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The Couple at the Table: The top 10 Sunday Times bestseller - a gripping crime thriller guaranteed to blow your mind in 2024

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I’m a newcomer to Sophie Hannah’s work but have heard good things, so was keen to read The Couple at the Table, despite it being the latest book featuring series characters Detective Constable Simon Waterhouse and his wife Sergeant Charlie Zailer. In this outing they find themselves at the centre of a murder investigation as someone offs Jane Brinkwood at the luxury couples-only Tevendon Resort while Waterhouse and Zailer are there as guests. Hannah sets up an impossible-to-solve mystery that wouldn’t feel out of place in the works of Conan Doyle or Christie.

As I read The Couple at the Table, I got the feeling that it started life as a plot for one of Hannah’s Poirot novels. From the exclusive resort, to the class divisions between the various guests. And the most telling due? “The Gathering.” I can’t think of a modern police procedural where the lead investigator gathers all the suspects in a room and talks at them for a period of time. It almost feels as if DC Waterhouse, DS Zailer and the rest of the team were shoe-horned in at a later date, leaving the story feeling somewhat disjointed in places. The motive and identity of the murderer, when it eventually came, was a complete anti-climax, and the final part, written from the point of view of the victim was just bizarre.

All the couples at this small, exclusive resort have secrets, some major, some minor. All but one couple lie, but even they conceal things from each other. And some of them are better at lying than others.

I really wanted to love this one as I usually enjoy Sophie Hannah’s work, but this one is not as good as others I’ve read by her. The premise is there, but the execution falls flat. So when I was offered the chance to review her latest, I decided it was a good opportunity to finally find out what I’d been missing.In the second half of the book the pace intensified as the case starts to close in, though I did not suspect who admitted to the killing and by the end, I was unsure if this person was the real killer or just taking the fall, that’s how much it plays with your mind. The Lucy narrator was hilariously deranged but not in a good way and the victim, Jane, sounded like a badly drawn Cruella De Vil. The whole 'letter to a murderer' thing was badly judged (and repeated twice). This was presumably so the reader could read through to find the clues, but I couldn't be arsed. It took a few chapters before I settled into this one but once caught up in the tangled lives and stories, this became hard to put down. I'd say that in comparison with the earlier books in the series, this is lighter, without the same intensity of trauma and troubled characters. You also don’t know that you’re about to be murdered, or that once you’re dead, all the evidence will suggest that no one there that night could possibly have committed the crime. I didn’t realise going into this that it was book 11 of a series but it really did not matter. It is the police characters of Simon and Charlie that were recurring but this can easily be read as a stand alone.

OK, so it's a closed room murder - someone died - every possible suspect ruled out yada yada. Here we go, let's settle in to see how this unfurls. This was a good read with an interesting synopsis but I felt that it dragged a little and became a bit repetitive. The Couple at the Table reads like an old-fashioned murder mystery and a psychological thriller rolled into one. The plot is simple in terms of the murder, however, the investigation and the toing and froing between the characters and timeline make sure you have to read the book slowly and take everything in as at times it comes across as a little confusing. MY THOUGHTS: Lucy Dean describes her ex-husband William Gleave as 'like a computer that's only had a quarter of its software installed.' Which made me smile. At times the description could equally well have fitted DC Simon Waterhouse, a man obsessed with a crime, a murder, that appears to have no solution.The Tevendon Estate in the Culver Valley is an exclusive couples only resort and it’s where Jane Brinkwood honeymoons with husband William Gleave. She receives notes including one which warns her to beware of the couple at the table nearest to yours which makes no sense at all as all the tables are in a circle and equidistant. After a very dramatic evenings events Jane is stabbed to death in her cottage. Who warned her or were they threats? Who killed her? DC Simon Waterhouse and Sergeant Charlie Zailer amongst others investigate what seems to be the “perfect crime”. Which couple at which table? Your suspicious detective eyes fall on all present at one stage or another. Six couples are seated for dinner at six different tables an equal distance away from the others. One of the couples receives a note stating that they should beware of the couple seated the nearest to them. Who could they mean? When a death follows the note's arrival it seems that its contents were truthful and the race in discovering who the sender is and who they were referring to is on. BY FAR Sophie Hannah's best one yet. Relatable, funny, high concept and so satisfying I watched in awe as the pieces fell into place' GILLIAN McALLISTER When someone, however, is discovered dead within hours of dinner, it appears the threats weren’t empty after all. To top off the oddness surrounding the case, it becomes evident to the police that no one from outside could have committed the murder and all of the guests have alibis. This leaves the detectives spinning their wheels as they try to figure out the impossible. Who is the murderer? And are the remaining guests potential victims or perpetrators?

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