Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC. I found this to be a quick, entertaining read. It took a little while to get into the story because it seemed predictable but then had some unexpected twists that kept you reading and wanting to find out what came next. While I found her first book, a little more creepy this was a page turning thriller also with some not so nice characters!

Really well done thriller which is hard to review because of spolilers! You can debate Case' choices but you'll be sympathetic to her plight. Is she losing her mind? I really felt the tension for her. What about Matthew? Hmmm... I sort of guessed the identity of the killer but kept reading for the twists and turns and to find out how that would be revealed. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This one is worth your time. Highly plot driven and neatly written, it would be good for travel or the beach.

On a very rainy night, Cass drives home to her comfortable cottage in a quiet hamlet. She promises her husband she won’t take the isolated road that could work as a good shortcut in better weather, but traffic leads her to go ahead and do it. When she’s nearly home, she sees a car pulled off to the side, a woman sitting in the driver’s seat. She pulls in front of the car and stops, but the woman never flashes her lights or does anything to try to hail her, so Cass decides to drive on home — nowadays, there are stories of all kinds of things carjackers or robbers, etc., will do to trick unsuspecting Good Samaritans into getting out of their cars.

The next morning, Cass is devastated to learn that the woman was brutally murdered in her car, likely not long after she saw her sitting there. And, even worse, it’s a woman she was just starting to get to know.

Cass begins getting blocked phone calls at home with silence at the other end. She is sure the killer is stalking her and making the calls. And then she starts forgetting things: that she was supposed to buy a gift for a friend on behalf of a group of co-workers; that her husband was headed out of town for a business trip; that she had invited friends over for dinner. Combined with the phone calls and the murder, she’s starting to feel unhinged. Her biggest fear may be coming to pass: that she’s showing the signs of early-onset dementia, which plagued her late mother from her 40s.

As time goes on and she continues to feel sure she’s being stalked, that her forgetfulness may be serious, her life spirals out of her control.

The Breakdown is one of those stories in which readers don’t know whether the main character is being gaslighted or if she really is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Either is a scary proposition. And if she is being gaslighted, who is doing it? The questions begun to be answered near the end, where it’s hard to put down the book as it all comes together.

Rated: Mild. There is almost no language, perhaps a couple of instances of mild profanity. There is no sexual material, only allusions to sexual relationships. Violence is limited to brief talk about how the murder was committed.

Wow! This book was such a nail biting thriller!

Cass is a young woman, teacher, wife, best friend. Everything is perfect. On a late stormy night she takes a backroad home to cut her drive time. She passes a woman in a car that is at a stand still, but instead of stopping to help she keeps driving as she feels uneasy about the situation. The next day it's discovered the woman was murdered. Cass can't stop feeling guilty for not stopping, especially when she finds out she knows the woman. She becomes obsessed with the situation. Shortly after that she starts receiving disturbing phone calls with no one talking on the other line. She's convinced the killer saw her that night and will now come after her. Then she starts forgetting things. What she bought on line, what she bought at the store, where she put her keys, her purse. Who she invited over for a weekend BBQ. Her mother died of early onset dementia and she is now convinced it's happening to her. Her husband is getting more and more worried but also impatient, Cass can't go back to work due to being on medications that make her woozy, her best friend is becoming more elusive and Cass's world is falling apart.

As with all thrillers there's a twist but through out the story my mind was sure of this person, then that person, then another person. The author does a great job of keeping you guessing. When you do find out you just can't believe it all went down like that. This book will not disappoint!

I really enjoyed this book as I do enjoy the writing of this author. I read this book months ago and am so excited to finally be able to put up a review for this on release day. As with Paris' last book this is a psychological thriller and it is one that will keep you turning the pages until the end. The story is told from the perspective of a woman who has lost her mother due to early onset dementia and Cass is afraid that she will inherit this disease from her mother. She has not told her husband that she lost her mother to this and when she starts showing signs of it she does all she can to hide it from him. From there we are brought into her frightening world of not knowing what is going on, who people are, why things are happening and of course there is a murder of a friend of hers! All of these things combine to make this a great ride that you will easily enjoy and leave you wanting more.

