The Couple Next Door, Shari Lapena

The Couple Next Door

By Shari Lapena

(Tansley Reads Rating: 54%)

 

Icebreaker -- Most, if not all of us, have at some time in our lives been babysat or babysitters. What is your best/worst/funniest memory of the experience?

 

Questions

 

1.  What did you think of Anne and Marco’s decision to leave their infant daughter asleep at home alone?

 

2.  What was your opinion of Marco at the beginning of the story, and then, as the story progressed?

                     

3.  Why did Marco put such trust in a person he had recently met on a park bench?

 

4.  There are a variety of things that Alice keeps from Richard (her knowledge of his infidelities, Anne’s mental breakdowns, she lets him pretend it is his money). Why do you think she does this and what do you think this says about their relationship?

 

5. What drives Anne’s relationship with her parents?

 

6.  How would you describe the character of Cynthia? What do you think of the respective relationships between Cynthia and Anne and Cynthia and Marco? 

                     

7.  What exactly was Cynthia’s involvement with the kidnapping?  (Pg. 306 “You’ll never be able to prove that …..”)

 

8.  So what do you think happened at the end of the story?  Who called 911?

 

9.  Was there any character in this book that you’d have chosen to get to know better?

 

10.  Who are the Couple Next Door?

                     

 11.  Quick round: What did you think of the book? Is there anything you want to discuss that we missed?