Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica (Review by Sharon Steinman)

4 stars

I was really excited to receive an advance copy of Mary Kubica’s new book. Last year we read Local Missing Girl as part of the book club and it was a great read. This book starts off with somebody away in the forest which was such a tense beginning to a book to capture the reader.

Lily who is pregnant and has had many miscarriages is married to Christian who is an incredibly loving and supportive husband. When Christian comes home from work often he sees she is exhausted and picks up dinner on his way home. The pregnancy has been tough on Lily but she sees more off than usual one day when he gets home from work. He notices that Lily is more anxious and wants her husband to ensure all the doors are locked and the alarm is set on the house. Lily has a friend Nina who she works with as a teacher. Nina was Lily’s mentor when she first started teaching and they have become good friends over the years. Christian can tolerate Jake but he is not someone Christian particularly likes.

The second couple featured in the story is Nina and her husband Jake. It appears that Nina and Jake had a fight and Jake hasn’t been happy about the time Nina has been spending with her mom and Jake accuses her of being emotionally and physically unavailable to him. They have a disagreement and the next morning Jake goes to work and doesn’t return home. The big question in this book is what happened to Jake and as we keep reading the story begins to fall in place and we learn more about Lily and her friendship with Nina. We learn about Nina and her relationship with her mom and her relationship with Jake.
This book is captivating and fascinating and as I’m reading it I am wondering is Jake is really missing, decided to leave, or is dead. I am also curious as to who was the last person who actually saw him and what happened. Did Jake decide to leave and start a new life somewhere else? Did Nina kill him? There seems to be a male teacher at school who is a little too interested in Nina’s wellbeing.

Jake doesn’t seem to be compassionate or a caring person. So as a reader I begin to wonder if it is someone at his workplace or a past patient’s family who were questioning his medical abilities. There are so many hints at possibilities as to what could have happened to Jake. I had a hard time putting this book down because I wanted to see where this was heading. This book had me feeling spooked at times and super curious. I am glad I got to read this thriller. The twists were good and one of the twists I didn’t see coming at all. I would rate this book 4 stars. It is a great distraction and a fun read.