Room is a 2023 mystery thriller book by Andrea Bartz. Kelly’s new life in Philadelphia has descended into a nightmare. Jobless and forced to live in her tiny apartment with the man who has just cancelled their wedding, the one redeeming part of her life is her friendship with Sabrina and her high-powered, handsome husband, Nathan.
When the couple offers the spare room to her in their remote Virginia mansion, Kelly jumps at the opportunity. She quickly becomes attracted to the pair of them, leading to one fateful and wild night. At first, Kelly loves being a part of their risqué world. That is until she discovers the last woman the pair invited into their lives has disappeared. Similarly to “The Couple Next Door,” The Spare Room is packed with tension, and twists, and navigates the murky world of toxic relationships.
Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng
For a book like The Couple Next Door that blurs more into the literary fiction genre, Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere is a great exploration of the intrigue and suspicions that can mount around a local neighbourhood.
The book follows two families in Shaker Heights, Cleveland – the archetypal nuclear family in the Ricardsons, and the newcomer single mother, Mia, and her daughter, Pearl. Pearl quickly strikes up a friendship with the Richardson family, who begin using her to learn more about the murky past of Mia and the secrets she has attempted to keep behind her. When a custody battle erupts across the neighbourhood, these two families find themselves on opposing sides as their obsessions collide with a devastating cost.
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My Husband’s Wife – Jane Corry
When young lawyer Lily marries Ed, she vows to leave the secrets of the past behind her and begin a fresh start. But when she takes on her first murder case and meets Joe, a convicted felon, she finds herself drawn in a way she could have never imagined. Before long, she will soon be willing to risk almost anything for this killer.
But Jane Corry’s mystery thriller, My Husband’s Wife, soon shows that Lily is not the only one with secrets. Her neighbour, Carla, may only be nine years old, but she has already worked out how powerful secrets are. How they can be the means of getting anything she wants. And when Lily finds Carla on her doorstep twelve years later, a chain of events is set into motion that will only ever go one way.
The Widow – Fiona Barton
Similar to The Couple Next Door, Fiona Barton’s The Widow is a suspenseful thriller that delves into the secrets we keep to protect those we love. It is the story of Jean Taylor, a woman who enabled her husband and kept the secrets of the terrible crimes he had been accused of committing.
Now that her husband has died, there’s suddenly no reason to remain quiet. And there are plenty of people eager to hear her story. No longer having to play the perfect wife, standing by in defence of her husband, she begins to reveal what it was really like to be living with a man accused of the most heinous acts. Yet, every marriage has its secrets and, if there’s one thing Jean has learned over the years, it’s that she’s capable of making people believe anything.
The Mistress’s Revenge – Tamar Cohen
Another gripping thriller like The Couple Next Door that demonstrates the lengths people will go to to satisfy their obsessions, The Mistress’s Revenge is a 2011 book by Tamar Cohen. For five years, Sally and Clive were locked in a steamy affair. Until one day, when Clive unceremoniously dumped her, claiming that he wanted to focus fully on his wife and family.
What begins as a casual stroll around the family home and popping into the shop where Clive’s son works is soon followed by Sally following his wife and daughter on Facebook. Soon, this obsession begins to stretch into far darker, and potentially deadly, extremes. One of the best books for those looking for their next ‘crazy ex’ read, The Mistress’s Revenge is a story of how an otherwise sane individual can be pushed by a little bit of heartbreak.
The Couple At No. 9 – Claire Douglas
When pregnant Saffron Cutler and her boyfriend move into 9 Skelton Place, the last thing they expect to find as they begin renovating is two bodies. Police investigations reveal the bodies have been buried for at least thirty years. Saffron begins to think there is nothing to worry about. Until the police open a murder investigation and ask to speak to the building’s former owner – her grandmother, Rose.
Rose is residing at a care home and suffering from Alzheimer’s, her confused memory being of little help to the police initially. But something about the building and the bodies soon begins to stir something. Claire Douglas’ 2021 mystery-thriller is a gripping tale of dark secrets and covering up the past – perfect for anyone who loved The Couple Next Door.
Those People Next Door – Kia Abdullah
Salma Khatun is optimistic about Blenheim, the safe suburban area she, her husband, and her son have recently moved into. Their family need a fresh start, and this sleepy neighbourhood looks set to be the perfect place to make that happen. Not long after they move in, she spies her neighbour, Tom, tearing out an anti-racist banner she has put out on her lawn.
She brings the banner inside and puts it in her window. Only when she wakes up, she finds her window has been smeared with paint. With the battle lines between the two families being drawn, the stakes are only escalated to new, and more dangerous extremes. Like The Couple Next Door, Kia Abdullah’s 2023 domestic noir is a homage to toxic neighbours and the lengths we’re prepared to go to for the ones we love.
Part-time reader, part-time rambler, and full-time Horror enthusiast, James has been writing for What We Reading since 2022. His earliest reading memories involved Historical Fiction, Fantasy and Horror tales, which he has continued to take with him to this day. James’ favourite books include The Last (Hanna Jameson), The Troop (Nick Cutter) and Chasing The Boogeyman (Richard Chizmar).
