3.5 stars: The Prisoner is a psychological thriller that kept me guessing. Amelie Lamont has always been a survivor. When her parents died, her grandfather took her in and raised her. Unfortunately, he died when she was only 16, so she moved to London to get a job and save money for school. Living from pay cheque to pay cheque she is close to being on the street, when she meets Carolyn Blakely. Carolyn sees something in the young woman and hires her to be a live-in companion, someone to cook, clean and keep her home organized. Amelie blossoms and with 2 other women in their building, they form a small, close knit group. Through these friends who are all in their 30's and work at the exclusive magazine, Exclusives, she gets a job there and meets owner and millionaire, Ned Hawthorpe. Ned is not who he appears and when he needs to get married, he offers Amelie a marriage proposal that Amelie can't turn down. Now married and shut off from her friends, Amelie wants out, but before she can do that, she finds herself locked in a dark room, kidnapped along with her husband.

B.A. Paris has a knack for writing descriptive details that had me visualizing that room, every creak, voice and taste of tasteless food. I could feel the tension and fear that Amelie was feeling. I felt terrible for her to have been caught up in Ned's issues. She is a sympathetic character, young and a bit foolish and as the story progresses, determined to learn the truth. Ned is a creep. He is a rich guy, who thinks he can buy his way out of everything, but he lies and cheats, and even resorts to murder (not him, but he hires someone). Ned's father doesn't think much of him, so when he refuses to pay a ransom, things get a bit dicey and both Ned and Amelie are threatened. As the story unravels, I was invested until about 80% in. I would have been happy if it had ended there, but it didn't and the final part of the story didn't do anything for me. I did like the final twist, but the ending left me scratching my head. All in all, I enjoyed most of the book, but it was not one of Paris' best in my opinion.

What can I say except for I love B.A. Paris' thrillers. I finished The Prisoner rather quickly. It was a nice, twisty fast paced thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat. I look forward to more novels!

The Prisoner was a twisty psychological thriller that answers the question “what happens when a marriage of convenience goes horribly awry?” While it kept my interest, I had difficulty connecting with the characters and could have used more depth to care about them and what happened to them in the story. It was entirely in Amalie’s POV, with flashbacks to the past mixed with the present. I recommend this to readers of thrillers who like to keep guessing as the story goes on!

In true B.A. Paris style, this was a twisty, unputdownable, 'nothing is as it seems' novel. Her books mess with my head just enough to keep me intrigued in a nail-biting way but thankfully not make make my stomach turn. It wasn't my favorite of Paris' books (Behind Closed Doors is one of my favorite books of all time), but it is still a very solid thriller that I totally enjoyed.

Wow! I was so thrilled to get this book and devoured it in record time, ended up staying up all night because I couldn’t stop.

I usually enjoy B.A. Paris's books, and I expected to enjoy this one too. However, I struggled to get through it and found myself interested in something other than reading it. After halfway, I decided it was time to move on.

I adored this one. Super Quick read and the story was so twisty it leaves you furiously turning the pages to see what happens.
B. A. Paris is a writer that hooks you from the beginning and doesn't let you go until the last page.
I highly recommend you checking this one out.

In general, I really enjoy this author, but I can honestly say that this was not my favorite book written by them. I felt it was a little slow moving, especially the part that occurred in captivity. I expected some unexpected moments or shocking reveals or twists, but there those moments never came. While the book was entertaining, it was by no means in the top titles by B.A. Paris.

Twisty mystery! Love this one. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel. I encourage you to check this one out!

Another unique, thrilling story from B.A. Paris! It was unclear at first whether this would be a standard domestic thriller, or incorporate instances of organized crime. This book kept me on my toes until the very end, and proved to be one of Paris’ most twisted stories to date!

The first few minutes of this book draw you in like you would not believe. I was grabbed and held onto for about a third of this book. But then......sigh.....it dragged and dragged and dragged. I held on and kept telling myself that the end would be worth it. And to be honest, it just wasn't. The end was predictable and most of the bulk of this book was odd. The characters acted in ways that I consider unrealistic and unbelievable. I am not one to need a likable main character, but in this case, I think there just wasn't a character anywhere that we could hold onto as a touchstone. I was disappointed overall. This will be my last adventure with this author. I gave it my best attempt, but their books aren't for me.

Special thanks to the author, publisher, & netgalley for my advanced readers copy.

This wasn’t a personal fav of mine for various reasons but it was easy to get through. The premise was interesting but I didn’t really connect with the MC. Part of that was due to the story itself being a bit confusing. Those timeline jumps do it every time for me. I feel like if we’re going into the past then make it make sense. There needs to be a reason this was placed into the story.

