This is the second book by B A Paris that I have read in as many weeks, and once again I really enjoyed it! Cass is newly married to Matthew, having nursed her mother through early onset dementia. On a stormy night she takes a short cut home and when she sees a woman in a car parked in a layby makes the decision not to get out in the wind and rain to see if she is ok. A decision which haunts her in the weeks to come as her mental state deteriorates to the point where she can no longer trust herself and her life becomes nightmare from which she cannot wake up. A real page turner, and although I thought I knew how the plot would develop I really didn't guess the ending, which is always a good thing in a thriller. B A Paris is definitely going onto my list of "must-read" authors!

I enjoyed but did not love B A Paris' first novel Behind Closed Doors - what I did love was her writing style so when I heard about The Breakdown I was excited to read it.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and flew through it.

The characters are strong and well developed, and the sense of confusion throughout utterly terrifying.

I would highly recommend The Breakdown to anyone and everyone!

I chose to read this ARC and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.

Cass is a school teacher and is driving through a wood late at night when she sees a car by the roadside which seems to be broken down but not trusting that this isn't a trap she drives by thinking someone will surely come along and help the driver who seems to be a blonde woman. She feels guilty at not stopping but feels that her safety maybe at risk. The next day she finds out that the woman has been murdered and her guilt is compounded. Then strange things start happening and she is sure she is losing her mind or is it something else?
I really enjoyed this book and it didn't disappoint it had me gripped until the very last page.
Thank you to NetGalley for my copy of the book.

The Breakdown

Having loved Behind Closed Doors, I had high expectations of The Breakdown and let me just say that it doesn't disappoint!

The Breakdown is everything we've come to expect of a psychological thriller and much more, twist and turns that will make you dizzy as you grip the edge of your seat and hold your breath! A gripping and tense thriller that deserves nothing less that 5*!

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book, with thanks to Netgalley and the publisher.

I loved behind closed doors by this author and was excited to receive this book to review. Exciting, chilling edge of your seat kind of reading.
What a twist! I have disappointed when I got to the last page.
Love Love Loved this book!

Interesting story,with complex characters. Wasn't sure which direction it was going but was surprised.

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The Breakdown
By B. A, Paris
The Breakdown
Blurb

For my birthday last year I received a copy of Behind Closed Doors, the debut novel by B. A. Paris, and I really enjoyed it. The Breakdown was even better and in my opinion is already a contender for the best psychological thriller of the year.
It is a dark and stormy night, Cass has been out with friends, and despite promising her husband she wouldn’t, she takes a short cut home.
“Even with my headlights full on I can barely see where I’m going and I instantly regret the brightly lit road I left behind. Although this road is beautiful by day – it cuts through bluebell woods – it’s hidden dips and bends made it treacherous on a night like this.”
When she is almost home she comes upon a woman pulled over in a layby. Cass pulls over and debates getting out to see if she wants help but then she remembers stories about car thieves tricking people into stopping. When the girl gives no indication she needs help Cass decides to drive on.
The next morning Cass discovers the woman was brutally murdered. She later learns she worked with her best friend and she herself had been for dinner with her. Cass is burdened with guilt and feels really bad that she didn’t get out of her car to help.
Cass feels unable to tell her husband, Matthew, as she knows he will be appalled that she put herself in danger. She can’t tell her best friend Rachel because she feels as though she would judge her for not helping.
Then there are the strange phone calls where the phone rings and she answers but nobody speaks and the sense of being watched.
On top of all of this, Cass is experiencing memory problems. She invites friends round or makes plans with them and then has no recollection of making plans, she orders things online but again has no memory of doing so and she even makes plans for an alarm to be fitted to her house but forgets having done so.
Cass is worried that she is showing symptoms of early onset dementia, her own mother was diagnosed with it at the age of 44 and Cass is in her early 30s.
As the book progresses Cass’ behaviour becomes increasingly eratic and her sense of danger only increases.
Brilliant book.

I received this copy from Netgalley for an unbiased review.

The Breakdown begins with Cass assuring her husband she won't take a short cut through the woods on the night of a bad storm. But she just wants to get home and through torrential rain she spots a car seemingly broke down. Her initial instinct is to help but she gets spooked and leaves. The next day she hears that the driver was brutally murdered. And worse still she knew the driver, the darkness and rain having made it impossible to recognise her. Racked with guilt Cass begins to fall apart, having a different sort of breakdown. She forgets everything, such as buying prams for non existent babies, where she parked, plans she's made....she fears her guilt is driving her mad.

Anyone that read Behind Closed Doors will have been waiting for this with great excitement. B.A . Paris seemed to come from nowhere with that fantastic book and I must admit I feared this would not live up to that story. But it more than lives up to it, it has left me wanting more again. Is it realistic? No probably not but do you know if I wanted realism I'd be looking in the wrong place. This is just simply a great work of fiction that just begs to be read in one day. So clear you diary, stock up on snacks and drinks (you won't want to be distracted by unimportant things like cooking) and get reading. You won't regret it!

behind closed doors was brilliant but this one was woow dont usually have bad dreams but this give me haha but bloody brilliant what a story a real page turner fans will love my review will be on amazon and goodreads

Early onset dementia or paranoia?

