Everyone in this novel is an unlikable idiot.
So the premise is that Marco and Anne decide to leave their 6 month old baby alone at their house while they attend a dinner party at their neighbor’s house. They take their baby monitor with them and check on Cora, the infant, every thirty minutes.
“Who goes to a dinner party next door and leaves her baby alone in the house? What kind of mother does such a thing? She feels the familiar agony set in – she is not a good mother. So what if the sitter canceled? They should have brought Cora with them, put her in her portable playpen. But Cynthia had said no children.”
When they get home they’re horrified to discover that Cora has been taken from her crib. They alert the police but are immediately put on the suspect list- which, come on, you left your child home alone!- and their marriage begins to strain under the weight of all their secrets.
There are a lot of secrets. On everyone’s end. Marco, Anne, her parents etc. There is a good thriller in there somewhere but something felt lacking.
By the way, the baby is OK.