Book Review: She Didn’t See it Coming by Shari Lapena

During that chocolate-filled lull of Christmas and New Years, I treated myself to not just sweets, but the domestic thriller She Didn’t See it Coming by Canadian author Shari Lapena. It had been a few years since I read a book by her, but she consistently hits the bestseller lists, so I was quite sure this would keep my attention. Unlike the last book of hers that I read, this plot really kept me guessing. There’s nothing extraordinary about this novel, but it was just what I was looking for; an easy read involving lots of suspects that I found entertaining, and excited to keep following. This is the joy of reading widely – always finding books to suit your many moods. Who needs television when we have such an incredible array of genres to choose from?

Plot Summary

Beautiful wife and mother Bryden has disappeared from her family’s apartment on the 8th floor of a swanky condominium building. She was working from home that day, but when she failed to pick up her daughter that evening from daycare, her husband Sam learned she had gone missing. Bryden’s parents and her sister Lizzie all rally around Sam as the police begin to investigate Bryden’s disappearance which is appearing more and more sinister as her keys, purse and cellphone are all found in the apartment. Bryden’s best friend Paige also tries to assist with the investigation, painting a picture of a woman with a perfect life and no reason to escape. The only out-of-the-ordinary situation that Bryden had recently been involved in was a very minor traffic accident a few weeks beforehand, which Lapena describes in the very first few pages of the book; Bryden was racing to pick up Clara from daycare when she lightly hit a man’s bumper in front of her, so they exchanged information and dealt with the damage about a week later. Again, nothing earth-shattering, but we do learn through Bryden’s first person perspective that the man she hit was very attractive, clearly wealthy, and strangely cool about it all. The police begin to investigate him to determine if he may be connected with Bryden’s disappearance, but they quickly discover that those closest to Bryden have their own secrets, and Bryden’s life may not have been as perfect as it seemed.

My Thoughts

Something Lapena does exceptionally well in this book is cast doubt on those around Bryden. True, I’ll admit that many of these twists come when a character reveals something to the reader that they could have earlier, (each chapter was written in the first person perspective) but I was happy enough to look past technique this as I continued further into the story. There is a minor storyline adjacent to Bryden’s that is connected, but also intriguing on its own; a couple on their same floor are still building back their life from a few years ago, when the husband was accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a young woman. He was never convicted because the victim couldn’t provide enough evidence, and although his wife was fairly certain her husband was innocent, she never had 100% certainty that he was innocent either. So, when Bryden goes missing, this man from down the hall is top of the suspect list as the police search reveals this past accusation. On top of this neighbor, there are at least four other strong suspects in Bryden’s disappearance, including the other man from the traffic incident a few weeks before, so the various motives were a really engaging aspect to this mystery.

Something else I appreciated about this story was its focus on true-crime enthusiasts, and their morbid interests in the mysteries unfolding around them in real-time. Lizzy is revealed to be one of these people, and the way she reacts to her sister’s disappearance online also ratches up the suspense when she begins posting details about the case under her fake profile. To hide her true identity, she claims she has a friend in the police as a way of explaining her intimate knowledge of the case, and revels in the online attention she receives because of it:

“She thinks she’s become someone they are turning to, as an authority on this case that they’re all so engrossed in. It’s because they think she’s got a friend in the police. Lizzie has never felt so important, so noticed, even though she is anonymous. She glows inside. She posts again” (p. 217 of She Didn’t See it Coming by Shari Lapena).

Is this simply a case of online obsession, or is it a reflection of Lizzie’s more sinister motivations? The reader is left guessing almost to the very end, and the truth only is revealed within the last few pages of the book which is something else I appreciated – no fluff at the end! Once you’re done with the mystery, you’re done with the book; a true sign of a writer who knows what her audience wants.