Book Review: Best Day Ever by Kaira Rouda

~ Janel (Keeper of Pages)

 Best Day Ever

Best Day Ever is a novel I’ve been wanting to read for quite a while so thank you to Zuky @ Book Bum for lending me her copy.

Book Description:

A loving husband. The perfect killer?

‘I wonder if Mia thinks I have a dark side. Most likely as far as she knows, I am just her dear loving husband.’

Paul Strom has spent years building his perfect life: glittering career, beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in the suburbs.

But he also has his secrets. That’s why Paul has promised his wife a romantic weekend getaway. He proclaims this day, a warm Friday in May, will be the best day ever.

Paul loves his wife, really, he does. But he also wants to get rid of her. And with every hour that passes, Paul ticks off another stage in his elaborately laid plan…

My Thoughts:

Best Day Ever is a cleverly crafted novel that takes place over a day, and with each passing hour, the tension thickens, till it reaches combustion point and explodes into a very satisfying ending. You’d be right in assuming that I thoroughly enjoyed this novel from beginning to end – it’s an ‘AM-finisher’, you know the novels that you start in the evening and continue reading well into the AM because you must know what happens.

What made this novel such a fun read was the narration style; the novel is narrated by Paul, the husband – how often are novels narrated from the point of view of the husband? Not often, and that’s what made this a refreshing read, and to make it even better, Paul is talking directly to the reader, telling us what is happening, including us in the plot and this is what made me become so invested in the novel.

Not only is this novel narrated from the male perspective, something we don’t often see in domestic noir, but it’s also narrated from the point of view of a wholly unlikeable character. Paul is just horrid, not in an anti-hero way, in a plain horrid way! Yet, you’re hooked by his narration, his notion that he is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Before reading this novel, I never thought I’d be so captivated by a man so self-absorbed.

I did find a few things in this novel predictable but it didn’t matter because I enjoyed the entertainment factor this novel delivered. This novel is played out over the course of a day and we are given the time intervals of each event and this allowed the plot to flow smoothly, whilst also giving us a “real-time” showing of the best day ever.

If you’re looking for a fun read with some humour chucked in, I highly recommend Best Day Ever.

This book is available to buy from: Amazon UK / Book Depository

Published by Janel (Keeper of Pages)

Blogging about books and other bookish ramblings

25 thoughts on “Book Review: Best Day Ever by Kaira Rouda”

  9. Pingback: Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Week – Secret Library Blog

  10. Paul’s perspective was truly great, but in this case I seem to be in the majority thinking that it was quite the slow start… man, that car drive to the lake house- I just wished I was in the car so I could jump out! 😀 Glad you enjoyed it though! The ending was pretty neat, I thought!

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