The Golden Couple

When Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen get together and write another novel, you know it will be full of surprises and secrets. The Golden Couple is just like that: thrilling and scary, twisting and turning every step of the way. Secrets are revealed, but there is doubt under them, doubt that you have finally learned what really happened, who is really lying, who is the most dangerous. And things will pop up that you never even remotely expected but make sense when you work your way backwards to the clues that were there all along.

Marissa and Mathew Bishop really are the golden couple—rich, successful, gorgeous, socially secure, happy parents of a happy child. When Marissa schedules a therapy session for them Matthew thinks it is to show more discuss their 8-year-old son. But Marissa reveals she’s cheated on him. It was only one night, it’s over, she’s truly sorry, she desperately wants to fix things and worries that her fear they were drifting apart, that maybe Matthew didn’t love her as much as she thought after all, will tear them apart.

Avery Chambers is the therapist Marissa chooses. Now unlicensed but not lacking for clients or notoriety. Her unorthodox methods have previous clients singing her praises. So Marissa takes a chance that Avery’s maverick, intrusive, sometime abrasive methods will bring her and Matthew close again.

Marissa’s story is told in the 3rd person, so we not only see what Marissa is doing but also what those around her are doing, including Matthew’s devastation at learning of her infidelity and a peek into their childhoods, past friends and enemies and life in their fancy neighborhood.

Avery speaks for herself in the 1st person. We cheer for her and admire her for breaking with tradition as she tries to help people, but there is also something a little off. As she reveals more and more of her own story, we wonder about her more and more. What is really going on with her? What are her motives? Are Avery, Matthew and Marissa somehow tied together? How could they be?

The Golden Couple is superb. Fast-paced, thrilling, solidly plotted with complex characters that you both hate and love. Allegiance shifts as we learn more about their present – and past – actions. You can’t feel sorry for or sympathetic with any one character all of the time. At some point you suspect everyone’s words and motives. There’s something happening that you don’t understand yet, so as always with a story written by Hendricks and Pekkanen you can’t put it down and keep trying to read faster and faster to get to the totally mind-blowing, totally satisfying conclusion.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing an advance copy of The Golden Couple via NetGalley for my reading pleasure and honest review. I loved it and recommend it without hesitation. All opinions are my own. show less

Avery Chambers is a "therapist". Initially, she had been a regular psychotherapist, but she lost her license due to some unconventional approaches to treatment. She has devised a ten-point plan that she claims is guaranteed to fix people's problems. For this, people pay her a pretty penny.

A seemingly golden couple come to her for advice regarding their marriage. Matthew Bishop is a fancy lawyer in the D.C. area, whereas his spouse, Marissa runs a chichi boutique, catering to people who have too much disposable income.

At the Bishop's first meeting with Avery, Marissa confesses to having had a one-night stand, allegedly with a guy from the gym. Matthew goes ballistic.

As they work through the ten steps, the couple seemingly becomes a show more bit closer together. But, Avery sees a number of issues. Her approach is to spy on her clients to find as many details of their lives as she can. She finds, continually, that her clients aren't telling her the truth. So, she has to find ways to make them become more honest.

But there are other issues. It seems that Avery is being stalked herself. One of her clients mentioned that the drug company for which she worked had been fudging data on drug trials: a significant number of people taking said drug had died. Avery provided an anonymous tip to the FDA, but it seems "someone" figured out the source of said tip and Avery has had a number of threatening encounters. Worse still, some of the encounters appear to have associations with the Bishops.

So, this book is one part a description of marital problems and one part thriller. Usually such a book would not be the cup of tea for an elderly, repressed Calvinist, but I actually found the story quite compelling. It kept my interest the whole way through.


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This story is spellbinding which takes us through the exclusive area of Chevy Chase, DC -- known for expensive homes, nannies, housekeepers, private schools, high-end stores, lawyers and therapists.

Avery, who lost her license as a therapist is now a consultant who advertises: "an intensive short-term course which changes lives." Can she succeed with her new clients that look like they walked out of Saks with amplified love in their hearts? It's the "Golden Couple."

Unfortunately, as it is revealed in this book, nothing is simple in this business. Right away, Marissa tells her husband, Mathew, that she just had a one-night affair with someone from the gym and she says she's sorry. As expected, he's angry and trying not to explode. Avery show more explains, "To help you, I need to really know you. Not just what you tell me." That's when everything gets interesting with lots of twists and turns.

While reading, it felt like driving down the non-stop traffic jams of the DC streets trying to avoid unexpected moves through lane changes. Some of the restaurants and the bookstore, Politics and Prose, got a good plug. The story has all kinds of hints keeping the reader imaging what will happen at the end.

It's exciting to the max and will please new readers and many followers of the two well-known authors. Together, they have created a suspense that turns pages and immerses the reader into a part of DC that looks sophisticated but hides the dark side. It was said that, "Sometimes we need to look at our lives from a different angle to recognize the dysfunction and damage certain relationships are causing." And as promised, Avery steps right in.

