Jo's husband has gone missing. It has been over a year now and she's doing everything she can to find him. This book might appeal to fans of gothic romance fiction.

It’s been a year since Jo’s husband, Will, disappeared. In that year Jo see’s him everywhere. She’s stuck living in the past and wondering what happened to Will. Louise, Jo’s best friend, suggests she take a holiday. Begrudgingly Jo looks at the site Louise has sent her and clicks on a house that could be perfect for her. While scrolling through the pictures Jo see’s three pictures of Will on the mantle in the living room. She reaches out to the owner about house sitting and finds herself packing for her get away. She’s searching for answers and sure she will find them while there.
I found this book to be just okay. It was a little drawn out and repetitive. At times I found myself wondering how much longer until I finished. It wasn’t horrible but just not the suspenseful thriller I normally read.

3.5* Missing Stars

I was so excited to read this story after reading the blurb of a husband gone missing without a trace and then him suddenly appearing in a photo on a fireplace mantel in a rental property. I dived into the book full of intrigue, but the first half was very slow and not too exciting at all. I struggled with Jo’s constant inner monologue and her hallucinations of him around her all the time. I was happy when there were a few twists and turns which presented themselves towards the end of the book and this made for an exciting more enjoyable read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for my copy to read and review, all thoughts are my own.

Wow! The Happy Couple is one rollercoaster of a thriller...but there’s even more twists, turns and loop the loops than Nemisis Inferno at Alton Towers! You’ll find yourself suckered into the lives of the characters and you won’t want to put it down.

Jo’s husband Will has been missing for nearly a year. He left without a trace and she’s spent the time holding on to him, even seeing him in her imagination. Her best friend Louise rallies around her and eventually convinces Jo to take a short break after signing her up on house-sitting website. When Jo finds a property online that has photos of her missing husband on display, she knows exactly where she needs to go. Will she find out the answers about Will? Who is the mystery owner of the property and what’s their connection to Will? And does Jo know more about why Will left than she’s let on? All will unravel in this exhilarating thriller...

Samantha Hayes’s domestic thriller that will keep you guessing to the end and you won’t see the shocking conclusion coming! The Happy Couple is expertly crafted and there are so many directions hinted at that the plot may be going in, that you’ll find yourself trying to piece together fragments whilst never getting to the whole picture until Hayes takes you there. There’s a real Hitchcockian feel to this story and there are accurate comparisons to Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train - this is a thriller of that quality.

Jo is a well crafted leading character and Hayes has you questioning her sanity, her memory, her choices and her motives. There’s an element to her character that borders on the irritating as - no matter how much you love your partner - Jo’s recollections and rose-tinted view of Will feel obsessive. However, it is the feeling that everything is not quite as rosy as Jo makes out that helps to build much of the suspense and tension. I also enjoyed the internal monologues and the not knowing whether Jo had voiced her deepest darkest feelings out loud, or kept them inside. This provided some genuinely uncomfortable and awkward moments, but also injected some humour along the way. The supporting cast of characters are also very well written and Hayes is very adept at crafting suspicion and red-herrings around them. They also provide much exciting action, drama and suspense through their interactions with Jo.

There’s a brilliant metaphor used in the plot, about picking at a knot until it unravels. Jo’s tenacity in finding out what has happened to Will is exactly like this. That makes for a gripping, suspenseful and highly enjoyable read that I really recommend!

I liked the reunion - this not so much! I found it slow to start, hard to stay invested in it and I didn’t really like the characters! I did read it quickly and there was a few twisty parts that kept me going! Middle of the road on a motorway filled with amazing books.

4.5 Stars rounding it to 5.0 Stars.

I actually didn’t expect this to be good. The first parts especially before she found the house where her husband’s photographs are, seem to be boring. It took me days to finally pick up the pace. It becomes really intriguing when she is finally in Suzanne’s house (where she is going to house sit for a couple of days) looking for clues about her missing husband.

