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When awkward becomes murderous

Cover of The Couple at the Table
A review of The Couple at the Table by Sophie Hannah

It's been a while since I've read one of Sophie Hannah's mystery/suspense novels, but with this her newest sounding so intriguing, I thought I'd dip back in. In the past, I've known Ms. Hannah to write complex, tricky tales, and she holds true to that ethos here.

The premise: Six couples are staying at an exclusive estate in rural England. One of the couples receives a note one night, "beware the couple at the table nearest to yours". But when they look at the dining room they see the tables are set up in such a way that no two tables are closer together than any of the others. Even worse is to come when someone ends up murdered that night and the culprit has to be among the people at the resort; those six couples and a few staff.

Truly one of Hannah's great set-ups. This one allows the book to start off with a lot of energy which never lets up. One of the primary characters and the initial narrator is Lucy Dean. Her ex-husband William has remarried and he and his new wife, Jane, are at the Tevendon Estate on their honeymoon. Lucy has come to terms with her ex and she and her new partner Pete even attended William and Jane's wedding ceremony. But when they end up vacationing at the same resort as the honeymooning couple, awkwardness ensues. Both couples try to tough it out, but what starts out as uncomfortable soon becomes dangerous. And when the police begin to investigate, they find that all of the couples at the resort have secrets to keep.

The plotting in this locked-room mystery is ingenious in its twisty-ness and if I found that there might have been just one or two too many twists at the end? Totally okay. I was along for the ride.

Jun 9, 2022