Cassandra Anderson, a local teacher, is looking forward to the summer holidays. At the end of the last day she decides that she will not go to the planned party, but will head home to husband Matthew instead. Despite his warnings to the contrary, as it is bad weather she decides to take the short route home through the woods by Blackwater Lane. In a lay-by in the lane she spots the figure of a woman in a car and is torn with whether to stop and see if she needs help or not. This indecision leads to a period of inner turmoil and terror in Cass’s life.

When Cass hears the following morning that a woman has been found dead in her car on Blackwater Lane and then later on that there were ‘suspicious circumstances’, she is beside herself with anxiety as to whether or not she could have prevented this death. There follows a litany of self-reproach and periods of ‘forgetfulness’, such that she is minded of her mother’s early onset dementia. When she begins to receive ‘silent’ telephone calls, her fears are compounded.

I enjoyed reading this thriller and found myself feeling great sympathy towards Cass, as she seemed to progress along the road of forgetfulness compounded by her fear of almost everything – at least at the beginning. Then somewhere in the middle it all became a little too much for me and I wanted to physically shake her! I think that sometimes less is more and that B A Paris over-egged the cake in this central section.

Having said that, the majority of this book was magnetic reading and I really enjoyed the satisfying – if slightly simplistic – tying up of all the loose ends.

Sméagol

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of this book to review.

After the huge success of Behind Closed Doors, B A Paris had a lot to live up to with this second novel, and for me, it wasn’t anywhere near as good. It didn’t grab me as well as the last. The tension was built just as well in this, steady and slowly, but it was the actual plot that I wasn’t connecting with. It seemed a bit outlandish and didn’t keep me on my toes quite as much. Annoyingly, someone hadn’t marked the spoilers in their review of this, so about halfway through reading the novel, the twist was “ruined”, but, to be honest, the ending was very predictable and I had already sussed it by the time I read that person’s review, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

Another problem with this book was the lack of character development. While we felt so attached to Grace and eager for her to be rid of the troubles in her life, I didn’t find myself thinking the same for Cass. In all honesty, she was a bit of a drip and was so overly hysterical that she just became annoying to read about. Our other, more side characters, Matthew and Rachel, were flat, soppy and unrealistic.

I hate to say such negative things about this novel, but I just don’t get the hype. The story has been done a million times before, and in better ways, too. Maybe I think so badly of this novel because Paris’ last was so great, but there is no comparison between the two.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin UK Ltd for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

The breakdown by BA Paris is a general fiction (adult) read.
If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?
Cass is having a hard time since the night she saw the car in the woods and the woman who was killed.
Since then she’s been forgetting everything. Where she left the car, if she took her pills, the alarm code, why she ordered a pram when she doesn’t have a baby.
Fantastic read with brilliant characters. Couldn't put it down. Surprised by the end. Highly recommended. 5*. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book from netgalley.

This was a fantastic, lightning quick read that completely kept me glued in. I immediately was sucked into the story by asking myself what I would do in the same situation. Was Cass wrong not to stop or did she do what most solo female drivers would do, especially late at night? I found Cass's subsequent journey into memory loss intriguing and emotionally charged. Because of her memory issues, Cass quickly becomes an unreliable narrator which adds even more intrigue to the story. I really felt left in the dark for this book and though I had some of my own conclusions, I really had no idea what was going to happen.

Near the end, as things become clearer I was genuinely left gasping with shock when some things going on were revealed and my heart really broke for Cass and what she was going through. I was angry, sad and thrilled all at once and i could not put the book down until I'd read the very last page. i 100% recommend this book to anyone looking for an exciting, thrilling read that they can't put down.

The Breakdown started as a cracking read but never really went anywhere. I felt it tended to repeat itself over and over. And guessed the end.

I loved the author's first book last year and wondered how the next one would go. I absolutely loved this book. We meet Cass, a school teacher who is happily married and has good friends. One day in filthy weather conditions she drives past a car which looks like it has broken down. She finds out later that the woman in the car has been murdered. From then on, Cass starts forgetting simple things and is convinced that the murderer is out to get her.

The book was fast paced and I genuinely didn't know what the outcome would be. In fact, I was wrong from my initial thoughts. Am just sorry I read it so quickly.

There is currently a minor sub-genre of stories about (paranoid) women losing their short(ish) term memory. With always a suspense supposed - building up to a crisis - and never are they really 'mad' - always someone trying make them seem so.

So, when I started this book, my suspicions were immediately aroused. I know that such memory losses can be caused by drugs - see other similar stories - was her husband drugging her? The oh so wonderful Matthew who can't have children - I wonder why not?

