Fiction | Book Chatter

Strange Weather
By Joe Hill
William Morrow & Company, 9780062663115, October 2017, 448pp.

The Short of It:

Some readers might overlook this collection because they aren’t into short fiction but this collection includes four complete novels and trust me, you’ll forget you are reading short fiction once you get into each story.

The Rest of It:

This is a really excellent collection of stories. I hate to compare Joe Hill to his pop (Stephen King) but he has a very similar sense of humor which comes out in his writing. Not surprising really.

I enjoyed all of these novels but my fave is probably the one titled “Loaded”. A mall cop is hailed as a hero until the full story is revealed. It has plenty to say about gun control and with everything currently going on in our world, this story is timely.

Although I shy away from short fiction, I couldn’t help but fall into these stories. Hill delivers realistic characters and has a knack for pacing. I never felt like the stories were too short which is how I sometimes feel with short fiction.

Strange Weather is a good example of short fiction which is also very satisfying to read.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Best Day Ever
By Kaira Rouda
Graydon House, 9781525811401, September 2017, 352pp.

The Short of It:

A narcissist and his beautiful wife vacation at their gorgeous lake house for what he promises is the best day ever but things quickly unravel when he begins to lose control of the situation.

The Rest of It:

This book was incredibly difficult to put down and, who would even want to? Food, work, kids? Who cares?

Paul & Mia Strom are THE perfect couple. She’s beautiful. He’s rich and successful. They live in a gorgeous suburban home and don’t have a care in the world. They are on their way to their lake house for a little R&R and all is good and perfect in the world.

This is all according to Paul.

But in reality, nothing is perfect. Paul has been hiding something from Mia. Actually, he’s been hiding a lot from her but in his head he is totally in control and doesn’t even entertain the possibility that failure is just around the corner. In other words, he is totally and completely out of his mind.

Throughout the story, Paul is convincing himself over and over again that all is okay. He’s brilliant and women want him so what could possibly go wrong on the best day ever?

Lots.

This was not a perfect story and towards the end, I was ready for my relationship with this couple to come to a close but I can’t deny how fun it was to read. Crazy is on every single page. Paul is so full of himself that he can’t see what is going on even when it’s right in front of him. To put it bluntly, it’s fun to read about Paul’s failures and missteps because he’s the type of guy you want to punch.

Best Day Ever is a super-fast read and extremely entertaining. I can see this one becoming a movie.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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