The Couple Next Door

By: Rick R. Reed

Narrated by: Wesley Landry

Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

Jeremy Booth leads a simple life, scraping by in the gay neighborhood of Seattle, never letting his lack of material things get him down. But the one thing he really wants—someone to love—seems elusive. Until the couple next door moves in and Jeremy sees the man of his dreams, Shane McCallister, pushed down the stairs by a brute named Cole.

Jeremy would never go after another man’s boyfriend, so he reaches out to Shane in friendship while suppressing his feelings of attraction. But the feeling of something being off only begins with Cole being a hard-fisted bully—it ends with him seeming to be different people at different times. Some days, Cole is the mild-mannered John and then, one night in a bar, he’s the sassy and vivacious drag queen Vera. So how can Jeremy rescue the man of his dreams from a situation that seems to get crazier and more dangerous by the day?

By getting close to the couple next door, Jeremy not only puts a potential love in jeopardy, but eventually his very life.

©2023 Rick R. Reed (P)2023 Rick R. Reed

Thriller with Romance

Ok, I just finished listening to the audiobook and I'm still attempting to absorb what I've just listened to.

This book is more on the lines of it being a thriller over a romance, but there are plenty of romantic elements. It is a rollercoaster ride with plenty of twists to keep the story interesting and moving along at a fast pace. Take heed of possible triggers because for some there may be many. This is one of those books where attempting to discuss things in detail will give away too many detail that may spoil the book.

The narrator, Wesley Landry, does a good job of brining the characters to life and is able to perform the suspenseful fee well.

Thrills Abound with 'The Couple Next Door'

Rick R Reed’s mix of romance and domestic suspense will keep every fan of the psychological thriller genre on their toes with a twisty plot. Jeremy and Shane–the romantic couple–have an almost star-crossed quality to them that is appealing. Reed’s storytelling makes the reader want them to be together–but will the threats in their lives make it possible?

With this being my first listen to narrator Wesley Landry, I definitely want to hear more from him. His performance is the perfect compliment to Reed’s writing.

solid psychological thriller

Story: 3.75⭐️
Audio: 4.25⭐️

“The Couple Next Door” is a solid psychological thriller that does a great job dialing up the tension and uncertainty and creating a horror movie-esque “what are you doing?!?!” atmosphere. Jeremy is a hopeful man who’s main wish is to find someone to share his life with. By nature, he is a nurturer and willing to go above and beyond to take care of others, such as his mother. Being raised in a home with an abusive, alcoholic father and a mother who stood by her husband no matter what, Shane's abuse puts all his protective and care-giving instincts into overdrive. However, taking care of Shane is not at all like taking care of his mother; it never put him at risk for being brutalized or murdered.

Despite the danger, only knowing his neighbors briefly, and learning little about Shane, Jeremy is enthralled by Shane and compelled to stay by his side. As pieces of information are trickled to Jeremy, he’s more and more horrified by the secrets the couple next door share. Yet, the small shred of self-preservation he has is continually undermined by his desire for Shane and his desire to be Shane’s protector, which becomes more intense as Cole’s violence against Shane escalates. Whether he realizes it or not, Jeremy *needs* to be needed, and Shane is the perfect wounded dove—beautiful, needy and practically oozing the same desperation for connection that Jeremy feels. Their first meeting held all the perfect elements to make Jeremy heedlessly throw himself onto this deadly pyre of love and devotion.

Reed does a great job establishing Jeremy’s character and what motivates him, making his inability to stay away from Shane believable (despite me wanting to shake some sense into him). However, I would have liked to understand Shane better. The story is told from Jeremy’s POV so the reader knows as little about Shane as Jeremy does by the end. Given the epilogue, I wanted to know more about him other than Jeremy seeing him as his perfect man. However, this mystery is important to the story Reed is telling and helps create the unsettling environment and twisted dance all the characters are in. Even knowing what is going, Reed threads enough uncertainty into the narrative to make me question what is or isn’t true and who is or isn’t playing games.

Wesley Landry does a great job conveying the uncertainty, menace and anxiety of the story. His narration voice is well-modulated, and his pacing matches that of the story. For me his voice for Jeremy is spot on, and he mostly does well with his character voices. His main weakness is that all his female characters sound the same. That being said, his overall performance is very well-done and makes “The Couple Next Door” an enjoyable and entertaining listen.

Another amazing book from this author!!

I really, really love reading this author. I never know where the story is going to go, and I like that each story is very unique. This is absolutely the case with this book. Shane and Jeremy meet under less than ideal circumstances, and then you'll have to read/ listen to find out what happens. This is definitely not a typical romance but a very intriguing book.

Deadly Relationships

Shane and Jeremy must traverse complex relationships with one another and others intent upon exerting themselves deeply in their lives! Not only do the main characters have to deal with their childhood drama but they also must maneuver a deadly relationship with another too close to ignore!

The author, Rick R. Reed, delivers a well-tuned thriller with psychological and emotionally charged romantic encounters throughout the unfolding drama. The characters are well-developed and complex with authentic characteristics. The storyline is well written but with enough plot twists that the listener will be stunned repeatedly. He is vivid in his details and descriptions. Each plot twist is vital to the storyline and unfolds smoothly. The ending is well done and feels natural.

The narrator, Wesley Landry, once again delivers a solid performance with deliberately placed pauses and punctuation to keep the listener drawn in. He slips into each character easily and smoothly bringing each to life with an authentic air. His voice is a natural sound for each character and is charged with energy and passion.

This audiobook will leave the listener on the edge of their chair from beginning to end.

There were no issues with the quality or production of this audiobook.

A really fantastic read!

What an amazing book! I won’t write anything about the story because anything more than the blurb would be a spoiler, but suffice it to say I was on the edge of my seat for the entire time! So many twist and turns! As soon as I thought I’d begin to understand where things were headed, a new plot twist promptly appeared to throw me for a loop!

It's Good

I liked it a lot. The storyline was interesting and characters unique, I liked Jeremy most of all. Interestingly enough this was a third audiobook I listened this month where one of the characters have DID and I thought author handled the subject very well, portrayed every character and their interactions so that I was captivated by the story development. Narrator was new for me and I thought he did a great job with all the voices and telling the story. Overall this was a good listening experience.

Unexpected

This story was definitely not quite what expected. I would term it more of psychological thriller with romance. It is done very well, and although this is my first listen to anything by this author or narrator I will be looking for more. Kept my attention all the way through and was very good.

Decent romance, with an excellent narrator.

A very nice romance thriller, with a couple of good twists and turns.

Wesley Landry provided wonderful word painting with his narration, and really sold the dialogue from each character, with subtle tonal changes.

Thrilling Story

This story takes you on a ride of twists and turns. It kept me on the edge of my seat and guessing throughout.

I received an ARC and this is my unbiased opinion.