Zoe Duncan will do anything to get her thirteen-year-old daughter Samantha back.  Sam was home sick when she disappeared. Zoe is frantic. The police are doing all they can, but it’s not enough. Zoe calls her friends at The Last Stand, a victim’s charity group, to help her. Jonathan Stivers is a private investigator who helps The Last Stand. Jonathan stops everything he’s doing to help Zoe find her daughter, but as the clock ticks, they are running out of hope of finding her alive. They follow every possible lead while pushing their attraction and their lives aside to focus on finding her. Maybe they should be sticking close to home, though. Sometimes the bad guys are the ones you least expect. If you can’t trust your neighbors, whom can you trust? 

When a woman with deep emotional issues and an insane man get together, you get the perfect psychotic couple.  The scary realism in The Perfect Couple will send chills down your spine and remind you that anyone could be a psycho and you can never be too safe. Zoe has had a rough life, but she’s made the best of her circumstances and been a good mother to Sam. Jonathan is a good man. He goes out of his way to help others and yet does little for himself.  There is a lot of sick and twisted stuff mixed in with this great story and potentially terrific romance. Jonathan’s feelings for another woman get in the way, though, creating some hard-to-put-aside angst. I love Brenda Novak’s work, especially The Last Stand series. The Perfect Couple lacks a perfect ending, though. After everything that happens between Zoe and Jonathan, I didn’t want to be left assuming how things turn out for them. I think they deserved a happily ever after. As far as thrillers go, The Perfect Couple is a fantastic one. It’s scary and kept me on the edge of my seat.