Kaira Rouda | BEST DAY EVER

I have been noticing a beautiful book cover all over Instagram for the past couple of months, shaped like a red envelope and beautifully tempting. Luckily, thorough Get Red PR, I received and advance copy and was eager to start this twisted and addicting novel. I was not let down! See my review below.

Plot:

Paul Strom has the perfect life: a glittering career as an advertising executive, a beautiful wife, two healthy boys, and a big house in a wealthy suburb. And he's the perfect husband: breadwinner, protector, provider. That's why he's planned a romantic weekend for his wife, Mia, at their lake house, just the two of them. It will be the best day ever.

But as Paul and Mia drive out of the city and into the countryside, a spike of tension begins to wedge itself between them. How perfect is any marriage, really? How much do they trust each other? Is Paul the person he seems to be? And what are his secret plans for the cottage weekend?

Forcing us to ask ourselves just how well we know those who are closest to us, this story crackles with dark energy spinning ever tighter towards its shocking conclusion.

Review:

BEST DAY EVER starts off cheerful and sunny as our two main characters embark on a trek to their peaceful summer cottage. As the hours pass and the trip progresses, something unnerving and sinister is brewing in the car. The tension in this one is so subtle, yet thick that it is uncomfortable and yet addicting to read. The strained relationship between the perfect couple is growing thin as a multitude of secrets and lies are brought to the surface in this fantastically paced domestic thriller. 

To me, nothing beats a psychological or domestic thriller that delves into the psyche of the reader, and this does that and so much more. Told from the perspective of our narrator Paul Strom, the reader really gets a phenomenally well written point of view from a man who's trickery and charm is enough to make Patrick Bateman (American Psycho) be too afraid to make eye contact. What I really enjoyed from this perspective is that this story is really only told from Paul's perspective and every character, scenario, and lurid confession is only seen from his eyes. We don't get a feel for who these characters truly are and it's fascinating. Paul almost uses the reader as a confessional, slowly admitting his trysts and imperfections without batting an eyelash. As the novel goes on, the real Paul slowly surfaces and gives us a rather in-depth look into the person he really is as the "best day ever" moves from sunshine and croissants into turbulence and tension. 

Rouda does a terrifyingly great job in writing the relationship between our two main characters, slowly dipping her toes into the familiarity of a relationship bubbling with tension. As the story progresses, our unreliable narrator and his wife's relationship oozes with imperfections and at times, uncomfortable admittances. The relationship between Paul and Mia is so well portrayed, I haven't seen a domestic thriller with tension so well done since THE WAR OF THE ROSES and GONE GIRL. 

As the day moves along and each hour passes, the uneasiness of this one comes to a rapid and intense scene that left me wondering where this would go and who would be left standing in the end. Without spoiling too much, I was not disappointed with where this one ended and was eager to soak up the last remaining pages in the well executed epilogue. This novel is one of my favorite domestic thrillers of all time and I'm anxious to see what direction Rouda ends up in next. With the tension of a marriage similar to THE WAR OF THE ROSES, the suspense of GONE GIRL, and the hate to love/love to hate character of Paul Strom, this is easily one of my top recommended thrillers of Fall 2017. 

Rating: 4.5/5