Print Length: 359 pages
Publisher: Avon (December 9, 2021)
From Goodreads.com: Have you heard about the couple on Maple Drive?
Isla barely leaves the house after her brutal mugging.
Her boyfriend Zach moved in with her after the attack. To look after her.
But something else has happened now. Right on their doorstep.
I don’t want to say that someone’s out to get her…
I just hope they find out the truth before it’s too late.
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My Rating: 1 star out of 5
The synopsis of this book intrigued me from the start. I especially wanted to know what happened on their doorstep, and what did it have to do with Isla and her mugging?
However, the story, in my opinion, just never lived up to its potential.
To begin with, I couldn't connect to or sympathize with any of the characters. Even before the glaring truth came out, I hated Isla and Zach as a couple (and as people since we're being honest). They were constantly sniping at each other, constantly being rude and picking fights only to do a complete 180 a few seconds later and be back to getting along. It was tiring, and while I know Isla had been through something traumatic, that was no reason to take it out on Zach.
And then early on we are told who was behind the attacks. And then Isla decides she is an armchair detective who needs to know what happened that night (and really, I can't fault her for THAT). What I did have a problem with was the fact that one, when she began to suspect Zach might have had something to do with it she continued to let him live with her to "keep an eye on him". Even knowing what he might have done to her, what he might still be doing to her, and completely overlooking the fact that while she was keeping an eye on him, he could also be doing the same to her. I hate it when characters are too stupid to get out of their own way.
The second issue I had with this is that when Isla DOES start remembering bits and pieces of that night (and when she goes and speaks to people who give her other ideas on who might have been behind it), instead of going to the POLICE who are in charge of her case and giving them evidence, she instead chooses to go to the creators of the true-crime podcast that she has become obsessed with and ask them for help (although these people have no problem getting their hands on high-tech spying software apparently and no qualms about using it unlike the police).
Of course, the police also wouldn't have let her run off on her own, and if they had, wouldn't have left her after promising to be there for her for a bit of unexpected camera footage on another case that they could have sent any of the others to fetch, or again, called the police and explained what was going on, but anyway. All of that of course leads up to an ending that is meant to be shocking, but like the rest of the book just .... isn't. It's once again glaringly obvious to the reader who is behind what happens, but we are made to suffer, ahem, read, through several more pages and an epilogue just for an ending that is sadly as dull as the rest of the story turned out to be.
And while it seems like the door might be open for this author to explore more with this true-crime podcast team, I doubt I will read more. At least not anytime soon.
DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.
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The Couple on Maple Drive is available from Amazon.com
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