Tanya

As Paul and Mia are driving out of town toward their lake house, having left their boys behind with their sitter, there's obvious tension between them. Paul notices but is determined that they will have the best day ever, no matter what.

This story takes place over the course of a little more than 24 hours and should be gone into with as little background information as possible. It has a slow start but Rouda begins to drop hints almost from the start. This is surely intentional because, as a reader, you can't help but realize that something isn't right almost from the get-go. The tension continues to build slowly but steadily until the end, leaving you on edge as you wait to see what will happen next. The story is told from Paul's perspective and will give Joe Goldberg (from YOU by Caroline Kepnes) a run for his money as the worst guy around. Despite being a bit predictable and playing with a very familiar theme in the suspense thriller genre, Rouda's expert build-up of tension pulls you in and doesn't let go. This is a book that must be read in one sitting. (4.5 stars)

(Thank you to Graydon House and Harlequin for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

The book-within-a-book format of this novel was a fresh take on a familiar suspense genre trope - the unreliable husband. The added complication of memory loss in Liza's narration added an additional layer of unreliability, creating a book full of fairly well-developed characters that couldn't be trusted. Rather than feel too tropey, Holahan found the right mix of believable and unnerving. This was a great book by a young author and I can't wait to see what Holahan writes next.