Anne’s wealthy mother and stepfather seem a too-obvious plot device, and they are, while her issues with the very real problem of postpartum depression are merely glossed over or trotted out during faux-fiery monologues. When it’s clear, or at least partially clear, what happened to the child, any remaining tension hisses out like a pricked balloon. What ensues is a paint-by-numbers police investigation, led by the personality-free Detective Rasbach, who seems to cycle through potential theories as to Cora’s whereabouts the same way Lapena must have in her early plotting stages, except it all ended up on the page. When they return, drunk, after 1:00 a.m., Cora is gone. But when the babysitter cancels, Anne and Marco decide to leave Cora alone, taking the baby monitor with them and checking on her every half hour. A nice night out at a neighbor’s birthday party might be just the thing everyone needs.

Yet looks are deceiving: his company is floundering, and she’s struggling with postpartum depression. He runs a successful software development company while she stays home with 6-month-old Cora maybe soon she’ll go back to work at the art gallery she loved.

A questionable decision leaves a couple in a situation no parent wants to face: it’s the middle of the night and their baby is gone.Īnne and Marco Conti seem like the perfect upstate New York family.

The couple next door author