The Golden Couple

Introduction

The Golden Couple is a psychological thriller by Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks. It tells the story of a “consultant,” Avery Chambers—a former therapist who lost her license due to misconduct. The story centers on Avery as she helps a married couple, Marissa and Matthew Bishop, heal from Marissa’s marital infidelity. The couple appears to be making progress until the book’s pivotal twist is revealed: Matthew is only pretending to forgive Marissa and has been orchestrating a plot to kill Marissa and the man she had an affair with, Skip, all along.

Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks are a #1 New York Times best-selling author duo and have collaborated on numerous thrillers, including The Wife Between Us (2018), An Anonymous Girl (2018), and You Are Not Alone (2020). They first collaborated as an author-editor team before writing together. The edition referred to in this study guide is from Pan Books, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, London, published in 2022.

Content warning: The Golden Couple and this study guide reference physical assault, implied sexual assault, self-harm, suicide, and euthanasia.

Plot Summary

The Golden Couple is told via alternating points of view, shifting back and forth between the voices of Avery Chambers, told in the first person, and Marissa Bishop, told in the third person. The book is comprised of three parts, each one ending with a twist. Avery and Marissa enter each other’s lives when Marissa seeks Avery’s help with her marriage. Marissa has been unfaithful in her marriage and wants to tell her husband, Matthew Bishop, with Avery’s help.

Avery is a former therapist who lost her license due to her unconventional methods. She still works as a “consultant,” providing assistance through a unique 10-step method. The first meeting is “The Confession.” This meeting is also where Avery—highly successful and in demand for her services—decides whether or not to take the individuals on as clients. In the first chapter, Avery meets with the Bishops and is intrigued by the seemingly perfect “golden couple.” She decides to work with them.

Avery’s work with the Bishops is complicated by their withholding of information. Marissa first insists that the man with whom she had an affair was a stranger from the gym. At the end of Part 1, Marissa reveals—only to the reader, not to Avery—that the man was a close family friend of the Bishops—someone she and Matthew have known since they were teenagers. Marissa slept with the man in the Bishops’ home while Matthew was out of town and Marissa and Matthew’s son, Bennett, slept upstairs.

Marissa and Matthew’s attempts to navigate Marissa’s marital infidelity are complicated by various outside players. First, Marissa continues to receive texts from the man with whom she had an affair. Additionally, she receives flowers, sent anonymously to the Bishops’ home, and a vaguely threatening note (“I’m not letting you go so easily” (142)) is left under the door at Marissa’s work, a small boutique she owns, Coco. The Bishops’ home is even apparently broken into at one point. The characters presume that Marissa’s jilted lover, whom she’s turned away in favor of fixing her marriage to Matthew, is behind these acts. Other false leads in the narrative include Natalie, a woman who has a crush on Matthew, and Polly, Marissa’s assistant, who seems obsessed with her.

In fact, Matthew is behind these acts. He’s doing these things both to toy with Marissa and to enact his revenge: While Matthew has been pretending to forgive his wife, he’s actually setting up an intricate plot in which he will frame Marissa’s ex-lover as an obsessive, angry man and create a scenario in which it looks like the ex-lover killed Marissa and tried to kill Matthew. Matthew will then shoot the ex-lover and claim it was self-defense.

Matthew knew about Marissa’s affair well before she told him. Matthew also knew the identity of Marissa’s affair: a man named Skip, whom they’ve both known since they were teenagers. In one pivotal summer when they were all around 16 and 17, Marissa kissed Skip during a game of Truth or Dare. It seemed like something might come of that kiss. However, that night, Marissa’s childhood best friend, Tina, was murdered. The murder was pinned on a high school English teacher from the area. In fact, the murderer was Matthew.

Skip also happens to have been someone Avery dated briefly. Avery and Skip’s meeting was no coincidence; it was orchestrated by Acelia, a pharmaceutical company that Avery angered. Avery found out from one of her patients that Acelia was preparing to put a deadly drug on the market and called the FDA whistleblower hotline. Acelia has been harassing Avery ever since to find out the name of the employee who told her. Skip was asked to date Avery and get information by Chris, a DC lobbyist who works for Acelia. Chris also happens to be Matthew’s father. This is how the worlds of Avery, Matthew, and Marissa intertwine: Chris sent Skip to date Avery; Skip, already suspecting that Matthew was dangerous, sent Marissa an article about Avery’s unconventional methods; Marissa then took Matthew to see Avery.

Matthew finally confesses everything to Marissa. He confirms her suspicions that he murdered Tina. He also reveals the lengths to which he’s gone in order to frame Skip, like sending the anonymous flowers and notes to make Skip seem obsessive. Matthew is preparing to shoot Marissa, but Avery and Skip arrive just in time. Avery shoots and kills Matthew. Skip and Marissa end up together. Avery continues her solitary life and profession, having gained even greater notoriety now, not only for her unconventional methods and having lost her license but also for being an ex-therapist who shot a client.

In the book’s final pages, it’s also revealed that Avery helped her former husband, Paul, kill himself. Paul was suffering from a terminal brain tumor, and Avery administered a lethal dose of morphine upon his request.