A few of the timeline jumps only made sense because it answered questions about why certain things were happening. Like how Amelie ended up married to Ned. The reasoning behind it occurring and the events that followed were a little over the top.

I was also a little annoyed with the timeline jumps because I don’t necessarily want to be told verbatim why something is happening. Build the suspense by giving us clues we can piece together then by the end of the story have the “Ohhhh okay” I see why this happened moment. Shock me!!! I didn’t really get that with this. Honestly the story was bland.

The character development could’ve been better. I didn’t really connect or get attached to any of them.

Everything started off so well but by the middle I pretty much started to lose interest. The ending was rushed and just wrapped up everything.

This wasn’t the best thriller I’ve read but overall it was simply okay. So, I recommend you read at your own will!!!

B.A. Paris has done it again. The Prisoner was another captivating story that I could not put down. Amelie spent much of her life alone and finally found her tribe as a young adult. Through them, Amelie met her husband Ned. Shortly after their marriage, Amelie and Ned were kidnapped. The story is told from two timelines, past and present. This added to the suspense and kept me quickly turning the page to find out what Woolf happen next.

After Amelie and her wealthy husband Ned are kidnapped, readers learn what led up to this and why Amelie feels safer locked in a room by kidnappers than she would be out in the world with Ned.

It's quite an ordeal for Amelia, but she's strong and resourceful. There's quite a reckoning when it's all over.

I loved this book.
It pulls you in and holds you all the way to the end.
A must read.

Thank you #NetGalley for this ARC.

5 stars

𝖨 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝖺𝖻𝗅𝖾 𝗍𝗈 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖻𝗈𝗈𝗄 𝖾𝖺𝗋𝗅𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁 𝖭𝖾𝗍Galley 𝗌𝗈 𝖨 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗌𝗎𝗉𝖾𝗋 𝖾𝗑𝖼𝗂𝗍𝖾𝖽! 𝖡.𝖠. 𝖯𝖺𝗋𝗂𝗌 𝗂𝗌 𝖺𝗇 𝖺𝗎𝗍𝗈𝗆𝖺𝗍𝗂𝖼 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝖽 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗆𝖾, 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝖨'𝗆 𝗌𝖺𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝗌𝖺𝗒 𝖨 𝖽𝗂𝖽𝗇'𝗍 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖻𝗈𝗈𝗄. 𝖨 𝖽𝗂𝖽𝗇'𝗍 𝖽𝗂𝗌𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾 𝗂𝗍, 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝗃𝗎𝗌𝗍 𝗐𝖺𝗇𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝖺 𝗅𝗂𝗍𝗍𝗅𝖾 𝗆𝗈𝗋𝖾. 𝖨 𝖺𝖼𝗍𝗎𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒 𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗒 𝗅𝗂𝗄𝖾𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖿𝗂𝗋𝗌𝗍 𝗁𝖺𝗅𝖿 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖻𝗈𝗈𝗄 (𝗉𝖺𝗋𝗍 𝟣), 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝖾𝖼𝗈𝗇𝖽 𝗁𝖺𝗅𝖿 (𝗉𝖺𝗋𝗍 𝟤) 𝗀𝗈𝗍 𝖺 𝗅𝗂𝗍𝗍𝗅𝖾 𝗅𝗈𝗌𝗍 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖿𝖾𝗅𝗅 𝗌𝗁𝗈𝗋𝗍. 𝖨'𝗅𝗅 𝖻𝖾 𝖼𝗎𝗋𝗂𝗈𝗎𝗌 𝗍𝗈 𝗁𝖾𝖺𝗋 𝗐𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗈𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋𝗌 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗄!

One of my favorite authors !! Always keeps me on my toes and I always find myself reading her books in just a few sittings. The cover alone is captivating. Akers had me guessing and love a good twist at the end !
Definitely will recommend this book to my book club!

I just really didn’t connect this one. I really enjoyed the beginning, but then started to lose interest. Not sure why, maybe just too predictable.

This was a fun weekend read for me. While somewhat predictable and a bit slow, It was overall entertaining.

I always find BA Paris books take extra twists that I don’t see coming and The Prisoner was no exception.

Amelie has lost her parents and runs off to London to make it on her own. She meets a woman who helps her out and she becomes part of a friend group. This leads her to meeting Ned Hawthorne who is a billionaire.

Things with Ned aren’t quite what they seem and she finds herself waking up in a pitch black room with only a mattress on the floor. She doesn’t know who her captors are or what they plan to do with her.

There were parts of this book that I flew through and made me not be able to put it down (definitely fell asleep in bed more than one night holding my kindle 😅)

With every BA Paris book, I didn’t fully see the final twist coming and I loved it.

For me this was a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Stmartins press’s for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion. This book is out now!