I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

I've been blessed so far this year. The books I've read are excellent, and this one is too. It took me a little while to jump into the story, because I felt bad for Cass... Her mind was failing, she was diagnosed with early onset dementia, so she -- and I -- was always questioning if she was going crazy or if everything that happened to her was real. And I'm that kind of reader: when I'm afraid for the character, I stop reading (like it's going to help them somehow)... But I raced through the 60-70 last pages like my life depended on it, heart racing.

Like I said, excellent book. Read it, you will be satisfied too.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book.

Decent thriller but not outstanding.
Let's play a game of plus and minus, shall we?

+did not predict the major twist
-twist was not believable. Without revealing too much, certain characters' plans went perfectly with no room for error which is not true to real life. I know that thrillers require a suspension of belief but this one didn't resonate with me
+page turner and easy to read
-didn't feel anything towards any of the characters, not even much sympathy for Cass
+entertaining
-lots of plot holes as indicated above in terms of believability

Felt the same way about this one that I did about B.A. Paris's Behind Closed Doors: semi-fun thriller but nothing to write home about.

I was a huge fan of Behind Closed Doors, so I was thrilled to be able to review this one. Trust me, you will not be disappointed. Lots of action, a compelling storyline and the main character, Cass, is one you want to root for..... all of these things make for an exciting read. This is one of those books that you will end up staying up late to finish because you don't want to put it down.

I loved the author's book Behind Closed Doors and this one was fairly close. The ending was a bit obvious and the characters seemed to lack emotions where normal people would have "felt something". I will certainly read the author again but this one fell short for me. 3.3 stars

I really enjoyed this novel. How would you live with the guilt of passing someone by who you could have helped? This is the main storyline of this novel. It becomes so much more, and keeps you turning the pages in suspense.

B.A. Paris has done it again. She is now one of my favorite authors for psychological thrillers. She is out of this world. I loved Behind Closed Doors and The Break Down did not disappoint. The first 50% of this book was good however, the last 50% will have you on the edge of your seat. I was pulled into Cass' story from the very beginning and the more you read, the more you feel her pain and frustration.

Cass is a teacher at a local school, however she took a leave of absence to care for her mother until she died. Now Cass is back at work and her life completely changes one rainy night when she takes a shorter wooded road home. She sees a woman pulled over in a car in the rain only to find out the following morning the woman was murdered after she saw her. All Cass can think about is this woman but can she trust her thoughts and actions?

This book can be read in one or two sittings if you have the time but be prepared to be wrapped up and on the edge of your seat towards the end. The character development is amazing especially of Cass and the plot is wonderful. Be prepared for a great read. B. A. Paris has done it again.

Thanks to NetGally for the opportunity to read this book and provide honest feedback.

I could not put this book down! The last book that kept me up all night was the author's previous release, Behind Closed Doors. Paris is an amazing storyteller and this one will penetrate your life, keeping you awake at night thinking about the levels of deceit that exist in this world. A definite 5-star read.

Oh wow, wowee wow wow wow! That was one terrific tilt-a-whirl ride. More to come.

OK, so here's the rest.

I love psychological suspense, especially if the plot involves domestic situations (and it seems since "Gone Girl" was published, most do), but it seems that lately many fall short of my lofty expectations. This one didn't. Paris' first book, "Behind Closed Doors" was a little too tense for me but this was just right. Even though Cass's responses to a few incidents were a little overwrought, I was in this novel's grip from the very start. And yes, I did suspect the final outcome (the author dropped a vague clue at the beginning) but the author still had a few surprises for me.

This is the perfect summer beach read, especially for fans of--OK, I'm going to say it, Gone Girl, but also lesser known titles such as The Couple Next Door and The Silent Wife. I predict this will be the blockbuster of the summer.

Thanks to the publisher for the advance reading copy.

If you like mysteries, this is the perfect book for you! But-- You had better make sure you have plenty of time, because you will want to keep on reading!
Definitely an entertaining and suspense filled story with surprises every few pages!
Just when I though I had solved the mystery, some thing would happen in the coming pages to show me I was wrong- right up to the the last few pages.
Great storyline!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and B.A. Paris for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

“The Breakdown” is a psychological thriller with a slow buildup that has you tensed for whatever is really happening to Cass. Even though I found it a little slow in the beginning, I couldn't put it down since it really felt like there's something else happening here and I don't know what it is yet so I need to be ready and looking for clues. I was definitely pleasantly surprised with the last 25% of the story and thinking OMG!

