What a roller coaster!

A daughter - wholeheartedly and completely loved - went from being orphaned too soon and living in the streets, to being taken in by the kindest stranger, given a job and then married a billionaire. She was then kidnapped, and then solved a crime?!? WHAT?!?

I could not stop listening.

Although…Hunter. I’m a little still confused about how I feel about him…

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this story!

I loved it.

This book gave me a lot of Behind Closed Doors vibes. I was liking it and curious where it was going but then some where towards the end it just fizzled out. I felt like it wasn’t totally surprising and just felt like, why?

I felt like the end of over explained things too. It just lost momentum. I wasn’t a huge fan of the narrator either. I thought she just lacked emotion in the character and sounded flat.

This was my first B.A. Paris book. After hearing so many people rave about her books, I wanted to give The Prisoner a try. The book premise was promising and a concept that appeared original. I was really excited to read the book and was hoping for a thriller roller coaster ride.

The Prisoner is about a woman, Amelie, that loses her father at the age of 17. Shortly after his death she moves to London where she struggles to find steady income after losing her job and a safe place to live. It seems fate has a new plan for Amelie because she meets a woman, Carolyn, at a coffee shop who later offers to help her. They quickly become friends where Amelie works and lives her. When Amelie's life seems like it is finally coming together, she is introduced to a man name Ned Halthorpe and her life takes a turn. They go on a spur of the moment trip where she is swept off her feet and gets married. But then she realizes her husband is not quite who she thought he was. Why are so many women turning up dead? And then they are both kidnapped. Who is responsible for abducting them? Will they get away? So many secrets will be revealed will Amelie be ready for them all?

There were several things I enjoyed about this book. Among the pros, I loved that The Prisoner has two perspectives: The Past and the Present. Both parts are told from Amelie's point of view and in the process, we are led on a trail of breadcrumbs to find out how she got into this situation. I liked that this was such a quick read. There is not a lot of fluff it just starts off running where the readers have to catch up. I also enjoyed the narrator for the book, she did a good job with the accents.

But with that being said there were so many flaws in this book that made the gems look a little lackluster at the end. There are so many characters in this book and many of them are not fleshed out. I had to keep rewinding to figure out which character was being introduced or discussed. I mean I love long books with detailed characters (I read Dune and that is an anthology with its own glossary), this book does not really explain who people are and why they are the way they are. In general, if you have a character that is troubled or psychopathic a good book will give a slight back story so the reader can understand. There were so many parts in this book where situations or incidents have to be inferred. There are two deaths that occur, and I was like huh? When did this murder happen, I did not read this in the book, but despite my not reading it or listening to it, the events STILL occurred. And the ending left me saying WHAT IN THE ACTUAL HECK! It just stops. Most if not all of my questions were not even answered. The book just stopped. I don't mind cliff hangers but there was no reason for it. I just got frustrated more than anything by the end.

I was really hoping for so much more from this book. It had a lot of potential. The beginning was good and kept my attention and then the middle to the end fell extremely flat. I did not hate the book, but it was not my favorite. Will I try to read another B.A. Paris book, most definitely! I think the author has the skills; this just was not the book.

I was given the opportunity to read this book as an ARC by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Amelie is orphaned at 17. She makes her way to London, makes friends and begins working for glamorous magazine. On a work trip her most eligible and very rich boss offers her a deal to marry him for a month. That’s when things start to go very wrong. She and her new husband Ned are kidnapped, but is she better off with the kidnappers then she is with her new husband? A very twisty thriller that kept me guessing until the end. Definitely my favorite of the B.A. Paris books that I have read.

4/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audioARC of this book.

I'm happy to announce that this latest title from B.A. Paris is a hit! The Prisoner is action-packed right from the start as Amalie is kidnapped and thrown into a pitch-black room. The reader finds out what happened through a series of flashbacks interspersed between scenes of Amalie trying to escape her prison and trying to figure out who her kidnapper was. I was so eager to figure out why she had been taken!

This was an extremely quick listen, and the story was tense and exciting throughout. Maybe we got a bit too thorough of a description of the room Amalie was kept in, but the plot unraveled brilliantly.

Audio Review: George Maguire is a new-to-me narrator, but one I will certainly watch out for in the future! At ten hours long this audiobook was an average length, but I was too excited by the story to press pause and flew right through it.

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.

This was an odd reading experience for me. The reason being because I was listening to the audiobook, which had huge gaps missing in the plot. It jumped between chapters and I would miss important plot events such as talking about a MC dying which I'd yet to learn about. I didn't clue in until getting to the end and hearing part of the big reveal (which didn't make sense) and then having the book suddenly cut out on a cliffhanger. Luckily I also had an ecopy so was able to go back and read the parts I missed (which made way more sense). However this resulted in a less impactful reading experience. Alrhough the suspense increased as the plot progressed, I'm not really sure how powerful the reveal was at the end because it was spoiled for me. Hence it lost a couple of stars. Can't say I'd recommend the audio version but the ebook was good. Should've just stuck with it instead of going audio.

This book started off with a bang with the MC being kidnapped and held prisoner. There was a part one in which chapters alternated between present day and past events leading up to present day. Then there was a part two that focused only on present day.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and St Martin's Press for an advanced audio and egalley in exchange for an honest review.

This one started out great and I absolutely loved part one. But part two was like hitting the breaks on the highway. By the time I hit the slower part though, I was already committed to knowing how it would end. Despite the change in speed, I still really enjoyed this book. I had both audio and ebook available to me, and preferred the audio as the narrator, Georgia Maguire, was excellent. This is surprisingly my first book by B.A. Paris and I for sure will be picking up more by this author.

