35299166A 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…

Source Format Pages Publisher Genre Publication Date
HQ paperback 384 HQ Psychological thriller September 7th, 2017

May I interest you, dear reader, in a 24 hour sesh inside a sinister mind? I may? How wonderful. Here’s our specimen- Paul Strom. Successful at work, lives in a great house, married for 10 years and a father to two young boys. Charming, as well, with that special smile and a wink.

Paul has promised his wife THE best day ever. He will be a doting husband (but then again he always is!), wine and dine her and make sweet sweet love to her. Romantic souls *cue swoony sigh*  And get this! Paul also has a surprise up his sleeve and he has been planning it for a long time.

And thus, our story begins. Husband and wife packing their car to drive to their lake house to spend some quality time together. I am so sorry to say this, but this was absolutely the longest car drive I have had to sit through. I considered jumping out. As far as captivating starts to a book go, this was not the best example, [NOTE] if I do say so based on my personal preference. And yet, it was necessary, because we are, after all, in Paul’s head. Page after page, I found I don’t particularly like Paul nor his wife. All highty-tighty with their first world problems. But Paul tries… he tries to excuse himself and his wife who has been poorly. Let’s not get all judgy yet.

If I was to describe this book as a cake (yes, we all love cake!) it would be a chocolate cake. Double chocolate cake, with chocolate cream filling and chocolate glazing and chocolate sprinkles on top. Yum! But what I’m saying is- it’s good, but sometimes you just don’t want too much of it. This is how I felt about Paul’s thoughts at times, especially when I was still getting into the swing of the story. I felt there was just way too many descriptions at time and the glimpses to past scenes just made me falter in my reading pace. And awful as I am, I did end up skipping a paragraph here, another one there, when he started to drone on about the history of the lake, or some such. Thriller! Give me more immediate action, or more ominous dialogue, or more foreshadowing… I don’t need to know about Lakeside history. Not really…

Now! Having said all that, there was still something about it that kept me reading. Maybe because no matter how LONG it took for me to finally get to the pivotal point of the best day ever (or you know, we finally got to the lake house!), it was interesting to read just how Paul’s mind really works. He truly kept surprising me with all those revelations… It just comes to show you, it is really hard to know a person thoroughly unless you’re them! It’s also brilliantly delivered up to a certain point in a way that maybe Paul isn’t really made up to be a killer after all? Why would he kill his wife whom he so thoroughly loves? He really does…

Looking at the overall picture, I can’t fault the writing. And even with all the descriptions and occasional jumps into scenes from the past, which slightly disturbed my reading pace, I have to admit that the feeling of being completely in the setting for the span of the book was real. You can feel it’s building up to something big. I had my guesses around the conclusion, as well, but honestly, the way the book actually ended, I hadn’t considered.

Will Paul manage to deliver his wife the best day ever? Even if it’s through gritted teeth, he shall… Because he’s the best husband out there who provides for his family and everything is under control. As for who’s going to end up more surprised by the end of the day- Paul or his wife- I will leave for you to find out on your own. Just know this- we’re dealing with a psychological thriller, some events and scenes in the book can be disturbing.

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