I wanted to love this one but I didnt. I give it 3 stars. I loved all Paris books but this one felr flat to me. The first half about the kidnapping felt the same over each chapter. It wad just a slow story in my opinion. The ending wasn't a big shock either.

Wow. I’m utterly speechless. B.A. Paris is one of those rare authors that I can read synopsis unread. The Prisoner exceeded even my expectations! This psychological thriller pulled me in from the first chapter. There was no build up, just sit on the edge of your seat suspense from the very beginning. The premise of the story is unlike any that I’ve read before, The twist and turns are unexpected. As the story unfolds, you are given a tiny piece of the puzzle that creates the total picture. I had no idea where the story would go and wasn’t expecting where it went. The ending is like a violent crash and then total blackness. This read in one sitting - adrenaline inducing story is an absolute must read!
5 stars!

Just okay. I didn't find the plot very believable and the way it wrapped up at the end was all exposition, explaining everything.

This was a solid 4.5 stars raised to a 5. Amelie left home a 17 following the death of her father. She went to London where she luckily made some responsible friends. A couple of years later she went to work for a magazine run by Nat, a man about town with a reputation she should have known about. This is the story of her past and her present. She is the prisoner and is being kept in a dark room with no outside stimuli. The story is about why she was kidnapped, by whom, how she dealt with it and ultimately her survival. It is very well done and one of those novels readers keep reading one more chapter .Thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC for an honest review.

The Prisoner by B.A. Paris Slow read with back and forth timelines with a woman being kidnapped right at the start. There are were twists and turns however they were slow to evolve and some of the situations were unrealistic. Unsettling ending. Amelie was not a sympathetic character and hard to connect with. Not a favorite from Ms. Paris.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

Thank you to the publisher for my review copy. All opinions are my own.

Let me start by saying I love B.A. Paris. She writes incredible thrillers. This one, however, was a huge miss for me. Honestly. If it had not been BA Paris....I would have put this book down. I did finish it...but I was not in a good place with it.

Let's talk about it. Oh and I'm going to talk about this without spoilers. So come on in....the water's fine.

We start this title with a woman literally getting kidnapped. We don't know why. I kind of thought oh cool. [book:Along Came a Spider|13145] vibes. Ehhhh. Not exactly. The first 50% was slow. S.L.O.W. We went through dual timelines to find out what and why. It could have been done in two minutes honestly. I kept thinking. Okay. I gotta put this down. But then I'm like...it's BA Paris. At the middle mark it picked up...for a chapter or two and then...boom. Crash and burn. I was bored. The plot was not played out well. The whole thing was a big ol mess....for me. I hope you feel differently.

Wow! The Prisoner by B. A. Paris is one you will not want to put down until the unbelievable ending. The many twists and turns from present to past will keep you enthralled and make you more furious as Ned continues his rampage and his victims suffer. The old adages "money talks" and "revenge is sweet" speak volumes.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about The Prisoner. First, the summary led me to believe we'd see more of Amelie's relationship with Ned before she's taken. Rather than let that background play out, we see truncated glimpses of it, courtesy of flashbacks. It makes for a choppy, one-sided narrative that portrays Amelie through a rose-colored lens.

While there were a lot of interesting elements and twists, the way they unfold felt long-winded and unbelievable. I appreciate a book with an ending that stays with the reader, but this one left me feeling uneasy and uncomfortable.

I'm a fan of some of B.A. Paris' previous books, but this one is a pass for me.

What to say about this book. I am on the fence. I love BA Paris’ novels. I finished this is one sitting and couldn’t put it down. But at the same time there was also a lot of really unrealistic situations in the book but then also some good twists at the end. I also found the character development lacking. There were alot of characters but no time to really connect to any of them. I found myself quite unsympathetic to the main character and wishing for more of a connection. Overall I rated it a 4. Quick read.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

First off, this was my most-anticipated release of 2022! I've been looking forward to this book since the author teased the plot during an interview. The Prisoner by B.A. Paris is an absolutely amazing psychological thriller that is more intense than any of the author's previous books. I was a huge fan of Behind Closed Doors and The Therapist, and this book is darker tonally than either of them. The story revolves around Amelie, who has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom. Will she be able to escape her captors?

Here is a gripping excerpt from Chapter 1:

"I sense the shift of air beneath my nose a millisecond before something—thick, sticky tape—is clamped over my mouth, silencing the scream that would have ripped from me. My eyes snap open. A dark silhouette is bending over my bed.
Adrenaline surges. Move! Grab the knife! I twist my arm toward my pillow, but a hand slams onto my wrist, holding it still. Pulled from the bed, I kick out. But my feet flail uselessly, find only air. I try to focus but my mind is spinning. Why did I fall asleep? I should have been expecting this.
My arms are pulled behind my back, my wrists bound together. I try to twist away but something is pulled over my head, material, rough and tight, a hood of some kind. Panic spreads through me like wildfire. Don’t. Keep calm, Amelie. You know what this is."

Overall, The Prisoner is the book that all of B.A. Paris's fans have been waiting for. If you enjoyed any of her previous books, you won't regret reading this one! One highlight of this book is how dark it is. This isn't a typical domestic thriller set at the main character's home. A large part of this book takes place while Amelie is being held in captivity. Another highlight of this book is how thrilling it is. I was not expecting to see so many shoot-outs, chases, and murders. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of thrillers in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in November!

The Prisoner by B.A. Paris is another gripping read from a true master of the psychological thriller. I was completely captivated by Amelie's story, and remained in a breathless and suspended state of disbelief for nearly all of the twisty narrative.

Amelie comes to London following the death of her father in Paris when she is only seventeen. Having lost her mother as a young child, she now finds herself alone in the world, but a fortuitous meeting with the generous Carolyn soon has her moving in social circles that she would have previously believed to be out of reach. Yet it is a hasty marriage that will plunge Amelie into a new level of terror, one that she could have never foreseen.

This is a fascinating tale of mystery and intrigue, and a character study of human behaviour. I was empathetic to Amelie's plight from the very start, holding my breath along every inch of the way.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC.

5 stars for The Prisoner by B.A. Paris! Amelie is a young woman who has been dealt a tough hand in life. As she navigates new experiences and things are looking up, she is suddenly kidnapped and held prisoner. B.A. Paris’s chilling description of everything Amelie is going through was incredible. This was a great thriller and a perfect escape read for summer! Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and B.A. Paris for the ARC!