The Couple Next Door

The Couple Next Door, Shari Lapena’s 2016 international best-seller, begins as a classic detective story. As the mystery deepens, the novel turns into a tense psychological study of a dysfunctional family, the calculating logic of emotional manipulation, the spiral of post-partum depression, and the corrupting power of greed. Paramount Television optioned the novel for a TV series adaptation in 2018. Shari Lapena is the author of eight novels for adults, including The Couple Next Door. Lapena worked as a lawyer and English teacher before publishing her debut novel, Things Go Flying, in 2008. Her novels have been shortlisted for the Sunburst Awards for speculative fiction and the Stephen Leacock Award for humor writing.

This study guide references the Penguin 2016 paperback edition of the novel.

Plot Summary

Anne and Marco Conti raise their six-month-old daughter, Cora, in their swanky upstate New York home. Anne struggles with postpartum depression and Marco’s software development company appears destined for bankruptcy. Needing a reprieve, Anne and Marco agree to help the couple next door, Cynthia and Graham Stillwell, celebrate Graham’s 40th birthday. When their babysitter cancels at the last minute, Anne and Marco decide to put Cora to bed and head next door for a few hours. With a baby monitor in tow, the couple plan to check on the baby every half hour. When the party ends around 1am, Anne and Marco discover their front door unlocked and the crib empty.

The police, led by Detective Rasbach, initially suspect Anne. She has a history of violent episodes during which she blacks out, the result of watching her father die from a massive heart attack at the age of four. Anne takes medication for postpartum depression and struggles to adjust to motherhood. Rasbach uncovers the financial records of Marco’s struggling company, and Cynthia tells Rasbach that she and Marco kissed on the deck during the birthday party. Rasbach suspects Marco planned to rid his life of the encumbrance of a family. Anne assumes that the kidnappers will contact them for money because her mother’s family is wealthy. Anne’s parents have never liked Marco, particularly her stepfather, Richard Dries.

After two excruciating days, the kidnappers contact Anne and Marco via a package in the mail. The kidnappers send the onesie in which Cora was sleeping and demand a $5 million-dollar ransom. Anne is surprised when her stepfather shows no concern over the exorbitant sum of money. Richard insists they abide by the kidnappers’ instructions not to contact the police. The next morning, Marco heads to the rendezvous point, a remote cabin north of town, with a suitcase full of non-sequential hundred-dollar bills. There, he is ambushed from behind and knocked out. When he regains consciousness, the money is gone. Anne is devastated by her husband’s failure.

Marco is uncertain over what exactly happened at the cabin. Desperate over his company’s floundering finances, Marco turned to Bruce Neeland, a man he met in a bar, when his father-in-law turned down his request for a half million-dollar loan. Neeland suggested a staged kidnapping to get the money from Anne’s parents. During one of his checks on Cora the night of the kidnapping, Marco put Cora in her car seat and carried her out to Neeland’s car in the Conti’s backyard garage. The plan was simple: Anne’s parents pay the ransom, Cora comes home, and Marco and Bruce split the ransom money. Neeland double-crossed Marco and now his daughter and the money are missing.

The next day, Marco sees a small news article about a man found bludgeoned to death in the same remote cabin outside of town. Marco recognizes the man in the photo as Bruce Neeland. Marco tells Anne he recognizes the man in the photo as a guy he saw hanging around the house the days before the kidnapping, intending to frame Neeland alone for the kidnapping. When he goes to police station, however, Anne finds a cell phone hidden the AC vent in Marco’s office. Anne assumes Marco is having an affair with Cynthia, something she has long suspected. Meanwhile, Cynthia shows Marco a video from her backyard surveillance camera the night of the kidnapping. The video shows Marco crossing the backyard with Cora, going into the garage, and emerging minutes later without the baby. Cynthia wants money or she will give the video to Rasbach.

Marco retrieves his cell phone from his office, which he used to communicate with the kidnapper. The phone rings and Marco is surprised when he hears Richard’s voice. Richard claims the kidnappers sent him the cell phone and a new demand for $2 million more. Richard agrees to take the money to a drop off point. He returns with the baby.

Anne recognizes Bruce Neeland in the newspaper photo as an old friend of her father’s. Marco realizes that Richard planned the kidnapping to get Anne’s mother’s fortune, which he could not access because of a prenuptial agreement. Richard planned to divorce Anne’s mother and marry Cynthia, with whom he is having an affair. Richard arranged Marco’s encounter with Brian at the bar to put the idea of the staged kidnapping in Marco’s head. Marco convinces Detective Rasbach, and Richard is arrested for the murder and kidnapping. That night, Anne confronts Cynthia, who is unrepentant. In a moment of dissociative disorder, Anne kills Cynthia with a carving knife.