The Not So Happy Couple by Emily Shiner

 Disappointing psychological thriller and domestic melodrama 

Bradley and his wife, Marissa, have an enviable life but that's about to fall apart. To celebrate their anniversary, Bradley takes her out to sea on his luxury yacht. Oh no, a storm sets in, but even worse, they discover a dead body in their bedroom cabin. As they both stare, aghast, at the woman, they realize that each knows the victim. Of course they don't disclose this to their spouse. Bradley calls the Coast Guard to retrieve the corpse and they return home, both shaken and trying to figure out who killed her. When they get back, the real games begin. 

That's when the whole premise falls apart. Told in alternating points of view, this tried to be a suspenseful thriller but it founders under the weight of all the cliches and pacing. It became frustrating listening to the same "he/she is lying to me" lines over and over. The main characters are all thoroughly unlikable, have no depth and nobody cares about them or their secrets after all. Their choices and behavior are unlikable and there are unbelievable connections that strain suspension of disbelief to its absolute limit. It was so very predictable from the first page, but I hung in there for the less than exciting payoff. Definitely fell short of my expectations. 

Key takeaways to consider:

Repetitive 
Totally unlikable characters 
Predictable 
Slow revelations 
Tropes galore 
Anticlimactic conclusion 
Unlikely behavior 
Unbelievable relationships and connections 

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publisher and I'm so sorry it just was not what I'd hoped when I requested. The three narrators made an attempt to voice their characters, but not all went as it should have there. When Anna Maria does Marissa she's fine but her trying to do Bradley's character it's so bad. Why didn't Kishore Walker, who is voicing Bradley, jump in for all that dialogue featuring him. It was jarring as Kishore did a decent job on the male voice. Ameila Sciandra did OK with Cami but it was sometimes hard to tell the women apart. There was a lot of dialog in the story so it got confusing when different voices were speaking for the same character. Usually the audio book enhances my enjoyment of a story but I just didn't care for it. 

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

 Genre and tags: secrets, lies, bad marriage, domestic drama, cat and mouse, games