Book Review: The Golden Couple | Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

A seemingly perfect couple isn’t as flawless as their beautiful home and shiny cars project when infidelity and a particularly unique therapeutic intervention send them on a wild journey towards a shocking end. The Golden Couple by Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks is a must-read!

About the Book

Wealthy Washington suburbanites Marissa and Matthew Bishop seem to have it all—until Marissa is unfaithful. Beneath their veneer of perfection is a relationship riven by work and a lack of intimacy. She wants to repair things for the sake of their eight-year-old son and because she loves her husband. Enter Avery Chambers.

Avery is a therapist who lost her professional license. Still, it doesn’t stop her from counseling those in crisis, though they have to adhere to her unorthodox methods. And the Bishops are desperate.

When they glide through Avery’s door and Marissa reveals her infidelity, all three are set on a collision course. Because the biggest secrets in the room are still hidden, and it’s no longer simply a marriage that’s in danger.

Structure

The story is told in alternating perspectives from Avery Chambers and Marissa Bishop. I thought the dual perspectives were particularly effective for this story because it made me feel a bit unbalanced and unsure who to trust. The plot itself is expertly constructed, which I’ve found to be true of every book published by writing duo Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. They really know how to put a compelling psychological thriller together and I found this story just as gripping as their prior work.

The Characters

Avery Chambers is a therapist who lost her professional license after… let’s say crossing some boundaries she shouldn’t have in her sessions. Avery takes a completely unorthodox approach to her therapy sessions, working her clients through a ten-step plan that is at a minimum invasive. I also found Avery to be quite lonely and that made her more relatable than you’d think. She’s widowed and her work is her personal life, making her get a bit overly invested in her clients.

Marissa Bishop is the wife to Matthew Bishop and mother to their son Bennett Bishop. Despite her seemingly perfect life, Marissa cheats on Matthew in a one-night stand. Marissa is a relatable and flawed character. She feels a lack of intimacy in her marriage and that leads her to infidelity, but she wants to find a way to make it work. Matthew and Marissa are a reminder that no matter how perfect a couple seems to others, we all are working through our flaws.

There are a few other characters I will be vague about, including a former love interest of Matthew’s, an employee of Marissa’s who is a bit too interested in her life, and the man who Marissa was unfaithful with.

Overall Thoughts

This is one of those books that gets more complicated and twisted as secrets are revealed. Many of the characters are not what they seem from the teaser and there are just layers upon layers to reveal. I liked the pacing a lot, it was character-driven but had enough plot elements to keep momentum as it wound towards the final reveal. A must-read for psychological thriller fans who love a character-driven suspense plot!