Cass makes a decision to take a shortcut home on a dark and stormy night even though she's feeling like it would be safer and less scary to go the long way around. She passes a car parked near the woods with a woman inside, and she stops to offer help. After stopping though, she's afraid to get out of her car in case it's a setup so she decides the woman will approach her if she needs help. When she doesn't, Cass decides to drives off. The next morning she discovers that the woman was later found dead in the car and had been brutally murdered! Cass is beside herself with guilt wondering if she could have saved this woman or would she also have been murdered if she'd stopped to help? She becomes scared, forgetful, paranoid and begins to show signs of early onset dementia which her mother had suffered with.

You get immersed in the perspective of a character whose world seems to be spinning out of control when she can no longer trust their own mental faculties. A well written psychological thriller that I could not put down! B.A. Paris is on my automatic read list since I really enjoyed "Behind Closed Doors" as well.

I couldn't put this book down even though I had a pretty good idea of "whodunnit" early on. But, knowing the "who" does not tell you the "why" or "how". Discovering the answer to those last two was quite a wild and emotional ride. In the end, the revenge was oh so sweet. Can't say enough good things about the experience of reading this book.

I enjoyed Paris' Behind Closed Doors so much that perhaps my expectations for her new novel, The Breakdown, were a bit too lofty. When Cass takes a shortcut through the woods to her house one stormy night, she passes by a woman in a car; unable to decide if she should help or if it's a dangerous scam, Cass continues on without stopping. When news report that the woman in the car has been murdered, Cass's sense of guilt over her decision not to stop eats her alive...added to this is a troubling development of her inability to remember things, a growing sense of paranoia that all is not right with her marriage, and an ominous feeling that the murderer may be after her. As the plot twists and turns, Cass and the reader find themselves in a strange, devious situation, where Cass stands to lose it all - possibly even her life - if she cannot figure out what is going on. While the premise of the plot is interesting, I found the eventual explanation and ending to be fantastical, over dramatic, and not as clever as Behind Closed Doors. None of the characters exhibited any depth of development, and the lead up to the climax simply just took too long.

4.5/5 This book mixes the trauma of having been unable to stop a murder with the a completely different kind of fear: dementia. And if your protagonist doesn't have a clear frame of mind, then neither does the reader. This is a fast and fun read with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing.

I was totally swept away by the suspense and mystery of The Break Down. Cass and Matthew have a great life together although she has secretly feared she will end up with dementia like her mother. Things begin to fall apart when Cass realizes that a murdered woman is someone she knew, and that she passed her car on the road in a terrible thunderstorm on her way home the night before. She becomes fearful that the murderer may be after her next. She starts to forget things, minor absent-mindedness at first but then it escalates to the point that she can't remember ordering packages that have been delivered, or how to work her own coffee machine. Is it just the stress? Is it the start of dementia? Or is it something more sinister? Could someone be gas lighting her? Or will she be the next murder victim? Alfred Hitchcock could not have crafted a more electrifying thriller with such a satisfying conclusion. 5 out of 5 stars from me.

At first I wasn't sure I was going to like this book, but it quickly pulled me right in. The characters, the plot, the crazy side story, all fit together so perfectly and I loved how the author revealed what had happened. I was so shocked. I pretty much guessed every character except the one who did it lol! Seriously great book.

Let me start off by saying I read B. A. Paris' first book, Behind Closed Doors and absolutely fell in love with it. When I heard a new book was coming out I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. A lot of the time when a book is extremely hyped, I tend to be disappointed. Luckily that was in no way the case with The Breakdown.
The character building in this book was amazing, I felt like I got a wonderful idea of who each character was while also questioning them all throughout the book. I found myself immediately drawn in because the book was written with an extreme air if mystery. I physically felt as though I had to keep turning each page and find out immediately what was going on. I love the fact that it touches on the subject of early on-set dementia, which I don't hear or know much about.
Overall this book was a great mystery that was so unpredictable I couldn't stop reading if I wanted to. It flowed so well and kept me guessing until the very end. I would highly recommend this book if you like psychological thrillers.