The whole time Jo stays at Suzanne’s house is making me intensely nervous. I am actually not a fan of Psychological Thrillers. My past reviews of Psychological Thrillers always sits at 3.0 stars on goodreads. However, this one is actually good! Like I love it. I am always hungry for answers. There are things that I actually guess. I felt good knowing I was able to guess it but there are still more hidden facts.

At first the Point of View confuses me at the beginning. There is Jo’s POV, there is Jo talking to herself, and there is a third POV. As the book progresses it continues to use third POV. The reason why I can’t give it full 5.0 stars is how the story jumps from past to present on a single chapter. Even though the chapters have a written “THEN” & “NOW” at the beginning of each chapter, it continues to flashback things which confuse me most times. That’s the only thing off to me but overall it’s good.

The ending is actually a bomb. I never expected but woa it’s really good.

I’ll write a full review soon on my blog https://inkly.in

Jo Carter is a seamstress and is married to Will, an actor and a school teacher. One day, Will disappears and Jo does not hear from him again although she has visual and auditory hallucinations of him all the time. After Will has been missing for a year, Jo's best friend, Louise, suggests she take a house sitting job so she can get away for a while. Louise sets up an account for Jo to look at homes available. While Jo is looking at homes in an area where she and Will had vacationed before, she spots his picture on the mantle in one of the homes. Jo applies and is accepted to house sit. From here, the story is very interesting with lots of twists and turns which makes it hard to put down. I wasn't sure at first if I was going to like this book but I was soon hooked. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC of this very interesting book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley (and the publisher) for providing me a free copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

This was my first book by this author. I really enjoyed the concept of the book and wanted to know what happened next. I wasn’t expecting where the story went.

I did struggle with some of the inner dialogue, following along with what’s being thought vs. said aloud. I also had a difficult time relating to the relationships between some characters through out the book.

I’m still unsure of how I feel about how the book was ended, but I do believe that is a sign the book is making you think about after you’ve finished it.

I will look forward to reading more by this author.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a free copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.

I was quite fascinated by the cover of the book and just couldn't resist myself from reading it.

This book grasps your attention in a second and would keep you hooked throughout the story .

Perfect thriller

A slow-burner that did NOT pick up till I almost gave up on it!

I enjoyed the thought-provoking themes peppered all over the story. However, I was pretty underwhelmed by the big reveal and I’m still not sure how I feel about the last chapter.

This was not my cup of tea but I’m sure other people will enjoy it.

I would like to thank the Publishers, NetGalley, and the Author for sending me an ARC of this book.

I love this author's book's normally, but this one didn't grab me like the others. i only got a few chapters in and had to give up. I do love this author though, and i'll deffinately be buying the next one.

The Happy Couple
By: Samantha Hayes
Pub. Date: May 6, 2020

I read this book quickly, it was gripping and I needed to figure out the twist. I enjoyed Samantha Hayes writing style in The Reunion so I was thrilled when I received this copy through Netgally for review.

The Happy Couple is domestic suspense about a husband that suddenly disappears. The story takes place a year after his disappearance and his wife Jo is not handling it well. Her best friend Louise desperately wants her to move on and her parents agree. Jo doesn’t know if he left on purpose, was in an accident, or is terrified that he might be dead. She can’t come to grips with him just up and leaving….she thought they were a happy couple.

I read a lot of domestic suspense and this one was pretty good. My only complaint was that Jo’s conversations with her missing husband got annoying. I started thinking she really need a mental health evaluation.

This thriller didn’t disappoint! I did not fully guess the plot twists, and there were a few. I do wish that the action of the story was spaced out a little more. Otherwise I think if you are a fan of domestics, you will enjoy this one!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5 stars

Thank you @netgalley and @Bookouture for an advanced copy for my honest review.

How long would you search for your husband if he disappeared?

This is the dilemma Jo is faced with in this thriller. Overall, I find that thrillers always pull me from a reading slump and this was no exception. I found myself opening this book whenever I had a quick minute because I needed to know what happens.

