KAT & MAUS

In Chisholm and Kim’s (K-Town Confidential, 2017) romance, a high-powered lawyer puts a plan into motion to test his wife’s fidelity.

When Mark Bell discovers an old trove of nude photographs and sex tapes featuring his wife of 10 years, Kat Connor, with various men, he becomes obsessed with testing her loyalty to him. Soon afterward, Finn Maus, a handsome German mountain infantryman with eyes the “color of the Adriatic,” shows up in Mark’s law office. His best friend, Gunnar Becker, has been accused of sexual assault by Lina Valentina, “Disney’s sweetheart of the moment” whose partying during her free time has become “a problem” for Disney. Mark agrees to do the case pro bono—if Finn will fly to a picturesque Canadian ski resort and attempt to seduce Kat. But what Mark doesn’t know is that Kat secretly finds him annoying, particularly when it comes to sex. Sending a young, handsome seducer might not turn out the way he envisions—particularly when Finn has been outfitted in the finest clothing, such as a “Loro Piana cashmere sports jacket in a very restrained plaid,” handpicked by Mark during a Neiman Marcus shopping spree. The third-person narrative flits between different characters’ perspectives, giving readers insights that other characters don’t have, which ruins some surprises. However, with minor characters named Sesami Lee and Veronica Vamp, this romance sometimes veers into the ludicrous—and it’s all the better for it. Although the plotline is mostly predictable, some lines are ridiculous enough to make it fun: “I’m kind of like jazz,” says Finn. “I flow like the river and respond, she curves like the river, this way and that way.” At one point on his seduction trip, Finn lures Kat away from a crowd, only to fall into a hole in the ice himself, which seems wonderfully tragicomic.

A silly, enjoyable romance involving entrapment, shopping sprees, crevasses, and ugly hiking boots.