“The Breakdown” is the story of a young woman who feels she may be on the verge of a mental breakdown. It also incorporates the story of another woman who appears to have had her car breakdown on a horrible stormy night. The two stories converge early on in the book and each has an effect on the other.

Cassie returns home on the stormy evening after spending the night out with co-workers even though her husband made her promise to stay on the main road. She decides to take the short cut through the woods and comes across a car which seems to have broken down. She can’t quite convince herself to leave the safety of her own car to see if the other driver needs help (though she does stop to see if the other driver will get out of her car to seek help.) When she doesn’t, Cassie drives home. Because she broke her promise to her husband, Cassie can’t talk about the other driver or where she saw her.

In addition to her guilt for not helping the other driver, Cassie is suddenly forgetting all manner of things. From day to day items to promises and get-together dates, she is progressively forgetting more and more. As her mother suffered from (and passed away recently) from early-onset dementia with memory loss, Cassie is concerned that she, too, has the same issue.

The characters in the story were compelling and the plot even more so. I figured out quite a bit of the story line just ahead of the reveal in the book but must admit I did not see the whodunnit coming. It made sense but somehow I missed the clues. For me, that is the making of an excellent mystery – which the book is as well as a compelling suspense novel. I’ll be looking for more books by this author in the future.

I was provided a digital advance reader copy of this book by the publisher via Netgalley.

Great read!! I really enjoyed reading this book. This was a quick read because the pages just flew by. Lots of suspense and an ending that you won't see coming. There was a part of the book where I became annoyed with Cass and the way she was acting. That was explained as the book went on. This is definitely a book that I recommend.

This copy was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I must say that was anticlimactic.

Full review to come.

Whelp the book comes out today so I guess it is time.
I wish I had a rave review to give, I wanted to love this one so hard. But alas, it was not meant to be.

Cass is everything that I just do not like in my leading lady.



Could we get some chesticles for this lady?!

I felt like she just ran around having a complete nervous breakdown (yeah I really do think the book title was trying to be clever like that).

I kept waiting for her to snap out of it.
Summary:
She sees a lady with her car broken down on the side of the road in the rain.
She is too scared to go and see if she is ok.

Then she gets home, where she has cell phone service, and ....well forgets to call for help.

THEN she finds out a woman has been murrrrrrderrrred that night and she did nothing to help.
Queue the guilt:

So now she is 'being watched' and keeps forgetting everything.
A. Does she go all Nancy Drew on their ass and start 'detective -ing' ?
B. Does she learn martial arts and/or buy a gun?
C. Or does she just start to take drugs that make her super sleepy and paranoid?

*Ding Ding Ding* C is correct!

Great.
I won't 'ruin' the book for you but it does wrap up pretty quick. There wasn't really a twist in this one at all.
It just didn't deliver the thriller in 'mystery/thriller'.

The storm at the very first of the book gives this story an ominous beginning. And then the suspense just builds from there. The Breakdown had me questioning everything that was happening to Cass. Could she have prevented that woman's murder? Why was she forgetting things? Who was calling her all the time, creeping her out? Who was out to get her?

The suspense and drama kept me turning pages. Things are not always what they seem and then the ending. Love those surprise endings! This story was totally riveting and I inhaled it in record time!

Scrappymags 3-word review: Beachy thrills abound! (please feel free to peruse my blog at http://scrappymags.com)

Genre: Contemporary Mystery/Psychological Mystery

Shortest summary ever: Cass might be cracking up. She swears she hears and sees strange things yet no one believes her. It starts with a drive home after a party when she sees a lone woman sitting in her car on a deserted road. The next day she finds out the woman was murdered... IS Cass imagining the things causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up, the feeling of being watched and maybe even stalked? Is it all in her head? Or is she right after all?

