What is the title of your latest release?
SHE DIDN’T SEE IT COMING
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A woman goes missing from her condo while working from home. Did she ever leave the building at all?
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I’ve always been fascinated by stories where someone with a seemingly normal life just vanishes with no sign of anything having gone wrong—and I loved the idea of setting it inside a condominium building, where the building becomes part of the story. Where is she? There’s no evidence of her actually leaving the building, but she might have. She might have just walked away. Or she could still be somewhere in the building, maybe inside one of the other units…
Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Sure! I’d like to hang out with all my characters.
What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Bryden is smart, kind, and trusting. Too trusting.
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned a lot about online true crime enthusiasts who try to solve crimes.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I do a bit of both. I always do a light edit of the previous day’s work before starting writing again. But mostly I don’t edit until I have the first draft complete. Then I step back and look at it structurally, as a whole. Because I don’t plan, I need to let myself free to just get the story down.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Chocolate chips!
Describe your writing space/office!
I have a cute writing office on the second floor of our farmhouse. It used to be the maid’s quarters—it has a sloping roof and a gorgeous view out to the fields. It’s also right beside the back stairs, so it’s convenient to go down to the kitchen for coffee and chocolate chips. It’s painted in a serene color (Farrow and Ball—I think it’s called peignoir) and the back wall is just shelves of my books in all their different languages. I’ve got posters of my books on bestseller lists on the walls, and various knick knacks from my travels.
Who is an author you admire?
Patricia Highsmith. Also, Liz Nugent.
Is there a book that changed your life?
I suppose it would be fellow Canadian Linwood Barclay’s NO TIME FOR GOODBYE, because I read that and thought, I want to write a book like this. It inspired me to write THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I’d sent THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR out to an agent. She called me the next day and took me on. Then she went to NY and had it sold it to Viking/Pam Dorman Books in a pre-empt in days. I was shocked. I’d written ‘literary’ novels before that and nothing of mine had ever sold in the US before, and certainly not that fast. It changed my life. That book sold all over the world, and millions of copies, and I’ve been writing thrillers ever since.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Crime/Mystery/Thrillers.
What’s your favorite movie?
I don’t really have a favorite movie. I don’t watch a lot of movies, to be honest.
What is your favorite season?
Spring. I live in Canada so it’s a relief when winter is over.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Having friends over for Swiss fondue. (My birthday is in the winter.) And chocolate cake!
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I’m just watching THE PITT and it is riveting. I haven’t watched a medical show in ages. I usually watch crime and thrillers on TV.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian. I love pasta.
What do you do when you have free time?
I like to read, of course. And I have a pony, Nutmeg, who I like to spend time with.
What can readers expect from you next?
Another thriller. It’s a bit different, but still fast paced and twisty. I can’t tell you the title yet, but it will be out summer 2026.
SHE DIDN’T SEE IT COMING by Shari Lapena
A Novel
The new gripping novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door
When a beloved wife and mother disappears, a luxurious condo building transforms into a potential crime scene, and the investigation begins: can the detectives find her before it’s too late?
Bryden and Sam have it all: thriving careers, a smart apartment in a luxury condominium, supportive friends and a cherished daughter. The perfect life for the perfect couple.
Then Sam receives a call at his office. Bryden – working from home that day – has failed to collect their daughter from daycare. Arriving home with their little girl, he finds his wife’s car in the underground garage. Upstairs in their apartment her laptop is open on the table, her cell phone nearby, her keys in their usual place in the hall.
Except Bryden is nowhere to be seen. It’s as if she just walked out.
How can she have disappeared from her own home? And did she even leave the building at all?
With every minute that passes – and as questions swirl around their community – Bryden and Sam’s past seems a little less perfect, their condominium less safe, their friends, neighbours and relatives no longer quite so reliable . . .
Thriller Psychological [Pamela Dorman Books, On Sale: July 29, 2025, Hardcover / e-Book , ISBN: 9780593832448 / eISBN: 9780593832455]
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About Shari Lapena
SHARI LAPENA is the internationally bestselling author of The Couple Next Door and A Stranger in the House. She was a lawyer and an English teacher before turning her hand to fiction.
She lives in Toronto.
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