I'd never read Samantha Hayes before, but I'd read more by her as I loved her writing style and her ability to pull me in early on. I wished that all the action at the end might have been spaced out a bit more rather than saving it all for the end, but overall, it didn't distract from the book.

Thank you Bookouture and Netgalley for allowing me to read this before it's published! This is my honest opinion and written voluntarily.

This was one of the rare occasions when I’ve read a book quickly but not really enjoyed it as much as i thought I would . When Jo’s husband vanishes without a trace she really struggles to get on with her life , still seeing him everywhere she goes and analysing their life trying to find answers . When her best friend Louise persuades her she needs a break she looks on a site for house sitters . Imagine her surprise when she finds a perfect house , with pictures of her missing husband on the mantle . It was a little slow to get going but was entertaining enough after the first third . Just wasn’t for me , I didn’t particularly warm to Jo or her friends and family and I think this was my main problem .

This is about a woman Jo Carter, whose husband Will went missing about a year ago. Jo is a seamstress and co-owns a business. Will was an actor/drama teacher before he disappeared from what Jo considered a happy marriage. Or what initially seemed to be a happy marriage. Jo’s support system consists of her best friend Louise whom she’s known since she was a child. Jo’s parents seem very unlikeable, however, early on in this novel, I was wondering how reliable of a narrator Jo was. Although Will has been gone a year, she “sees” him and “talks to” him frequently.

Louise is always trying to get Jo to move on and one night at a dinner party she keeps suggesting Jo go on vacation, which is ridiculous because Jo barely makes enough money to keep her head above water. But a man at dinner suggests these programs where you sign up to housesit and/or petsit for people in exchange for using their homes as a holiday. After Louise butts in and signs Jo up for the program, she starts scrolling the various homes in various locations and in one of the photos for a potential home, she sees pictures of Will on the mantle in a living room. Of course, she applies to housesit, which leads her to the home of a woman named Suzanne.

So, I will start by saying that the first 25-35% of this novel seemed to drag on forever. Jo was annoying and appeared to have some serious mental issues going on with her obsessing over Will, where he was, why he left – but then seeing him everywhere and having conversations with his conjured image all the time. Moreover, more often than not, if Jo was thinking something, it turned out she was actually saying out loud confusing the other characters in the story, as well as me. I struggled at times to keep up with what she was actually thinking versus what she was actually saying. As far as main characters go, she made me start to feel that I was as crazy as she was.

Luckily, things started to become more interested and bits of pieces of their story started to fall into place. We learn that something bad happened not long before Will disappears. We learn that Jo became suspicious of him and a co-star in a play. We learn that Suzanne was involved in a bad accident that has left her traumatized. Most importantly, we learn that there has been some serious dishonesty. All of the makings of a great thriller, right?

My big positives from this novel are that the author managed to plant so many different seeds of doubt that I lost count (which I love about Samantha Hayes). I would think one thing, but then realize I was completely off-base. I also loved that once things really started to get interesting, it was a wildly fast, hands-in-the-air roller coaster ride that didn’t slow down until the end. I was confused, frustrated, and surprised over and over, making this a fun and addictive read. But again, this was once things started to pick up because the beginning was so slow.

What I didn’t like, other than the cumbersome beginning, was basically the last few paragraphs of the novel. I loved the way things were wrapped up until the end. I felt that it was silly, absurd, and almost just thrown in as an after-thought. Those last paragraphs almost made this a 3-star read for me, but other parts were so good, it’s 4 stars for me. I’m a huge fan of this author overall and will always read her work when given the opportunity. This woman throws in a twist like no other.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for providing this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I have read this authors other books and loved them but I struggled with this one. I found the inner dialogue annoying and the whole story struggled to keep my attention. It was a good ending though.

