The beginning of this book really hooked in me - the story was interesting and fast paced which kept me engaged. The execution eventually just fell flat and the book didn’t end up working for me.

The Prisoner is told in dual timelines - present day and Amelie’s past. The chapters were too short and alternated between past and present too quickly for me to stay interested in either timeline or to learn much about the characters. There was also no character development throughout the story.

The story also uses one of my most hated thriller tropes - having a character explain everything that happens at the end of the story instead of having everything play out on page so the reader can actually experience it.

This was a quick read and the short chapters kept me engaged throughout the book, but overall I wanted more out of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an eARC of this book in exchange for my review.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Just like all of B.A. Paris’s books I was completely drawn in from the first page. Lots of twists and turns with an ending nobody is expecting!

Thank you to NETGALLEY for the advance reader copy of this book. After reading Behind Closed Doors, I’ll read everything Paris writes hoping for something as good. This story comes close.! Lots of twists and turns and speculation in the beginning of the book. However, toward the end Paris begins explaining everything to the reader. While it’s nice to understand why and how everything is happening, very little is left for the reader to guess and imagine. 4 stars!

This book started off as a five star read. I was hooked immediately, loved the short chapters and thought the past/ present timelines built the perfect amount of suspense. However, once the second part hit, the book took a turn for the worse, and I lost interest completely. The execution of the plot was long and drawn out, there was little to no character development, I had zero emotional attachment to any characters and the story was totally unbelievable.

Thanks NetGalley and SMP for the ARC. Pub date 11/1

Ok, so I’ll start by saying that I did like this book, it kept me turning the pages and interested in what was going to happen next. It had a very good plot, I was kept guessing most of the way through. It was just a little flimsy. There were so many parts that just didn’t come across as believable. The ending tied up a little too nicely, but overall, a good read.

Amelie has been a survivor from day one. After losing her parents, she has made a life for herself in London with help from Carolyn Blakely a kind woman who took her in. Shortly after marrying billionaire, Jed Hawthorne, she is kidnapped and held in a dark room. Who has kidnapped her and why does she feel safter there in that dark room than with her husband? Pretty bad when you feel better being held captive.

I enjoyed the short chapters that helped move the book along at a nice pace. The two timelines were also enjoyable and kept me invested. The book started strong and instantly grabbed my attention and had me wanting to know more. It was obvious from the beginning, that her husband was not the nicest of fellows, and I wanted to know more of his motivation and why both were taken.

I had both the kindle and audiobook versions of this book. I was nice to go back, and forth which was nice as my audiobook was slightly over 4 hours, I notice other reviewers of the audiobook are mentioning the glitch in shortened time with the audiobook. Thankfully I had both. When I started listening, I thought, wow this is a short book, only 4 hours listening time, but having both copies, I was able to read/listen to the entirety of the book. I did enjoy the narrator.

While I enjoyed the book, I didn't quite love it. I found it to be entertaining and was invested in it all the way to the end. Amelie was a character to root for which I did. Like other reviewers, I found the ending to be what dragged my rating down. The ending lost a little of what made me enjoy the book in the beginning. The book was a solid 4 for me going into the ending.

Although this was not my favorite by B.A. Paris, I will happily read more of her books in the future.

3.5 stars


Thank you to Macmillan Audio, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Welcome to your stunning Fall Thriller! The Prisoner is not like any domestic thriller you have read before - you will stay up all night reading so beware!

When Amelie's father dies, she leaves for London to try and make a life for herself. Nearly broke, she relies on strangers to survive in the city. Flash forward years later and she is married to a very, very rich man - billionaire Ned Hawthorne. Unfortunately, now that she is in the spotlight, she is vulnerable and one day she wakes up in a dark room with no windows. She is also kidnapped! But she doesn't know by whom or if she will be freed. If you love a domestic thriller, don't pass this up! The Prisoner is a sizzler! #StMartin #ThePrisoner #BAParis #netgalley

I'm a huge B.A. Paris fan, but this one fells short for me. Part 1 was good and kept me reading, but they Part 2 was slower and confusing. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

B.A. Paris' The Prisoner starts out with a fast-paced kidnapping of Amalie and her husband, Ned. She finds herself trapped in a dark room with no idea who's behind the kidnapping and what's next for her. The first few chapters had me pretty hooked, however, as the story continued it got slower and slow and I realized how much I hated Amalie. She was so SO weak to the point where I couldn't even root for her to make it out alive. There were a few twists that I didn't expect and were decent, however, the ending made me very angry. Overall, I'd say this a 3.5-star read because the twists were good and the story has potential, I just couldn't get past my dislike for Amalie and her actions.

I cannot give this book enough praise! You will constantly think you have a clue of what is going on, only to find out later.... you have NO clue! The story line will keep you enthralled and you will not want to put the book down. I love reading ARC's that I can tell my friends about and this is one of them!

The plot is original about a young girl, Amelie, who had a series of misfortunes. How many times has it been said: “Be careful what you wish for.”