Now we come to the phone calls - we get some kind of an explanation as to why she doesn't contact the police - but in the UK, he first thing you do is contact BT who put a trace on your line and can change your number. This to me was a big plot hole.

Due to my disbelief at the story-line right from the very beginning it was clear to me that I have read too many stories with the same plot!
Or

there are too many stories out there with the same plot;
or

the writing and story-telling in this book are too derivative;
or

I am too cynical and need to read with a more open mind;
or

she really was losing her memory and going mad ..... and something nasty happens.....

Choose any one answer. from above. I'm not telling you which is correct.

I haven't read B A Paris's previous books but I liked the look of this one so thought I'd take chance on a new author. Paris is an excellent author with a tight writing style which really ramps up the tension and plays on the motions. The emotional aspects of the book are beautifully handled and the psychological aspects tense.

The book starts when Cass sees a woman in a car in a lane in a dark wood. She does not stop and the woman is subsequently murdered. Alongside this Cass is forgetting things and is worried that she is developing early onset Alzheimers like her mother. This leads to a taut psychological thriller which had me on the edge of my seat. I truly could not put it down and was reading until 3.30 am to find out what happens. To say it is a page turner may be a cliche but it is true.

There are not many characters in the book but the ones which are there are realistic. The way they play of each other and the very sparsity of them only adds to the tension.

This is an outstanding book which I would not hesitate to recommend.

On her way home from a works do on a stormy night down a lonely road not far from her home Cass passes a car in a lay by. She stops wondering if the driver needs assistance but as she doesn't get any reaction that would indicate distress she drives on thinking that maybe the woman in the car was waiting for someone. The following and furthermore she knew her !! morning she finds that the woman in that car was murdered and furthermore she knew her!! Whilst racked with guilt that she didn't get out of her car strange things start to happen and she begins to think that she is going mad. Her recently deceased Mother had early onset dementure at an early age. Could the same thing be happening to her? Her husband and best friend try to keep her calm But is all as it seems? A gripping suspenseful second novel from the author of Behind Closed Doors.

THE BREAKDOWN by B.A. Paris is a psychological thriller that will burrow inside your head and make your pulse race. Cass' life is turned upside down when she learns that a woman whom she saw sitting in her car during a storm on her way home late one night, has been found brutally murdered. And it becomes worse when she realises that she actually knew the victim. As Cass struggles with feelings of guilt over having not done more to help, every other part of her life starts to suffer as she begins to forget things. Worried that she is taking after her deceased mother who had early onset dementia, Cass is fighting to remain calm and upbeat for her husband Matthew and her friends. But then the phone calls start. Somebody wants to scare Cass and will stop at nothing to achieve it. Convinced that the murderer has tracked her down, can Cass overcome her own issues to figure out who is out to make her their next victim? Or is it all just paranoia associated with her illness?
THE BREAKDOWN by B.A. Paris is a superb piece of criminal fiction as it kept me guessing all the way through. Just when I thought I had it figured it out, something explosive would happen and throw my theory out the window. And I have never encountered such an apt title as it encompasses everything about this story. Brimming with tension, danger, and fear, this is the type of novel that really gets under your skin. Fast-paced and gripping at every page, THE BREAKDOWN by B.A. Paris cannot be missed.

Rating 3.5/5

This was a hard one for me; whilst I haven’t read anything else from the author I had heard a lot of good things from other bloggers about her first book, so when I had the opportunity to read it I, of course, went for it. I don’t know if it’s that I went into this with unrealistically high hopes but it wasn’t quite what I was expecting.

The storyline was clever and I certainly appreciated its originality, but I had a bit of an inkling as to what direction the story was going to take. Whilst I didn’t predict everything that happened I was fairly close and with any book in this genre not being proved wrong does kind of deflate the read a little.

It was a very well written book and the depiction of Cass’s memory failing her was tremendous, how she could be so adamant, seem so unreasonable and then realize that she is becoming a nightmare and questioning herself and her sanity. It was very realistic and she is the epitome of an unreliable narrator, however there were parts of her behaviour connected to the guilt that she felt over the murder that I just found a bit unreasonable and frankly became annoying.

I don’t want to go too much into detail as to why because I couldn’t do it without spoiling it for other readers, but I feel that for me this meant I couldn’t really empathize with Cass so I couldn’t really get invested in her. Which is a shame because I really wanted to feel that for her, I think it’s a testament to the authors writing that even though I couldn’t gel with her she was written in such a way that I felt that I should have.

I certainly wanted to find out what had happened and after a certain point in the story I couldn’t put the book down but I didn’t feel like the reveal left me stunned. I would still recommend this book because I think there will be people out there that will love it and it is definitely worth picking up. Even though this book didn’t entirely click with me I know I’ll be looking out for more work from this author in the future.