Just the Nicest Couple

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Full of lies and twists, twists and lies, and layers upon layers of deception, I was kept invested and guessing with suspense consistently building throughout. Nina’s friend Lily thinks she may have been the last to see Jake before he went missing. After Lily confesses everything to her husband, Christian, the two decide that nobody can find out what happened leading up to Jake’s disappearance, especially not Nina. But Nina is out there looking for Jake, and she won’t stop until the truth is discovered. The waitress brings our coffee. She puts the mugs on the table with a sugar bowl and little pot of cream. I add cream and sugar and taste the coffee to make sure it is to my liking, blowing on the coffee first so I don't burn myself. I know that lots of people have really liked this one, but if you like logic and characters that behave rationally, then this is not the book for you. Lily Scott, Nina's friend and coworker, thinks she may have been the last to see Jake before he went missing. After Lily confesses everything to her husband, Christian, the two decide that nobody can find out what happened leading up to Jake's disappearance, especially not Nina. But Nina is out there looking for her husband, and she won't stop until the truth is discovered.

She's been extremely tired lately. The pregnancy is getting the best of her. She's on her feet teaching all day. These two things in combination exhaust her. Being pregnant and teaching high school kids." HEY GUYS JUST IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW... SHE'S TIRED BECAUSE SHE'S PREGNANT AND TEACHES HIGH SCHOOL KIDS. WHICH MAKES HER TIRED. BECAUSE IT'S TIRING. Jake Hayes is missing. This much is certain. At first, his wife Nina thinks he is blowing off steam somewhere after their heated fight the night before. But then a day goes by. Two days. Five. And Jake is still nowhere to be found.This is my third read by Mary Kubica and none have really been a rave, so I guess this author just does not mesh with me. I can't remember if this bothered me in the other novels, but here she does this thing that drives me crazy: she'll drag out a scene by describing completely mundane activities as if they are important, e.g: Per Wikipedia, five baseball players have hit grand slams in their first Major League times at bat: Overall, I’m so disappointed as excitement levels rise when you see a new Mary Kubica novel and it grieves me to rate her book this low. I still very much want to read what she comes up with next but in all honesty I don’t think this is up to her usual high standard. My favorite part of this book is how the author took the pretty common storyline (both in real life and fiction) of the missing wife, and turned it on its head. Here we see what happens when an affluent surgeon goes missing and his wife is the one to report it to the police. The characters were boring. Only Nina was relatable. I didn’t like Lily. I found Christian creepy and obsessive like every nap you take I’m watching you style ( he keeps watching his wife sleeping). And Jake: that narcissistic asshole made his bed! I didn’t care if he’s dead or alive!

I have read all eight of Mary Kubica’s thrillers, and they are either a big hit or a complete miss. Unfortunately, Just The Nicest Couple falls into the latter category. Also, one of the couples in the book was pathetic and irritating. (Who talks to each other like that?) Meanwhile, Nina has discovered that Jake’s gun is missing from their safe. She also has found a traffic violation issued to her mother the day Jake disappeared, a violation that is suspicious since her mother claims she cannot see well enough to drive. Nina searches her mother’s house and finds Jake’s gun in the trunk of her mother’s car. Her mother finds Nina with the gun and tries to explain that she saw how unhappy Jake was making Nina. Nina’s mother believes she did Nina a favor by killing Jake. She believes Nina should be grateful to her. Nina acts as if she is not going to turn her mother in to the police. A husband’s disappearance links two couples in this twisty thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Local Woman Missing, Mary Kubica Mary Kubica is an author that I feel a lot of readers find a bit hit or miss, including myself. Just the Nicest Couple seems to be right down that alley with some loving it and some not so much but I found this one highly compelling with the set up of knowing something happened but waiting for the twist that I knew would come. The tension of what and when drew me in and had this one falling in at four and a half stars for me.Basically, Lily feels she did something, Christian goes all wild trying to protect her, Jake is missing, and Nina freaks out, because they fought before he disappeared. Who is telling the truth--anyone, everyone? Christian irritated me with his impulsive doltish ways, Nina needed to stand up for herself, and even Lily got to me after a while. And Jake seemed to have no redeeming qualities and could stay missing for all I cared. One of the twists was a pretty decent surprise; the other one not so much. An odd read overall. 3 stars. The next day, the body is positively identified as Jake. He died via a gunshot wound, though, not blunt force trauma. The Reveal: Jake Hayes is missing. At first, his wife, Nina, thinks he’s taking a break after their huge fight from the night before. But days go by and Jake is no where to be found, Nina starts to worry. Where is Jake? Don’t miss Mary Kubica’s chilling upcoming novel, She’s Not Sorry, where an ICU nurse accidentally uncovers a patient’s frightening past… Or would you prefer playing a fun game? Take a shot every time Lily’s teenie tiny petite body type is mentioned . . .

This one was a huge miss for me. As far as 75% into the audiobook, nothing had happened besides Nina wondering where her husband is and Lily and Christian worrying about Lily being the last one to see him alive. The slow burn wasn’t suspenseful, it was mostly just boring. The writing is very repetitive. Some of you may think the book was easy to read with those short and simple sentences. It’s obvious the author tried something different. I wish it worked with me. Rich with detail and a mounting, almost suffocating sense of dread, Just the Nicest Couple is a dark and twisted exploration of loyalty, family, and how far we’ll go to protect the ones we love." —Andrea Bartz, New York Times bestselling author of We Were Never HereThe story is told from the perspectives of Nina and Christian. I thought it was an interesting choice to choose Christian over Lily. It added quite a bit of tension for the reader because Christian is relying on Lily to tell him what happened between her and Jake. Fascinating, right?! That's paraphrased because I don't feel like trying to find the passage in my audiobook, but I'm only slightly exaggerating. She does this over and over again. The pace of the book was good, but these descriptions would bog things down and I'd be muttering to myself, "Okay, Nina is opening a letter - we all know how that is done, so can we get ON with it?!" Don't miss Mary Kubica's chilling upcoming novel, She's Not Sorry, where an ICU nurse accidentally uncovers a patient's frightening past... Whereas I felt Nina was a sympathetic character. Not only is she dealing with the disappearance of her husband but her mother is very ill. It’s been a struggle trying to balance carrying for her mother while also dealing with her extremely needy husband.

Christian and Lily are expecting their first child. This pregnancy is met with stress after having three miscarriages. Christian is a doting and loving husband. He will do anything to make sure this pregnancy reaches full term.

Comments

I had vowed to stop reading Kubica, but the premise sounded so good that I had to give this one a go. This book has all of the makings of a juicy thriller, but the flat characters and messy execution made for a boring read. The uninspired tired plot. I read a lot of domestic suspense novels and this book basically spit out all of the usual devices. A character has macular degeneration of her eyesight, so conveniently cannot see the action unfold. Lily is a damsel in distress cliche and Christian is her knight in shining armor. This was a decent thriller with many false leads and red herrings - although I did guess correctly toward the end. I give it three stars because it wasn't anything really unique and all the characters were unlikeable idiots.