Her mother died when she was young. Then her father died of cancer and didn’t leave her anything. She was now on her own at 17 years old. She had no place to live and she was hungry. She was exhausted staying at various youth hostels. Yet, there was hope. Carolyn, at a coffee shop, gave her a half-eaten muffin. Amelie explained her situation and she was then hired on the spot to clean, cook and shop for her. She also allowed her to stay rent free at her beautiful home. They became best friends – like sisters. Is this even possible? After a year or so, she joined two other friends to work at a magazine. That’s when her life took a dark turn.

It's a quick read which weaves back and forth from the present to the past. It’s easy to keep track of the characters involved and visualize quite well what they may have looked like. I pictured Amelie as a very naive, sweet girl. However, she should have been a little rough on the edges as she was living on her own in the streets for a while. Later, when she was in a prison, my imagination didn’t go wild. The story could have used more layers of depth giving the reader some heart-stopping thrills. Yet, her father was right with what he said: she was a clever girl when it came to her math skills. That’s something I will remember.

My thanks to B.A. Paris, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy with an expected released date of November, 1, 2022.

The Prisoner by B.A. Paris had my whole attention. We are following a girl in present time who find herself being held captive in a dark room. At the same time we are taken in the past to see what led her to the moment of captivity. I could not put this book down and finished it so quickly. The big reveal was something I guessed in the middle so it wasn’t a surprise when it happened. However, that didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the novel. I really enjoyed this thriller and feel like this is very different from what B.A. Paris has done before.

What do you do when you wake up to being kidnapped with a hood over your head? Do you try to piece together what is going on or do you panic? Our main character Amelie wakes to being kidnapped along with her husband Ned. She is thrown into a dark room with no light and just a mattress. But as the days go on she feels safer with her captor than she ever did with Ned. This story will take us down a path of mystery as we watch Amelie survive and try to solve her kidnapping.


What I Enjoyed:
- Amelie is a very likable main character. She had had it rough. I just wanted to hug her.
- fast pacing. This book starts off with a boom and doesn’t slow down. We are immediately thrown into the kidnapping scenario.
- The dual time frames. We bounced from the present to the past. This helped pacing and kept me on my toes.
- The twists!

I was able to finish this story in one sitting! I honestly couldn’t put it down because I was curious the whole time. There were a few things that did disappoint. But overall, I really enjoyed this book! I am now on to read another book by the author. 3.5 stars out of 5, rounded to 4! Thank you to Netgalley and St Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was such a good thriller! It kept me guessing and intrigued the whole time! The characters were likable and well developed. I would definitely recommend this to everyone!

Wow! B. A. Paris nails the thriller in The Prisoner! It is non-stop action from page one. A woman and her billionaire husband are kidnapped and held for ransom. The father isn’t paying and the tension is rising as each day passes. I could tell you more but I’d ruin the book for you. If you are a thriller fan, run, don’t walk, and pick up The Prisoner. You won’t be able to put it down, so put on the coffee pot and get comfy!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#ThePrisoner #NetGalley #StMartinsPress
Thank you for the EARC. My opinions are mine.

Honestly, this book confused me. It had a lot of potential in the beginning & I was really enjoying the twists & turns in the first half. But, when I got to the second half, I found myself just not caring what happened. The book seemed really unrealistic & the characters were super choppy & underdeveloped.

The ending was also really a let down & left me with more questions than answers. I’m typically a huge fan of B.A. Paris books but you can probably skip this one.

Thank you to NetGalley & St. Martin’s for an E-ARC of this in exchange for my honest review.

As a big B. A. Paris fan, I was SO excited to receive an eARC (thank you NetGalley) for this book. Unfortunately, this one fell short. It starts off with a bang and I was immediately hooked. A little corny when the conversations between Carolyn, Justine, Lina, and Amelie were going on but still, it held my interest…until the second half. Everything went downhill at that point. It felt like the book was jumping all over the place, I didn’t totally understand the motivations of characters at times, and the ending just…happened? I can’t even call it a cliffhanger, it was so abrupt.

Still a fun read but not nearly as good as her others.

Yet another fast-paced thriller from the talented B.A. Paris. Wow. I thought I had it all figured out toward the end but I was wrong. A great ending with a great build up.

B.A. Paris is one of those authors that you know she's going to have a twist, and then another twist and possibly a third twist. I really enjoyed The Prisoner, I saw some of the twists coming but was still surprised at the ending.

Amelie and the man she is with are kidnapped. She finds herself in a room with no lights, windows boarded up and nothing to help her escape. What is going on and why have they been kidnapped?

I loved our main character Amelie, through all the trials she was resilient and tried to find out what was happening. The story skips from past to present, but it doesn't take away from the story as everything connected nicely. The book did have some strong language in it.

*thank you to #netgalley for the copy of #theprisoner to read and review.

BA Paris always weaves a great story! I almost figured it out but not quite. I enjoyed to 2 separate timelines that merged together.