Lucy and Adam, and Cora and Scott, have been best friends for years. Each couple has two children, who also are best friends. It’s common for Cora and Scott to show up at Lucy and Adam's door with a bottle of wine for a spontaneous evening --- maybe order a pizza and watch the kids romp. And it’s not unusual for Lucy and Adam to drop by Cora and Scott’s for a barbecue.

The four of them even have a fixer-upper cottage they’ve been working on together. So life is happily humming along for the two families. Until something very disturbing happens. A coworker shows Lucy a photo she took on her honeymoon. Zooming in, Lucy sees Scott with another woman. Wait, Scott went on a business trip to Japan. How can he be in this picture in the Maldives?

"These couples who had dream lives are heading down a dark path to their worst nightmare. Every turn they take digs them in deeper. You simply have to watch them try to make it out."

Lucy can’t shake the feeling that something sinister is going on. Worried for her best friend, she tells Adam about the photo. But he shrugs it off. It probably just looked like Scott, but it couldn’t have been him. It’s best for her to drop it. Lucy, though, can’t do that. It’s too unnerving. Then, when she views a news story showing the woman in the picture with Scott having gone missing, she panics. This can’t be a coincidence. She talks to Adam again. However, instead of becoming alarmed or curious, he appears to grow impatient with her. His advice? It’s none of our business. Let it go.

But Lucy has to get to the bottom of this. Scott knows something. He’s acting more and more sneaky. He lashes out at little things and is almost threatening to her. Cora seems totally oblivious about what’s happening around her. Lucy’s heart aches for her. How can she find out what’s going on without totally devastating her friend?

In a twist of fate, a crucial part of what leads Lucy toward answers is another photo. Adam, Scott and Cora went to university together. Naturally, Lucy enjoys hearing about their days back then. So getting out old pictures makes for an entertaining evening occasionally. Now, though, Lucy wants to paw through those photos to see if she can find clues. As she does, the revelations are staggering. A look. A glance. That person in the background. The half-face on the edge of this picture. It might be time to rethink some things she thought she knew. And there are many.

In Helen Cooper’s THE COUPLE IN THE PHOTO, not a page goes by where you don’t encounter a nagging doubt in the back of your mind. Lucy seems to be putting her nose deeply where it doesn’t belong, until you think she seems to be just a little naïve. It feels like she’s coming down hard on her husband when the blame belongs elsewhere. She has trusted this man throughout their marriage, which they’ve always based on honesty. Shouldn’t she believe in him now? But watching their two best friends going through a mess of their own creation can’t help but shine a spotlight on any glitches in their lives. Maybe, just maybe, she has missed some signals.

These couples who had dream lives are heading down a dark path to their worst nightmare. Every turn they take digs them in deeper. You simply have to watch them try to make it out.