BOOK REVIEW: The Couple at Number 9 by Claire Douglas
A crazy roller coaster of family secrets, murder, lies, emotions and intense twists.
I’m a little bit of a snob when it comes to thrillers, but by 3/4ths through I found that I just couldn’t put this one down. I literally had no idea when the next shocking revelation was going to come and what was going to be revealed! I honestly was unable to predict the ending.
So, I struggle at where to begin this review. I guess I will get the elements of the book that I wasn’t too much a fan with out of the way first. There are only a couple things that tripped me up though. One, there were moments where I felt the scenes dragged on a little bit. There was so much energy spent on building up the suspense, tension and emotion before an explosive twist that it was “Come on already!” This could come from my general aversion to suspense and overwhelming desire to just know what is going on. More my flaw than a flaw in the book.
The second was the overwhelming number of characters. Don’t get me wrong, by the end, it all makes sense and they all have a rightful place in the story, but there was a time about a third of the way in where I was finding that I was beginning to not really care about all of them. I just wanted to move along. It was hard early on to see their relevance and it felt that they were taking away from the primary characters and primary conflict.
Overall, the characters are amazing. They span three generations through grandmother, mother and pregnant daughter. I guess that means it technically spans about four generations. Rose, Lorna and Saffron have quite a story to tell. After Saffy and Tom move into her grandmother’s old cottage in the small Village of Beggar’s Nook, they begin some renovations on their house. Unfortunately it turns up two human skeletons when the builders are digging up the garden to build an expansion. All families have some type of skeleton in the closet I guess, but two? Buried in the garden?
From there the book follows two timelines - present day (well 2018) and 1978-1980. Through the timelines, we experience multiple points of view. Grandmother Rose when she lived in the cottage in the late 70s and 2018 while Saffy and her mother, Lorna, attempt to uncover the truth about what happened there all those years ago. Saffy and Lorna having their own points of view really allowed their characterization to take form. The experiences throughout their lives, especially those events in their childhood shaped them differently, and thus they process the truth in very different, emotional ways. The different POVs allow this to happen.
The timelines are presented in a parallel fashion. As Saffy and Lorna are learning new facts and uncovering new pieces to the puzzle, Rose’s timeline mirrors what truly was happening. However, there were a few critical points where Douglas purposely held information from us until later. A very powerful strategy to say the least.
One would think that the secrets would be easily discovered. Rose can simply tell them what happened and the identities of the two bodies if she truly did live in the cottage when it all happened. The problem? Rose is in a care home suffering from dementia. All they can get are little snippets of information they have to piece together in Rose’s lucid moments.
Throw in Theo, Victor, Daphne, Shelia, Jean, Susan, Davies, and even Melissa, and the puzzle slowly and terrifyingly begins to take shape. Theo does become one of my favorite characters even though the primary plot does not necessarily revolve around him. He still is a very important element as is his father, Victor. Saffy and Theo come across in a very similar fashion. They both present themselves as meek and tentative in the beginning. I definitely wouldn’t classify them as assertive or strong willed, both also impacted by their early, formidable years. However, while Saffy’s character development isn’t really critical to the outcome of the story, Theo’s is a little more important to the way his subplot concludes which in a roundabout way impacts the primary story of why there are two bodies buried in their garden. Theo develops and grows, Saffy pretty static throughout.
Theo, and Lorna, have to learn and accept what family truly means. Theo has to learn to face the sins of a parent while Lorna has to learn to stop running from uncertainty of love and family. These concepts lead to the emotional roller coaster in this book. The idea that forgiveness isn’t always possible. For others it's the acknowledgement that sometimes the truth can’t change the emotional connection and can’t erase memories. It is because these characters struggle some much emotionally that the plot development becomes that much more intense.
Some of the little secrets and truths didn’t come as a surprise, there was enough foreshadowing for those to be anticipated if you cared enough to process through everything. However, the last quarter of the book I will honestly say it was like getting doused with cold water. I simply said, “What is happening!?!” more than once.
Douglas did a phenomenal job of creating threads and weaving a tapestry together. One that spanned almost forty years and impacted multiple families. The conclusion was fitting if not a little predictable when it comes to how the characters ended up. I was glad that there was closure for Lorna not only when it came to her own mother, but that she and Saffy realized the importance of their relationship. It’s never too late to fix a relationship that is deserving of fixing, but it is also clear that there are times that blood isn’t thick enough to heal a toxic relationship.
Where does this book land on my bookshelf?
I struggled a little with this. I want to put it on my top shelf on the lower end of it, but then part of me wants to put it at the front of the middle shelf. I guess, since I always want to give the benefit of the doubt, that I would end up putting it on the top shelf.
If you enjoy thrillers, you will want to get this one added to your TBR list now so you don’t forget about it as you will have to wait until Augustfor it to hit the shelves. This book has everything you would want in a thriller. It was a nail-biting, twist filled, family feuding, secret hiding extravaganza. You too will probably have that “What is Happening?!?” moment too.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!
Check out my other blog “Educate This” where I discuss the lessons I’m learning through being a mother, wife and educator.