The Happy Couple was just not the book for me unfortunately. I struggled with getting through the first half and then a big twist happens but it wasn't my favorite thing. This was about a married couple and the husband has been missing for a year. The wife is not sold on leaving him behind and thinks there's more to the story when she applies to housesit at a home where she sees pictures of her husband on display. Is the wife ready to know the truth of what happens? I was very intrigued by reading the premise, but I think this overall landed a little flat for my tastes. I think it would definitely be a great book for someone else who enjoys thrillers.

4.5 stars - I absolutely loved The Liar’s Wife by Samantha Hayes, so I had to read this one and I wasn’t disappointed!

Even though I really enjoyed this book, I had a couple problems with it. First, I was getting very annoyed at the main character and her obsession with her husband, Will. In my eyes, she became a very weak character and I had trouble sympathizing.

Secondly, in the first 25% of the book, nothing really happens, and I was getting a bit bored. However, afterward, the book picks up and I was happily surprised at how the story unfolded! There were multiple unpredictable twists and turns!

This was totally a gripping story with a great ending! If you want an entertaining, quick and easy read, this one is for you!

Will and Jo, Louise and Archie.....best friends and both trying for a baby. Suddenly Jo's life is turned upside down by the disappearance of her husband. Still struggling a year later, financially hindered and facing her pregnant best friend Lou, Jo accepts the challenge of a house sitting job, earning herself both a bit of money and some time away.
However the surprise return of the house occupant Suzanne proves to be both a dangerous time for Jo as well as a time of discovery of many hidden secrets.
Have always loved Samanthas books and although I initially found it quite slow to get into, the middle and end made up for this. Love a twist at the end that I wouldn't have guessed.

I’ve been on a thriller kick in 2020, especially the past month or so, as I have found that getting lost in a good thriller is the perfect way to take me out of my anxiety riddled mind and make the world around me disappear. Thriller novels are my form of therapy of sorts while in quarantine. So when I stumbled upon The Happy Couple on Netgalley and read through the synopsis, I felt it would be a great distraction and an excellent anti-anxiety remedy, not requiring a pill, (who needs xanax when thrillers exist?) to lose myself in. I am always intrigued by missing husband/wife thrillers and the like, so naturally, this book was right up my alley.

The Happy Couple is like a twisted take on the movie The Holiday, only more screwed up and sinister, and with many of the elements of a twisted, ominous thriller instead of a romantic feel good movie. (Fun Fact: the movie The Holiday was mentioned in the book so perhaps I’m onto something. Maybe Samantha Hayes was watching it one night and got inspired?)

All of the ingredients needed for an engrossing, compelling thriller are present in this novel making for a fun and intriguing read: a wife distraught over her missing husband. a best friend (a very annoying friend) who has secrets and problems of her own and also plays a vital role in setting certain events in motion. A mysterious woman who may or may not be the mistress of the missing husband and may also know more to the story in regards to his perplexing disappearance, as she seems to be harboring dark secrets of her own.

Before picking up The Happy Couple I had never read any of Samantha Hayes’ previous novels. Although I will pick up a book by her again at some point in the future, I have to say that this one in particular was just an okay read overall. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it wasn’t fantastic either, and while it kept me entertained, it won’t be making it onto my list of favorite thrillers of 2020. Still, even with that being said, I did enjoy this book, as it was a quick and engaging read, filled with suspense and questions that keep you thinking and wanting to turn the pages with eager anticipation while reading so that you may reach the conclusion that much faster.

From the very start of the book, you are thrust right smack into the middle of what is going on, making you eager to know what exactly it is that is going on, what will happen next, and how it will all play out. All before the first chapter has even come to a finish!

The book is narrated through first person POV, through the mind of the main character and lead female protagonist, Jo Carter. Jo is not at all in a good, stable frame of mind, and her angst and tormented state is made very clear from the onset of the opening chapters. Her husband, Will, has disappeared, and has been missing for a year. Whether he is dead or simply vanished but alive (and out there somewhere due to his own choosing or against his will) is unclear, and this further adds to her inner turmoil and unstable state of mind, as she struggles to both cope with his absence and is frantic to find out what happened to him and the reasons behind his disappearance.

