Just The Nicest Couple

Kubica, Mary. Just the Nicest Couple. Toronto: Park Row Books, 2023

I don’t typically read “thrillers.” I’m more of a chick-lit, beach romance kind of girl. But this novel, the eighth from best-selling author Mary Kubica, somehow caught my attention. Told from two perspectives, in alternating chapters, it is a story that I’ll remember for years to come.

A man, hiking in a nature preserve, goes missing. He and his wife had recently fought and when he doesn’t return home that first night, she’s not too worried.

The wife’s co-worker meanwhile, tells her husband about an ugly encounter she had with the missing man in the nature preserve the same day. She worries she may have done more than just hurt him. The two couples are social friends, but none of the friends are completely forthcoming with what they know or with what they did.

Several weeks pass, and the missing man’s car turns up at a motel outside of town. Then a body is found in the nature preserve. Once the missing man has been identified, the stakes only get higher and the deceit intensifies. The twist at the end was definitely not what I’d anticipated.

If you’re already a fan of Kubica, don’t miss this one! If you haven’t read any of her stuff, and you enjoy Shari Lapena, Lisa Jewell, or Ruth Ware, check her out…you might find your next great author!

Jennifer N., May Memorial Library