Book ~ "Just the Nicest Couple" (2023) Mary Kubica

From Goodreads ~ Two couples, two close friends, one missing husband ...

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.

Nina and Jake are married ... she's a high school teacher and he's an arrogant rich surgeon. One night they a have a big fight and one of his issues is that he's jealous of the time she is spending so much time with her mother, who isn't well. He leaves for work and doesn't come home again. Nina assumes he's cooling off somewhere but as the days become weeks, she gets concerned that something has happened to him or he has left her for good.

Lily and Christian are a younger married couple who has just discovered they are pregnant, which is a big deal because they have had many miscarriages. Lily is also a teacher at the same high school as Nina and they are friends. Lily is trying to be a good friend to Nina during this time but she may have been the last person to have seen Jake and may be the reason he hasn't returned home. Christian is very protective and supportive of Lily and is willing to do whatever he has to to protect her and their unborn child.

I found this book slow and hard to plod through. I didn't find the characters likeable or interesting so didn't really care about them. I kept reading it because I wanted to know what happened to Jake. It's written in first person perspective in Nina and Christian's voices (the chapters are labeled). I saw the ending coming and found it lame. There was a weird side story with a colleague that wasn't needed. As a head's up, there is violence and swearing.