THE GOLDEN COUPLE, by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


What an engrossing, dramatic story!



Marissa and Mathew Bishop are a DC/Maryland “Golden Couple” – both are good looking, popular, and successful in their individual careers. Their marriage looks almost too ideal…



But something is horribly, terribly wrong…
Marissa Bishop is desperate to repair her fractured marriage.



Marissa hires the infamous couples counselor, Avery Chambers, hoping that her “Ten Step program” is going to salvage her imploding marriage.



I can’t go into many details without dropping a “brick-ton” of spoilers, so you will have to read the book or listen to the excellent audiobook to find out for yourself whether Avery succeeds in putting this Golden Couple back on their social throne. (I found the unorthodox therapies and analysis riveting stuff. Psychology and psychoanalysis have always been my kryptonite!)



Did I figure out all of the mysteries, secrets and lies? You bet, and I suspect that you will, too! Even before I started listening to the audiobook (and reading the Ebook at my gym) I had a suspicion of where this story would go – and I wasn’t wrong. The side plot involving Avery and the nasty pharmaceutical company held a few unexpected twists and turns, but for the most part, there weren’t any glaring shockers that you couldn’t see coming.



Polly – Marissa’s assistant at her high end boutique – was so annoying, and Natalie – Mat’s ex-college girlfriend – was still in the picture, as was Marissa’s “first kiss” childhood sweetheart, Skip.
Is that a love-triangle… or two… or three… that the authors have inserted in this busy plot?



For a while there I couldn’t tell if Natalie was there merely to establish a love triangle, or whether she was something more sinister…..! (One small pet peeve of mine: I actually dislike when villains become “nice people after all” at the end of a story, despite their many misdeeds.)

If you are a Hendricks and Pekkanen fan, then you already know that they don’t usually do HEA’s – but you do get a twinge of hope for a future HEA in this story – surprise, surprise!…. Well, not really. You could probably see that coming too….



Although the writing was generally very good, the plot got a bit muddled towards the last third of the novel. In fact, it took an abrupt about-face, character-wise, which is something that can rarely be carried off well. Sorry to say, it didn’t transition well for me here either. For me, the authors sort of bludgeoned you over the head with clues and over-explained things right from the very start. (Marissa’s demeanour during the first counseling session gave the whole show away right then and there.)



This story started off strongly, and despite the weaker third portion, I was totally invested in finding out how the story would end – and whether my preliminary suspicions were correct. (I wasn’t too far off the mark. Maybe I’ve been reading too many thrillers?)

I was given ARCs for both the e-book and the audiobook of The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. Karissa Vacker and Marin Ireland did a fabulous job of dramatizing this dark domestic thriller.

I’m rating this one a 3.8, rounded up to a 4, out of 5 because the writing in the e-book was very good (if a tad over-explained here and there) and the audiobook was brilliantly performed. My thanks to the authors, their publisher and NetGalley for ARCs of this e-book and audiobook in exchange for an honest review. (Expected Release date: March 8, 2022.)
(Sorry about all the Barbie and Ken graphics, but when they popped up in my image searches, I simply could not resist!!!)

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