What’s good under the hood: Either I watch too much ID Discovery Channel (entirely possible) or this is a predictable book, but despite that I enjoyed watching the mystery unfold. I read this book in about a day and a half which is quick for me. I particularly love the ending... no spoilers! I read Paris's previous novel Behind Closed Doors and felt the same about the plot of The Breakdown - it's friggin' awesome. Paris gives good story. The threads she creates are unique, intriguing beyond belief, hence why I can suspend some disbelief (I sort of don't care with a story this good). At first I was mega-annoyed by Cass in a slap-her-she's-so-weak way, but as a person with anxiety issues I related to her feelings of panic, fight or flight responses etc. as sometimes your body goes into flight mode over triggers. For instance, I would move to open a door and could not open it, feeling like I would die if I opened the door. I knew it was irrational, but couldn't help that response. Panic/panic attacks are terrifying if you've never experienced it. You feel as if you are dying - literally dying, while your brain acknowledges this is irrational, you still FEEL that way and are powerless to make it stop. Worst feeling. While some may criticize Cass, personally I could feel that response as I've had it before. It's the heart of panic attacks. It's irrational. You know it's irrational but you don't control it, and that frightens you even more. That psychological aspect of the book was spot on.

What’s bad or made me mad: The mystery was too easy to figure out. More characters and developing them further might make the mystery less easy to see. I figured it out at 16%, making a note of some way-too-obvious foreshadowing. But heck, you see who does it in Columbo episodes rfrom the start and it's still interesting to watch the investigation unfold.

Recommend to:

*Best seller mystery readers. My peeps.
*Beach readers - fast and thrilling

Avoid if: You can't hang with a book you'll figure out too soon.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review and some heavy duty bags under my eyes from late night can't-put-this-down reading.

Wow! Wow! Wow! I loved 'Behind Closed Doors' so I was expecting 'The Breakdown' to be good as well. I certainly wasn't disappointed. I was practically holding my breath the entire time I read this book! I couldn't put it down!

Another winner for B. A. Paris!!

Cass is heading home through a heavy thunderstorm and taking a shortcut on a dangerous road. When she sees a woman sitting in a car on the side of the road, she wants to help but is afraid to stop. The next day she learns that the woman she saw is dead. She feels guilty for not stopping to help her especially when she learns the woman had been brutally murdered. She does not dare tell her husband, Matthew, that she had driven that road because he had made her promise not to go that way.

Soon, Cass learns that the woman killed is Jane someone she has recently met and hoped to become good friends with her. She is very upset by this. She is also afraid that the killer may have seen her car that night on the road and may want to harm her.

Cass is a school teacher and is off for the summer break. When her parents passed away, she received a large inheritance from them. Even with the money, she is happy to continue working.

When things begin happing that makes it look Cass is forgetting things, she wonders about herself. She gets phone calls with no one there and cannot seem to operate appliances like she used to. She worries that she is becoming forgetful and thinks she may be in the early stages of dementia that too her mother’s life at age 55. Cass clings to her husband, Matthew, and her best friend, Rachel, to help support her during the confusion she is going through. Is she losing her mind or quickly sinking into dementia? Is Jane's murderer after her?

This is a great story that keeps the reader guessing right up to the end. As the author of “Behind Closed Doors” I was looking forward to reader this second novel by her.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

While driving home from a party in a terrible storm, Cass makes the fateful decision to take a shortcut home. As she’s driving the deserted, rural road, she comes across a car that appears to be stranded. The driver is a woman, but the rain is coming down so hard, she can’t make out any details. Being a woman driving alone, with no cell service, and with the dreadful weather, she pulls over in the hopes that the woman will give a signal that she needs help, but the car remains still, the woman does not get out or use her lights to signal. Though it tears her up to do so, Cass decides the safest thing for her is to go home and attempt to call for help for the woman. Unfortunately, when she arrives home, she is tired and forgets. The next day, she hears on the news that the woman was murdered.
Burdened by the guilt of what she didn’t do, Cass becomes increasingly anxious, and disengaged from her own life. She starts getting strange phone calls, the caller only breathing into the phone, never saying a word. As her fear increases, she starts forgetting things, losing blocks of time, and she starts to wonder if she’s got early dementia like her mother did. Her paranoia begins to damage her marriage and her friendships, and she becomes more and more isolated. But all along she feels like something isn’t quite right. She’s certain that the murder is closer to her than anyone realizes, and she begins to question the unraveling of her mind. What is the truth and can Cass get a hold of herself long enough to find it?
My very first B.A. Paris and I wasn’t disappointed. While I had a very, very strong suspicion about some details very early on, there were elements of complexity that I hadn’t anticipated and I was delighted at the unexpected turns at the end. The suspense/intensity was well balanced – not so on edge that my nerves were frazzled (my anxiety doesn’t play well with prolonged periods of heightened emotional states), but enough that the story held my attention from the first page to the last.
Definitely a book I’d recommend. And I’m very glad that I have Behind Closed Doors on my Kindle already. An author I’ll be looking out for in future!

