The couple next door

A dinner invitation from the couple next door changes the lives of Anne and Marco Conti. Neighbor Cynthia Stillwell asks the Contis not to bring their sometimes fussy six-month-old daughter, Cora, so when the babysitter cancels at the last minute, Marco comes up with an alternate plan. Since the Stillwell and Conti homes adjoin at a common wall, Marco suggests taking their baby monitor to dinner and checking on Cora in her crib every half hour, which works fine until after midnight. But when the Contis return home, tipsy from wine, their front door is open and Cora is gone. The couple is devastated, particularly Anne, who hadn't wanted to leave their baby alone, and police are suspicious: Anne is suffering from postpartum depression, and Marco's business is in severe financial trouble. Fearing a kidnapping, the couple turns to Anne's wealthy parents for help in paying ransom, as the actual events behind the child-snatching are gradually unveiled. Brisk prose style and character development are almost beside the point in Lapena's suspense-fiction debut; this is a plot-driven page-turner, and even the most character-focused readers will find it hard to put down.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2016 Booklist

At the start of Lapena's suspenseful, heart-wrenching debut, set in upstate New York, Anne and Marco Conti come home from a party at their neighbors' house to find their front door open and their infant daughter Cora's crib empty. They left Cora alone after the sitter cancelled at the last minute. Not a shred of evidence indicates that anyone entered the house after the Contis left for the party, though the police detectives on the case, Rasbach and Jennings, discover that the motion detector on the back door was disabled, the Contis' garage door was left open, and tire tracks, not from the Contis' car, were in the garage. Could the couple be covering up a kidnapping? Rasbach and Jennings suspect that they're withholding something, but they sense the Contis' anguish is legitimate. The tension grows as the united front that Anne and Marco have presented crumbles. After numerous twists and turns, just when everything appears to be resolved, Lapena delivers one final, deftly crafted surprise. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency (Canada). (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

This thriller starts out innocently enough, with a strange but plausible decision by a couple to leave their infant daughter at home in her crib while they attend a birthday celebration in the duplex next door. Anne and Marco Conti have the baby monitor with them, and they are checking on their daughter every half hour. What could go wrong? But when the crib is empty at 1 a.m., a series of twists begin that will keep listeners guessing up until the very last minutes. Narrator Kirsten Potter has a great voice range, and her characterizations are subtle but distinguishable, which makes for undistracted listening. This audiobook is filled with the kind of "driveway moments" that will keep suspense fans in their cars waiting for a plot turn to resolve. -VERDICT Strongly recommended for all public libraries, especially those where thrillers such as The Girl on the Train are popular.-Gretchen Pruett, New Braunfels P.L., TX © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A dinner invitation from the couple next door changes the lives of Anne and Marco Conti. Neighbor Cynthia Stillwell asks the Contis not to bring their sometimes fussy six-month-old daughter, Cora, so when the babysitter cancels at the last minute, Marco comes up with an alternate plan. Since the Stillwell and Conti homes adjoin at a common wall, Marco suggests taking their baby monitor to dinner and checking on Cora in her crib every half hour, which works fine until after midnight. But when the Contis return home, tipsy from wine, their front door is open and Cora is gone. The couple is devastated, particularly Anne, who hadn't wanted to leave their baby alone, and police are suspicious: Anne is suffering from postpartum depression, and Marco's business is in severe financial trouble. Fearing a kidnapping, the couple turns to Anne's wealthy parents for help in paying ransom, as the actual events behind the child-snatching are gradually unveiled. Brisk prose style and character development are almost beside the point in Lapena's suspense-fiction debut; this is a plot-driven page-turner, and even the most character-focused readers will find it hard to put down. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

At the start of Lapena's suspenseful, heart-wrenching debut, set in upstate New York, Anne and Marco Conti come home from a party at their neighbors' house to find their front door open and their infant daughter Cora's crib empty. They left Cora alone after the sitter cancelled at the last minute. Not a shred of evidence indicates that anyone entered the house after the Contis left for the party, though the police detectives on the case, Rasbach and Jennings, discover that the motion detector on the back door was disabled, the Contis' garage door was left open, and tire tracks, not from the Contis' car, were in the garage. Could the couple be covering up a kidnapping? Rasbach and Jennings suspect that they're withholding something, but they sense the Contis' anguish is legitimate. The tension grows as the united front that Anne and Marco have presented crumbles. After numerous twists and turns, just when everything appears to be resolved, Lapena delivers one final, deftly crafted surprise. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency (Canada). (Aug.)