Best Day Ever by Kaira Rouda

HarperCollins | September 2017 | 352 pgs

Source: Publisher via Edelweiss

Unfolding over the course of 24 hours, Best Day Ever is a domestic thriller that tells a pair of couple's marital woes and their psychological tug of war which led to a twisty conclusion. 

Paul and Mia Strom seem to be a perfect couple in everyone's eyes. Paul works in an advertising firm holding a managerial position and Mia is a beautiful, stay-at-home housewife. They have two perfectly healthy young boys and a big house in a wealthy suburb. Mia used to work as a copywriter but quit her job after marrying Paul. Paul ensures that the family is well fed and that Mia could concentrate on her role as a housewife. Being a perfect husband he is, he plans a weekend getaway at their lake house just the two of them; and it would be the best day ever for them.  

However, tension arises before they get to their lake house. To complicate matters, Paul doesn't see eye to eye with their lake house's neighbour, Buck. He even wonders if Buck and Mia are having a secret affair. But that's not all, Paul seems to have anger issue and is unfaithful to Mia on several occasions. Mia finally decides that enough is enough and that she should take matters into her own hands and take back the freedom she's always craves; after all Paul is nothing as compared to her parents' financial status. On top of that, Mia's father despises Paul and didn't approve of their marriage in the first place. 

Best Day Ever is a page-turner and will question the reader how well you really know the person whom you are closest to. To begin with, Paul is a narcissist, a womaniser and a male chauvinist who loves control over everything else. A few chapters in, he sent off a bad vibe to the reader through his dark ugly thoughts and bad behaviours. Paul may be an unlikeable narrator, but being the focal point his role is what set the pace of this story and like watching a train wreck the reader knew something bad would happen yet it's hard not to see the other way and read what's going to happen next. Mia, on the other hand, is a character whom the reader could not underestimate. She may be meek in the beginning, but one could never tell if she has a hidden agenda. 

As this is told over a course of 24 hours, there is a strong sense of urgency and intensity when deceptions and doubts begin to set in both Paul's and Mia's mind. While there was closure towards the end I couldn't help feeling a bit raw over everything happened in the book. This is another domestic suspense novel you have to read if you are a fan of this genre. 

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