The Second Mrs Strom
Kaira Rouda
289 pages
Bookouture
Published on August 16th, 2024
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The Second Mrs Strom is the sequel to Best Day Ever, which was published in 2017 – before unreliable narrators and toxic marriages completely took over the crime fiction market. If you have read that one youāll have an idea what to expect here, which means there will be few surprises, so for once I think this could be a sequel that works best if you havenāt read the first book and so know nothing about the main character. As for me, I enjoyed it but felt it was all too obvious what was going on – but at the same time as being outrageously far fetched.
Five years on from the end of his first marriage, Paul Strom has landed on his feet – heās inherited a fortune from his elderly former companion and swiftly moved on to a much younger bride, the beautiful Cecilia. Now they are in Paris to celebrate their first anniversary and heās determined that their last night there will be the Best Night Everā¦
This is mostly told from Paulās first person present perspective as the worldās second most malignant narcissist brags about his perfect life, and his plan to bring his newly rebellious perfect wife back into line by getting her with child. If only he didnāt feel so sick from all that rich French foodā¦ We also hear from Cecilia as she recounts her side of things and the truth of their whirlwind romance is revealed. I felt it was not believable given their respective histories that neither would know what the other was up to – I donāt want to spoil things by saying more – although the blurb also gives rather too much away too.
It was amusing reading this while the eyes of the world are on Paris, and it was fun to revisit the various famous locations with Paul and Cecilia as they bicker their way through their supposedly romantic holiday. Itās unfortunate that the author didnāt consult a bilingual beta reader though, as there are lots of small but irritating mistakes with the French language, names etc The ending was pretty well signed-posted and as with the last book, leaves things open for a third instalment. 3.5 rounded down for the present tense.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC.
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