1. I thought it was addicting. I mean, of course it was. I didn’t expect anything less from B.A. Paris, to be honest. As soon as I read the first chapter, I knew I was hooked, and I ended up reading this in a day. I CAN’T HELP MYSELF WHEN IT COMES TO B.A. PARIS. I know most people really appreciate having an addictive psychological thriller to read, and this one definitely fits the bill.

2. Cass was a great main character. I absolutely loved being in her point-of-view for the entirety of the book! It’s very easy to be sympathetic to her situation, especially since imagining yourself in her shoes is actually terrifying. I know I’m also one who can be quite paranoid about dumb things, especially when it’s at night and I think I’m hearing noises that aren’t even there and completely over-thinking the worst-case scenario in situations that really aren’t that bad, so I could definitely relate to her and understand how she felt. If I told you guys the type of paranoia I have about some serial killer coming to get me at night, it probably sounds dumb to you, but it makes sense to me, so I definitely understood the predicament she was caught up in.

3. It was different from Behind Closed Doors. I actually loved Behind Closed Doors, but I know some people might not like it that much, and worry that this one won’t be too good. I actually thought this was quite different, and had more of a mystery feel than her previous domestic thriller feel. It definitely still had that element of psychological suspense that I really loved and was extremely addicting, of course, but I’m glad that it shows that Paris can branch out if she wants to!

4. The writing was fantastic. I talked a bit earlier in this review about how it really captured how it felt to be paranoid, and that’s what made the writing SO GOOD. Her writing also managed to make the book so suspenseful and kept me turning the pages, which is always good for a thriller.

5. I absolutely loved the ending. I really, really did! I’ve been a bit frustrated with some thrillers when it comes to their endings since some seem to build up to some out-of-this world ending that doesn’t make any sense whatsoever, but this one ended up having not just a pretty realistic ending, but a shocking ending, showing that thriller endings don’t have to be outlandish to be good. Not only that, but it also managed to tie up the story in a neat little bow, which will make a lot of readers happy.

All in all, B.A. Paris has done it again! I can’t wait to see what she puts out next!

Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us. - Oscar Wilde

Cass and her husband, Matthew, live in the small hamlet of Nook's Corner, England. Cass is a schoolteacher and I'm not quite sure what Matthew does (he has to go out to a "rig" occasionally though). Cass is just getting her life back to normal after caring for her mother who had early-onset dementia.

It's now time for the six week summer holiday from school and as Cass leaves the pub where her fellow teachers and staff were celebrating, she heads home in a downpour driving her little Mini. She takes a shortcut she promised her husband she wouldn't and passes a woman stopped by the side of the road. She thinks about stopping to help but doesn't and later finds out she actually knew the woman and she was murdered that same night.

Cass' world then becomes something out of a nightmare and I could feel my blood pressure rising the further I read in the book.

This book is quite the rollercoaster ride of a psychological thriller. I figured out some of the twists and turns but not all of them. Author Paris did a super job of weaving all the different pieces of this story together. If you like mysteries, thrillers or just a well-written tale, try this one out. You won't be disappointed.

I received this book from St. Martin's Press through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.

Another great thriller by B.A. Paris. I thought her first book would be hard to top, but The Breakdown is equally as captivating. I had a hard time putting this one down. I'm definitely going to recommend this to library patrons.

