The Perfect Home by Daniel Kenitz (2025)
The only thing less than perfect about "The Perfect Home" is the predictable inevitability of its climactic scene... Anyone who consumed mass quantities of 1990's movie suspense thrillers can see it coming from 20 miles away. But that didn't make it any less fun for me to read. and the book had me barreling through the pages all the way through.
I started loving this story right away as it casts a knowing witty gaze at the blatant unreality of 'Reality TV'. Just about every suspicion you've ever had about such shows is confirmed here.....that the participants merely craft fake personas for the camera, that greed and hunger for attention fuels them, that the shows themselves are as fictitious as any scripted dramas, comedies and professional wrestling.
Exhibit A - the Deckers, Wyatt and Dawn, America's home renovation sweethearts and stars of, what else....The Perfect Home.
Wyatt's the dashing, smiling, happy hunk who thrives on audience love, high ratings, and millions of social media clicks. On the show, Dawn plays the role of practical, reserved helpmate who's not nearly as attractive as her effervescent husband. Off the show, she's shy and uncomfortable when forced into all the required public appearances their fame demands.
But trouble in Paradise erupts. Dawn gives birth to twins, but only after Wyatt consumed overdoses of an illegal fertility drug to increase his sperm count. When Dawn discovers his addiction to the pills has turned Wyatt dangerously psychotic, she flees with the twins. As you'd already expect of him, Wyatt wages a clever vicious publicity war on his fugitive wife, painting Dawn as an unhinged, post-partum threat to their babies.. With the entire country now on the lookout for her and the twins, the odds couldn't possibly be more stacked against her.
And that's where the real psychological tug-of-war (and all the nasty fun) begins as Wyatt and Dawn's competing stories vie for media attention.......all leading to an exciting wrap-up that we knew was on its way as sure as the sun shines in the morning. I realize that while 'The Perfect Home' is not the first thriller to skewer celebrity darlings, I found it by far the most fast paced, sharply written and entertaining of the bunch. Terrific beach read, but I'd advise don't even wait for the beach.
4 stars (****)
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