My thanks to authors: Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy with the expected release date of March 8, 2022. show less

Conventional Story Of Unconventional Therapist. If you enjoy slow burn-ish domestic thrillers where the front half builds the intrigue and the back half (and particularly the last 15% or so) ramp up the thriller/ action side... you're going to love this book that is 100% within that mold. If that's not your thing... this is still a solid story, but not everyone likes everything. :)

The unconventional - and unlicensed because of it - therapist really stole the show for me. Mostly because of just how realistic (yet extreme) she is portrayed. Yes, she is invasive bordering on criminal, contract or not. But dadnabbit, she gets results as much as any Detective out there and for similar reasons. Which actually arguably gets to why I liked show more this so much - one can almost read this tale as a police procedural, with a profiler taking center stage in the tale. The side story with Big Pharma is all too realistic, and the web of lies turns out to be far larger than anything anyone - be it our therapist or the reader themselves- could have guessed.

But maybe I'm a bit of a sucker for unconventional yet conventional. You should read this for yourself and make up your own dang mind. *After* you *finish* the book. Very much recommended. show less

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen is a 2022 St. Martin’s Press publication.

Avery Chambers lost her professional license, but that hasn’t prevented her from doing her job as a therapist. In fact, she has more patients than she can handle, including the well to do Bishop’s- Marissa and Matthew.

The couple is trying to save their marriage after Marissa confesses her infidelity to Matthew. Though the relationship has taken a serious hit, they seem willing to follow Avery’s ten step course- but can they manage Avery’s unconventional style? What if Avery has a few secrets of her own? What about Matthew’s ‘friendship’ with his former girlfriend? Is Marissa telling them everything- or is she continuing to show more keep a few things to herself… and what if those secrets are putting her in danger?

This story was tamer than I thought it would be, and perhaps the pacing was just a tiny bit slower than it had to be- depending on one’s patience for suspense building. Still, I thought the unhurried reveals helped to keep the reader from fully grasping the direction the plot is headed in-later- rather than sooner-

Because anyone who is a regular reader of PT’s will eventually catch on- though somehow it doesn’t ruin the fun, and there are still a few surprising last-minute pieces of the puzzle that padded the story nicely. There are some nice details, especially at the end, and I ended up liking some of these characters, enough to hope the door ‘left wide open’ might mean we could possibly meet again someday.

Some PT fans might balk at the lack of OTT twists, packed on top of more OTT twists… and that one final OTT cherry on top- but this one was more my speed- and I didn’t feel exhausted by the time I turned the last page. It could have had all that stuff, but then it would have lacked some of the deeper characterization that drew me in, and it would have squashed the atmosphere, hampered the human qualities that made the conclusion feel just right- especially when it came to one young character, and made me feel good about how it all wrapped up- and kept me thinking about some of the details for good while.

Overall, I really liked this one. I felt like there was some maturity in the writing, which was less dependent on theatrical twists. The story is absorbing and has all the important elements I like in a good solid psychological thriller.

4 stars show less

The Golden Couple is yet another fantastic collaboration between Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. There is a gravitas to it that prevents it from being an unbelievable story. Plus, I stayed engaged throughout the entire plot and could not figure out what was going to happen at any point in time. Everything about The Golden Couple is interesting, and I cannot wait to see what Ms. Hendricks and Ms. Pekkanen have for us next!

Review of Uncorrected Digital Galley

Therapist Avery Chambers lost her license when she created her unique [and controversial] method of working with clients, a process that requires exactly ten sessions for her clients to work through their issues. Having lost her license makes it easier for her to work with her own methods; she’s selective about the cases she accepts, and her success record is remarkable.

Marissa and Matthew Bishop, parents of eight-year-old Bennett, are Avery’s newest clients. To those on the outside looking in, they appear to be the golden couple. But Marissa, who wants to repair her marriage, has a secret and when a friend sends her Avery’s information, she knows she wants the woman’s help. Avery accepts the show more Bishops and, at their first session, Marissa reveals her secret . . . she’s been unfaithful to her husband. Matthew is stunned . . . and angry.

But there are more . . . and darker . . . secrets and the Bishops’ marriage isn’t be the only thing in danger.

Strong characters and an intriguing plot are a couple of the high points in this narrative. Told from two points of view, alternately from Avery and Marissa, the unfolding drama plays out against an undercurrent of tension that keeps the reader on edge while the continually building suspense moves the story along in unexpected and dangerous directions.

Despite a couple of providential moments when things fall into place far too neatly, the narrative’s twists and turns keep the reader on edge with its bombshell revelations as Avery, Marissa, and Matthew slowly edge toward the truth. For fans of the genre, this difficult-to-set-aside book races toward a denouement they likely won’t see coming.

Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley
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