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Book club questions for Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica takes a closer look at this domestic thriller about a missing husband. For more context about the story, check out my spoiler-free review first.
I liked this one! As I mentioned in my review, I thought it was engaging and surprising. I was so curious how it would end and I was surprised by some of the reveals.
Let me know what you thought about the book in the comments section below!
The Synopsis
Jake Hayes is missing. This much is certain. At first, his wife, Nina, thinks he is blowing off steam at a friend’s house after their heated fight the night before. But then a day goes by. Two days. Five. And Jake is still nowhere to be found.
Lily Scott, Nina’s friend and coworker, thinks she may have been the last to see Jake before he went missing. After Lily confesses everything to her husband, Christian, the two decide that nobody can find out what happened leading up to Jake’s disappearance, especially not Nina. But Nina is out there looking for her husband, and she won’t stop until the truth is discovered.
Book Club Questions for Just the Nicest Couple
- Which couple is the book title referencing: Lily and Christian or Nina and Jake?
- The story is told from the perspectives of Nina and Christian. Why do you think the author chose their perspectives?
- Did you first believe Lily when she told Christian what happened with Jake? Or did you see holes in her story?
- Why didn’t Lily and Christian go to the police and tell them what happened with Jake?
- Jake is a bad guy—do you feel Nina was aware of his bad qualities or did she not want to admit the truth?
- What are your thoughts on Nina overall?
- Christian will do seemingly anything to protect Lily—he even entertains the thought of murdering Nina so Lily will be in the clear (although he never acted on any of those ideas). Why do you feel the author included that thought process from Christian?
- We eventually learn that Lily actually had an affair with Jake and when she tried to end it, he become enraged. What were your thoughts as you read that reveal?
- While it seems that Lily was the one to murder Jake, it turns out it was Nina’s mother. Why did her mother murder Jake? Where you surprised at this turn of events?
- Let’s discuss Nina and her mother’s relationship.
- While Lily is in the clear for Jake’s murder, Christian and Lily have separated and are co-parenting their daughter. Do you think they’ll ever get back together?
- Nina went back to work. What do you think happens next for her?
Additional Recommendations
Hope you enjoyed book club questions for Just the Nicest Couple! Here are some more recommendations along with links to book club questions.
The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
Another entertaining domestic thriller is The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave. It’s going to be an Apple TV series with Jennifer Garner so read the book before the series comes out!
Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.
As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a US marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.
Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they’re also building a new future—one neither of them could have anticipated.
With its breakneck pacing, dizzying plot twists, and evocative family drama, The Last Thing He Told Me is a riveting mystery, certain to shock you with its final, heartbreaking turn.
Check out my book club questions here.
Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister is a clever murder mystery.
Late October. After midnight. You’re waiting up for your eighteen-year-old son. He’s past curfew. As you watch from the window, he emerges, and you realize he isn’t alone: he’s walking toward a man, and he’s armed.
You can’t believe it when you see him do it: your funny, happy teenage son, he kills a stranger, right there on the street outside your house. You don’t know who. You don’t know why. You only know your son is now in custody, his future shattered.
That night you fall asleep in despair. All is lost.
Until you wake . . .
. . . and it is yesterday.
And then you wake again . . .
. . . and it is the day before yesterday.
Every morning you wake up a day earlier, another day before the murder. With another chance to stop it. Somewhere in the past lies an answer. The trigger for this crime—and you don’t have a choice but to find it . . .
Check out my book club questions here.
Happy reading!