Jo not only spends her time reminiscing about the past (as the book sometimes flashes back to past memories in chapters, which has relevence to the storyline the more the story unfolds), but she speaks to him as if he is still there with her, perhaps as a means of comforting herself and a coping method of sorts. And sometimes, without even realizing she’s doing it, she says the things that she’s thinking out loud in her head, even while speaking to other people. Even more alarming and chilling, she actually sees hallucinations of Will on numerous occasions, and speaks to him.

Both her mother (who has never been quite approving of Will) and her pregnant best friend Louise (who I found to be quite annoying from the start. Anyone else feel this way? No? Maybe its just me?) continuously urge her to move on with her life and at the beginning of the book I found this to be rather irksome and insensitive. More so on Lousie’s part than Jo’s mother’s, perhaps because she plays a much bigger role and therefore is mentioned more.

Jo is not only grieving and out of her mind (quite literally), but she literally has no idea idea what happened to her husband. No answers whatsoever. Is he dead? Is he alive? Is he lying in a ditch somewhere? Buried in the woods in a shallow grave? Relaxing and sunning himself on a beach on an island far away with a fruity cocktail in hand? Had he been having an affair prior to his disappearance and decided to up and leave his wife and start a merry new life with his mistress? The questions and possibilities were endless as far as Jo was concerned, because she didn’t know, hence her state of mind, and its beyond understandable why she was so overcome with anxiety and unable to move on with her life. Plus, when it comes down to it, Will was still her husband, and she was still a married woman! Plus, it had only been a year since his disappearance! The way that her supposed best friend was acting, you would think that years had gone by! For goodness sake woman, have some compassion! She even attempts to set Jo up on a date because you know, that is exactly what she is in need of. *eye roll*

All of that aside, Louise suggests that perhaps a change of scenery would do Jo some good and that maybe a holiday of some kind is in order (finally a helpful suggestion!). As Jo is a bit strapped for cash, Louise encourages her to sign up on a website for house sitters and that is when all of the ominous happenings begin to start happening.

A lovely cottage near a village called Hastings catches Jo’s eye, and while the cottage is charming and seemingly perfect and suited to just what she’s looking for at first glance, she’s shocked by what she sees in one of the pictures being advertised on the site. She’s astounded to see that in one of the photos showcasing the living room are pictures of Will on display. Is it an eerie coincidence? Surely not. Does Will live there? If so, why? Does he live there with someone else? Another woman? If not, why are there pictures of him displayed in that cottage and what does it all mean? What is the connection? And who is the person that lives in the cottage and what is their connection to Will? Desperately needing to know the answers to these questions, and needing to see for herself if Will is in fact living at the cottage, Jo sends in a requests for the house sitter position, and once she is approved, makes her way there.

Although Jo does not discover Will at the cottage, she learns that it is owned and lived in by a woman named Suzanne, who does have a connection to Will as we later learn.

As the novel progresses, a captivatingly dark story filled with secrets, deception, and all kinds of madness come to play and unravel into a plot that keeps you flipping the pages in anticipation of what’s going to happen next.

I thoroughly enjoyed a good chunk of this novel, but admittedly, I started to lose interest after the twists were revealed. It became a bit dull even. It was fun peeling back the hidden layers of the characters and discovering what they had been hiding, and Jo’s unstable state of mind was a compelling factor when it was all relevant, but this book just dragged on and on a bit unnecessarily.

Another issue I had with this book: the fact that Jo’s mental health issues weren’t properly address. While her psychiatric issues were vital to the storyline, its a bit concerning that no one seemed to think anything of her behavior and the way in which she would act. I know this isn’t a book about mental health, but still. Just something that stuck out to me and bothered me a bit.

Overall, a thought-provoking, fast paced, fun and engaging read! While not my favorite, I still very much enjoyed it, and will be on the lookout for future releases by this author, as well as going back and reading some of her previous novels.