Cass, a young high school teacher with a loving and attentive husband, makes a reckless decision one night when driving home during a horrible storm. She goes against her husband’s explicit request and takes a shortcut home along a lonely and desolate road. Halfway to her home with the rain pouring down Cass sees a car stopped on the side of the road with a woman inside. She pulls up ahead of the car and stops to see if the woman signals her in some way or gets out and comes to her car. When the woman doesn’t do anything to signal that she needs help, Cass drives on home assuming if she broke down she has already called for help and is just waiting for someone. The next day not only does Cass find out that the woman was brutally murdered after she drove by but also that she was someone Cass knew.
Thus begins Cass’s downward spiral. She is already concerned that she is experiencing signs of Early Onset Dementia, a condition her mother was diagnosed with. Added to that is the guilt she feels for not doing anything that horrible stormy night. Cass is soon convinced that the murderer saw her and it is he who is making hang up phone calls to her house. As Cass comes closer and closer to having a nervous breakdown the pace of the novel becomes even more intense. Fans of Behind Closed Doors will not be disappointed and if this is your first psychological thriller by Paris hold on tight you are in for a heart stopping ride.

This book is written by the same author who wrote the hugely successful and horrific Behind Closed Doors. I believe after reading The Break Down that it has the immense ability to be another HUGE bestseller. I’ve not read Behind Closed Doors yet – my Mum bought it some time ago but I've not got around to reading it. Yet!
Anyway, I started reading The Break Down and I got to over 70% by the time I’d snuggled into bed - although I did have the lights on. I finished the rest off in the morning whilst enjoying my morning cuppa.
This book was so fast paced, and so utterly gripping that I could not put it down – literally! It usually takes me about a week or thereabouts to read a book with all my studying and life stuff getting in the way, so for this to have taken less than 24 hours really tells you how amazing this book is. I slept with the table lamps on next to my bed and I still managed to have nightmares! It really scared the hell out of me!
The story centres on Cass as she’s on her way home from a party – but decides to take a route through the woods to get home which her husband has asked her not to go through for safety. She passes a car that’s pulled over in a lay-by, so she stops but as the driver does nothing to signal distress she drives on home. The next morning she discovers from her husband (who had called her the night before with a migraine so he slept in the spare room) that there was a murder along the road by the woods last night. A woman in her car was murdered in the lay by. Safe to assume Cass discovers the woman she passed in the car is the same woman that was murdered.
Cass then has to deal with the grief as she'd recently met this woman, along with the guilt of not doing anything. She thinks she’s going mad. She forgets things and as her mum had dementia, understandably her fear is that she has early onset dementia too. Her husband makes her go to the doctors and gets pills to help calm her down. (Jeez – i’m not doing this book half as much justice as it deserves! But I'm trying to keep it mainly spoiler free for you!) There is so much going on in the book which is why I simply couldn't put it down, I just had to keep on reading! A long story short – Cass discovers that the people close to her are not who she thought they were but with her ‘early onset dementia’ can she figure it out in time? And I don't think it's as straight forward as you may think!
What scared me the most whilst reading this was the fact that the more I read, the more I was ‘becoming one’ with Cass. What I mean by that is that I was terrified to walk around my house without shutting the curtains and locking the doors. I slept with the lights on. This for me is a huge testament to just how good this book is. When a writer can capture the characters so perfectly, and not only take you along for the ride, but to literally capture you as well, well that's a huge achievement isn't it?
I was just so desperate for Cass to figure it all out. I wanted her to be OK and I wanted to just know who the hell killed that woman. I had theories but I admit I was wrong - brilliant twist! I also wanted to know why it was having such an effect on Cass – because Cass had no idea, so we were all clueless.
The ending was absolutely bloody brilliant! I was squealing with delight and grinning from ear to ear as I got all excited. I reckon I must have looked like I was a cross between winning the lottery and needing the loo!!!
I definitely will read any future books by B.A. Paris now. Without question. What it has made me question even more is just how well I know people around me…I feel like I’ve become Cass in that sense (and no, it's not related to Mental illness on either part - mine or Cass's!). It just really made me question EVERYONE around me. How well do I really know someone? Really?
Whilst I’d like to follow her story and catch up with her in 5-10 years into her future, I just think she deserves a break. Boy does she deserve a break. She deserves to live her life in peace and be happy – I feel like I’ve intruded on her life far too much already…look at me talking as though she is real! Look what it’s done to me!!

What a crazy ride! This book had me hooked immediately! I'm not going to give anything away in this review because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone but I would definitely recommend this book.