Wow! If you are looking for an emotional, psychological suspense read, this is the book for you! B.A. Paris does a marvelous job of writing of Cassie's mounting inner turmoil and fears after a woman she knows was murdered soon after Cassie passed her car on a dark, wooded lane during a terrible storm. As days pass, Cassie comes to believe that the murderer may be after her; after all, why else would she get so many hang-up phone calls? Why would she find things out of place in her home? Why would windows and doors that she is sure she locked be open?

Is the murderer really after Cassie, or is she falling victim to early onset dementia as her Mother did at her age? Either answer is not easy to accept. Cassie is soon caught in a downward spiral. Will she be able to pull out of it and discover what's really going on?

B.A. Paris paints the story with a masterful atmospheric brush. Just when you think you know the truth, another twist appears. A real page-turner, I highly recommend this read!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I received an advance copy of this in exchange for an honest review. This was a great thriller in the same vein as Ms. Paris's first book, Behind Closed Doors. She pulls her reader right in in this book with a scene where on a dark and stormy night, a woman is driving on deserted road that she has promised her husband she won't drive on alone. She sees a car on the side of the road and decided to stop, but it ultimately frightened and drives away. In the morning she find out that the woman has been killed. That begins a struggle for Cass with her guilt for not stopping and for not telling her husband that she went on the road. As the days pass, she becomes paranoid and believes the killer is after her. There are lots of twists and turns and many people to suspect when trying to decide what is happening to Cass. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good suspenseful read!

For any author it's always difficult to follow up a monster success. BA Paris' first novel, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, was a fantastic thriller. I absolutely loved it, so I was incredibly excited to see that Paris had a new book coming out, THE BREAKDOWN. This was a domestic thriller with an unreliable narrator - something I've definitely come to love in a novel. I also love the tag line, "if you can't trust yourself, who can you trust?"

Cass is driving home during a storm one night. She passes a car pulled over and she sees a woman sitting in the car. She continues on her way home. The next day she learns that this same woman she drove by, was found murdered just hours after she saw her. Now Cass is trying to live with herself over the guilt of not helping the woman or doing anything to save her.

Since that night Cass has been forgetful. She can't seem to remember simple things like where she left her keys, their home alarm code, and whether or not she took her medication. She's consumed by her guilt and this feeling she can seem to shake - that someone is watching her.

Overall, this was a good domestic thriller! The beginning is much slower of a build than I expected. Cass got to be incredibly frustrating! You just wanted to tell her to pull herself together and get over it. That being said, Paris did a great job developing her as a character. I love Paris' writing style because it reads fast and keeps you guessing. I really liked the ending and how there was a twist thrown in that I definitely wasn't expecting!

If you like domestic thrillers and unreliable narrators, then this is one you'll definitely enjoy! There were parts where the plot dragged and felt repetitive, but that didn't take away from the writing.

I give this 4/5 stars! I was going back and forth between 3.5 and 4, but the ending helped bump it up!

Thanks to St Martin's Press for the copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

4.25 STARS

Is Cass Anderson losing her mind? Is she having a mental breakdown? Or has the recent murder of a woman she failed to help on the night she was killed causing her mind undue stress? Or, perhaps, could the murderer himself, be tormenting Cass--intent on silencing her for good?

Cass’ husband, Matthew, tries hard to offer up logical explanations for the recent memory lapses his wife is experiencing. And he easily explains away the silent phone calls that occur on a daily basis. But as Cass’ behavior becomes more and more erratic with each passing day, Matthew’s frustration level hits an all-time high. Cass fears that, like her mother, her memory loss is degenerative—a truth about her family she never revealed to Matthew. Only her best friend, Rachel, truly understands her underlying fear. But now Cass has an even greater fear… that the murderer knows who she is and has set his sights on her.

“The Breakdown” is a gripping, psychological suspense drama that’s more mystery than it is thriller. Still, the overall story is compelling, and I was completely enthralled from start to finish. And while I enjoyed the unraveling of the mystery, I found that the story itself held few real surprises. In fact, it was drawn out a bit too long for my personal liking. These negatives aside, I found “The Breakdown” to be a story well worth reading.