A big thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio, and B.A. Paris for providing me with gifted audio and ebook copies in exchange for my honest review.

This book wasn’t for me. I’m not sure why, but I really just couldn’t get into it. It was very quick and the narration was good, I just didn’t think it was that shocking or twisty.

The kidnapping part was probably the best part of the book, the rest was honestly a bit boring. I guessed Who was behind it and guessed it was why they didn’t hurt her.

I am a BA Paris fan but this wasn’t for me.

I really enjoy B.A. Paris' writing. It's exciting and thrilling. I enjoy how the story unfolds itself, revealing just enough each chapter to keep me satisfied that I learned another piece of the story and not too much that I'm still wondering where it's going.
I found The Prisoner really predictable, not just the story, but even the characters. After the first couple chapters of introductions, it was pretty evident what was going on; but nonetheless giving it 4 stars because I found it an enjoyable read and couldn't wait to keep listening and find out if my suspicions were right.

Georgia Macguire did a great job narrating. Her voice brought such personality to each character.

A woman is imprisoned in a pitch-black room, clueless as to where she is and how she got there.

Why has this woman been imprisoned and who are her captors?

Readers quickly learn that the woman's husband is also a prisoner, and both have been abducted for a large ransom that has not yet been paid.

Interspersed with the "then and now", readers learn the backstory of the two husband and wife protagonists.

Although the first half of the book was stronger than the book's second half, overall, the book was too S-L-O-W burn for my fastidious palate.

The ending, too, lacked substance and the element of intrigue that I was seeking.

I listened to the audiobook and narrator Georgia Maguire did a superb job with the narration.

BA Paris is a talented author who is highly skilled in masterfully orchestrating compelling psychological thrillers.

Perhaps my expectations were set too high for this title, and I look forward to listening to this author's future releases.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I recommend B.A. Paris to everyone - she writes the darkest, twistiest thrillers that keep me up all night finishing them. The Prisoner is no exception and is a must-read.

I was so excited to read this book since B.A. Paris is renown for excellent writing! The first half of this book (The Kidnapping) was fast-paced and a page-turner but in the second half (The Reckoning) the pace really slowed down and the story got a bit convoluted and I wasn’t nearly as engaged. There were times I considered not finishing it

Thank you to Macmillan Audio & NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this digital arc

Prisons can take many different forms. Amelie learns this throughout this story. Amelie starts out with nothing to lose and then looses everything.

Definitely not what I expected. I really like that the author included the "past" and "present" perspectives. I wished we spent more time getting to know the main character, Amelie. Through out the book, I had a lot of questions about her and it felt like I just got glimpses of her personality, motivations, etc. The ending was a little weird, but I would read another book by B.A. Paris.

Loved the narrator!

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the audio ARC!
The start of this book was so strong! I liked the hard-working MC with many survival goals and ambitions. The claustrophobic vibe after the kidnapping was really well done. I thought Georgia Maguire's voice worked great for the narration. She was able to capture the youth and mindset of the character really well!
Unfortunately the ending was just over-explained and dragged on and on even though I was really curious about some plot points. Overall it wasn't a bad experience, I just wish the ending was done differently!

B.A Paris definitely has a formula for how her stories unfold. Once you read one, you understand that not everything is what it seems. The Prisoner was no exception. I have read enough to know that something more sinister was lurking behind the seemingly reasonable plotline, making it harder for me to be surprised.

The writing was solid and void of any plot holes which I always appreciate. I felt that the ending was supposed to be a jaw-dropper but I wasn't as shocked as I wanted to be.

The storyline had a ton of potential for a scandalous read but it didn't quite get there for me this time around.

Thank you for letting me read this arc!

I will preface by saying I did not get to finish this book because my NetGalley audio had missing chapters. I was a psychological thriller myself because I thought I was going absolutely insane when the chapter numbers jumped so quickly. I would have liked to finish this because I had so many strong emotions about the characters and was intrigued. This was my first BA Paris and I wish I could have had the full experience.

This was a short one from a favorite author! Full of mystery, everyone is a suspect in this one. The ending left a lot of unanswered questions. Not my favorite by this author, but still worth listening. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

What would you do if you were trapped in a pitch black room with no recollection of going there? B.A. Paris crafts the tale of Amelie trapped in a “prison” and her escape out in her latest thriller, The Prisoner.

Amelie seemed to always have bad luck following her; parents deceased, lost job, lost home. Luckily, she has made some good friends on her side that are working with her in London. The best thing? Meeting and marrying the illustrious Jed Hawthorne, billionaire with a controlling father.

In the blink of an eye however; Amelie wakes up in a pitch black room with no memory of being placed there. She thinks that Jed is somewhere upstairs but cannot get to where he is captured. Leaving her with countless questions and in time, a brighter future than living with her new husband.

I found the premise for The Prisoner captivating and was yearning to know instantly why Amelie landed in the “prison.” The books beginning chapters made me want to continue reading and rooting for our main character. However; the story soon became confusing with the back and forth present and past chapters. The flow wasn’t happening and I soon discovered the mystery of Amelie’s location. The ending chapters wrapped up everything in a way that could have been shortened into a one chapter length epilogue. However; I do see that many readers who enjoy B. A. Paris’s other books and mysteries may take to her latest. I would recommend listening to this on audio if given the chance, as the narrator paints.an eerie picture of what is happening.