Before I picked this up, I was in one of those moods where I started a few other books and I just could not get into them. I was afraid I was starting a slump but thankfully it was just one of those moods where I needed something addictive to keep me interested and wow is this book addictive. If I could say anything about B.A Paris it would be that she knows how to write stories that are addictive and extremely thrilling but not in the usual way an author goes about it. I genuinely feel that her style and approach to writing is very unique. She has only published two books so far but they have both been hits for me. Take Behind Closed Doors - from the synopsis you can probably guess what the story is going to be about and the story even jumps back and forward in time so you know what is going to happen while you're reading it but you're still completely enthralled with the story. You want to know HOW it happens. A lot of authors focus on writing thriller stories where the readers are left to question WHAT happened but with B.A Paris's books so far, it's more focused on the HOW. So similar to BCD, this story focuses more on the HOW. From very early on I guessed the general gist of what was going to happen but weirdly, that didn't matter to me. Usually when I guess what happens early on, it's just a boring drag until the reveal (I'm looking at you The Girl On The Train) but this was so different.

Everything about this was really good - the story, the writing, the way it played out, the characters, etc. I did think the dialogue in this book was so much better than what it was in Paris's first book. It felt very natural in this book and I was impressed. The main reason why this book is a 4 and not a 5 star for me is because it was predictable. I know I rattled on about it a bit earlier but I just feel like if Paris somehow blew my mind at the end, I would have given it a 5 star rating. I also felt like Paris could have built up the suspense more in some of the key scenes but that was very minor for me. I also feel like some people might not want to read this because Cass is an unreliable narrator and I usually can't stand them either but this book is different. Cass's unreliability didn't bother me in the slightest.

I would100% recommend this. I enjoyed it more than Paris's first book and I will definitely be reading her future books! I really feel like she could be a very popular writer if she continues to bring out more books like this.

*I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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"I want more than anything to be able to take her hand in mine and tell her that I love her, for her to put her arms around me and tell me that everything will be all right. Because sometimes I’m not sure that it will be."

One split decision can change your life ... Young teacher Cass is on her way home from a party when she decides to take a shortcut, turning onto a deserted road leading through dense forest. Whilst it is a popular and picturesque drive during the day, at night it is dark and lonely and not considered safe by her husband Matthew. In fact, she has promised him to stick to the main roads, but it’s late, and it’s raining and she just wants to get home to her warm bed. On her way through the woods she notices a car parked in a parking bay on the side of the road with its headlights on. Pulling over to check if the person needs assistance, she sees the outline of a young woman behind the steering wheel, looking back at her through the rain. The woman makes no move to signal distress, so thinking that she is not needed, Cass drives on home through the storm and forgets all about the encounter. Until she hears on the news the next morning that a young woman has been found murdered in her car on the very same road. And the nightmare begins ....

Paris quickly reeled me in with her story, partly due to the fact that I do a lot of driving on lonely country roads without phone reception at night. Would I stop if I was in Cass’ position? To be honest, I am not sure. The roads are scary places alone at night, and you feel very vulnerable. Paris’ description of Cass’ moral dilemma is well executed, as is her subsequent disintegration as guilt and fear weigh heavily on her.

“Anybody would stop if they saw someone in trouble, wouldn’t they?”
“Would they, though? On a lonely road and in a storm?” I desperately wanted the answer to be “No.”
“Well, not unless they didn’t have a conscience. Nobody would just drive on. They’d at least do something.”

I liked the portrayal of a vulnerable young woman, scarred by the untimely death of her mother after a battle with early onset dementia. When strange things start happening around her, Cass is convinced that she must surely be going crazy and follow the same downward spiral as her mother did. Cass is a likeable protagonist, and one I wanted to root for in the face of the challenges she faces, even though I felt that the whole “unreliable narrator” concept was a bit overdone at times with Cass acting quite irrationally for an educated, smart young woman.

Whilst the start of the book had me firmly in its grip, parts of the last third fell a bit flat for me, but I can’t go into that for fear of spoiling things for other readers. Let’s just say that I guessed early on what was happening, and felt that the grip the book had on me loosened considerable once that part of the mystery had been solved. Whilst the ending was clever in a double jeopardy kind of way, it all came together a bit too neatly, losing some credibility. The mystery and its final twist could have been more convincing had more time been spent on character development of some of the supporting characters. I also disliked that a lot of time was spent relaying SMS messages, which seemed like an unexciting way to resolve an element of the story that had so much more potential to be clever and tense. This may not be an issue for other readers, but for me the tension that the author had been trying to build up suddenly deflated with a loud pffffft like a flat tire. Shame!

Whilst The Breakdown was a quick, entertaining and reasonably enjoyable read, it didn’t mess with my head enough to make it memorable. However, I do think its atmospheric setting would make a fantastic movie! I also really enjoyed Paris’ writing style, which will make me look out for other titles by the same author.