Ok so this book got pretty twisted and sinister the farther along it got. Not as much as I was expecting it to but it had it’s moments.
The book is told from the main character’s Point of View, Paul, who is trying to have the Best Day Ever with his wife Mia. It is told from first person pov, so you are totally inside this guys head from the beginning, and soon you discover that this guy is the biggest asshole that ever lived in Ohio. Comments like “If you aren’t a thin woman you should wear a dress. A loose-fitting dress that will cover all your excess, that will hide your sins,” earned him this title today.
At the beginning they leave their house, kids with a babysitter and begin the drive to their house on Lake Erie where they will be spending a romantic night together. It seems like any other drive with a married couple, there is some tension between them at first. During the drive you are truly bombarded with back and fourth dialog, both his inner and with his wife for a good 20% of the book. This was a little confusing and hard to keep track of where you are in actual time within the story. He would be in the middle of ordering pizza but launch into a three page memory of something that happened at his office ten years ago. Now….If you stick with the story through the first quarter of the book you will see that the author is trying to put you in the mindset of this crazy man. It is worth the read and gets better as you go. Secrets unfold and things get twisted and by the end you can see that Paul and Mia’s definition of Best Day Ever is no where near close to the same.
WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THIS BOOK
So I haven’t read many books that are written from first person POV, because it is hard. It’s hard to read and it’s hard to write; But this was really good. You can see how this guy thinks, feel how he feels. The author does a great job being inside the mind of a complete psychopath. I mean this guy thinks so highly of himself that he doesn’t even remember things correctly, just the way that he wants to remember them. He is so well written (that’s actually on both my good and bad lists.) the you actually feel like throat punching him a few times.
Even with the tedious back and fourth with the pompous wanker, it really did keep the pages turning, because you knew that this guy was totally up to something, and I just had to see what it was. Turns out he was up to no good.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE ABOUT THIS BOOK
Like I said this guys back and fourth inner monologue in the first 20% of the book or so was really killing me. I kept thinking OMG is this going to go on forever!? Are we going to be slipping between him enjoying green beans for dinner and internal green bean dialog for all In the end I saw why it was necessary for it to go like that, but it didn’t make reading it any easier.
Ugh the guy Paul is like sooo bad. Written so well as such a douche nugget that you just detest him. Some might be so turned off by his horrible attitude and inner monologue that they don’t want to finish and I wouldn’t blame him. He is insufferable at best.
ACCKKKK the ending was a little less than satisifying for all the build up through the book. It kept me going and while it was a little predictable I enjoyed the little twists along the way.
I would give this book 4/5 stars for awesome perspective and creative storyline.
I was given this book for free by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.