Cass is driving home during a storm after a night out with friends when despite her husband asking her not to she ends up turning down a deserted road that is a short cut to their house. While driving along Cass comes across a car pulled to the side of the road and can only tell that there is a woman sitting inside of the car. With it pouring down rain Cass pulls over in front of the car but then becomes concerned when the woman doesn’t come for help. Thinking it may be a trap Cass decides to call someone when she gets home and decides to leave. After arriving home however Cass gets distracted and forgets the mystery woman along the side of the road.

When awakening the next morning Cass is immediately told by her husband that a unknown woman was found dead along the deserted road. Cass doesn’t know what to think of the incident, could she have helped the woman if she had only stayed or called for help? Not wanting to admit she’d taken the road Cass keeps it a secret she had been so close to a murderer but when she begins to have strange things happen to her she becomes paranoid of being stalked and someone knowing that she had been on that road that night.

After reading Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris last year I was very excited to get a review copy of The Breakdown hoping for yet another exciting read. I have to say when I picked up The Breakdown I was very excited to find myself almost immediately drawn into the story and engaged from the beginning. The story starts off with a rather spooky trek for Cass not knowing whether she herself is safe or if the mystery woman needs help. But the story grows from there with Cass ending up being a somewhat flawed character that is starting to have memory issues like her mother had before she passed after being diagnosed with early onset dementia.

The title of the book fit both sides to this story quite nicely once you get invested in reading it. Not only did Cass witness the woman at the side of the road possibly with a breakdown but Cass and her personality was suffering from her own breakdown throughout the book. At times I wondered which I was more invested in wanting to know more about, Cass or the murder. In the end I think the story may be a tad predictable to those that read a lot of thriller so I decided on rating this one at 4.5 stars. The book however was highly engaging and an intense ride with plenty of twists and turns to get to the end whether you begin to piece together the story or not.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

I read this book in one evening - and stayed up far too late finishing it. I simply could not put it down. It was brilliantly paced, never letting the tension slip and, though I had an inkling who was terrorising the main character, I'd not expected the final twists. The only reason I haven't given it five stars is because I thought that there were too many coincidences at the end to bring it to a neat conclusion but it was thoroughly enjoyable and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys thrillers.

A little slow to start, but the ending is worth the wait. That being said, I read it in a weekend.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this book for an honest review, as always, all opinions are my own.

I had such high hopes for this book, and while I did enjoy it, the more I think about it, the more I'm seeing the predictability of the ending.

This story follows Cass, a woman who may be losing it. She's been especially on edge ever since she took a shortcut home one night, one she promised her husband she wouldn't and saw a woman in a car pulled over on the side of the road. She stopped for a minute but didn't get out. The next morning, she finds out the woman in the car was found dead by a passerby later. Cass is racked with guilt and doesn't tell anyone what she saw. The police start calling the death suspicious, and Cass begins to get silent calls she is sure are from the murderer. Since her mother was diagnosed with early-onset dementia, Cass begins to fear for the worst.

The book definitely had that signature Paris feeling of unease throughout the book. Cass's paranoia was infectious and I kept looking over my shoulder, especially when I was reading at night. Like in her debut novel, Paris creates an atmosphere where something is off, but you can't quite pinpoint what is really going on.

This review is tricky to write without spoiling anything or saying too much so I will keep things vague.

Like I said earlier, I had high hopes for this book. And on almost every count, those hopes were met and exceeded. But there were just two elements I found I wasn't in love with. Firstly, the predictability of the murderer/silent caller/reason Cass was going crazy. I remember thinking on page 34 that something was up with what was going on. I didn't guess specifics, but it did make me suspicious of a couple of the characters who ended up being involved in the plot ending. I also didn't love the ending itself. While I appreciated how Paris explained how everything went down, part of me wishes she had left some things open. The ending just seemed too neatly wrapped up to be realistic.

That all being said, I still really enjoyed this book. I think Paris's character portrayal was done very well, I felt like I really knew the characters of the story and could tell them all apart. I really liked the way Paris wrote Cass's characters, specifically, and I loved the inner monologues we got from being inside her head. It really added to the paranoia of the story.

The pacing of the book is very well done. Despite the fact that I kind of knew what was going on, I still wasn't a 100% sure and the writing and pacing of this book kept me reading. I think I finished this book in about 4.5 hours, and I was expecting it to take me longer than it did. I was glad to see that even though I knew something was up, the book didn't become boring or dull.

Overall, I would still highly recommend this book, but I wouldn't say it is as good as her debut.

Not as good as the other book by the author I've read, but not too bad. Kind of predictable.

School has broken up and to celebrate Cass and her colleagues go out to celebrate. As she leaves she phones Matthew her husband to let him know she is on her way. He insists she does not take the shortcut through the woods, particularly as a storm is imminent. However, she takes the rural route and passes a car parked in a layby; she stops and waits for the women inside to run through the rain to ask for help or at least signal that she is OK. Cass drives home intending to inform the authorities that a woman is stranded in her car. Once home she lies to her husband to avoid his displeasure.

The following day the woman has been reported as murdered and so begins Cass’s nightmare. Cass is frightened and feeling guilty. She discovers she knew the woman who has twins, little more than babies; she is frightened that the murderer knows her identity and will seek to harm her and she is besieged with ‘silent’ phone calls which she finds menacing. Matthew is dismissive of her anxiety but he does not know the truth. The stress leads to further complications for Cass, she becomes forgetful, and does she have dementia?

This is a psychological thriller with a brilliantly constructed plot, layer upon layer of complexity. Cass is the lead character in a cast of well-drawn characters which will have you questioning issues of trust, loyalty and honesty.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

I must admit that I found the story very slow moving and almost gave up in the middle, but it was worth the wait in the end.

Imagine finally having the life you've always wanted, but slowly finding your reality slipping away. Who do you trust, what do you do? That's what Cass lives through in this mysterious story of secrets and lies. You won't see what's coming!

As Kermit the Frog is fond of saying, it's not easy being green. It's also not easy being a voracious yet all-too-human of a reader, who tries desperately not to let the hype of all of my Goodreads' friends five-star reviews creep in and color my expectations of a book. Sometimes immovable Robot Larry wins, and sometimes the flawed mess more commonly known as Larry does. Apologies in advance.

Cass seems to have it all—a loving husband, a job she enjoys, a secure financial position, and good friends. One night in the middle of a huge rainstorm, she takes a shortcut home through the woods (in her car, not with her picnic basket), even though she promised her husband she would avoid that route. When she's nearly home she comes upon a car on the side of the road, in the midst of the storm, and she sees a woman sitting in the car.

Cass should stop and see if the woman needs help, right? But the woman doesn't have her flashers on, and didn't honk her horn—wouldn't she do that if she needed help? Then Cass realizes this could be a scam of some sort, one which might leave her vulnerable in the middle of the woods on a rainy night, with no mobile service to call for help. Since the woman must already be waiting for help, Cass decides to drive home and alert the authorities afterward, but when she arrives home she forgets about it.

The next morning, Cass is distraught to find out a woman was found murdered in her car in the woods the previous night, the woman she saw. But she was fine when she drove by, wasn't she? Or was the killer still in the woods, waiting to see if Cass would stop so he could kill her, too? Cass is utterly wracked by guilt, but she can't admit to her husband that she took the shortcut. As the days following the murder pass, Cass is barely able to function—she's consumed by the thought that she could have helped the victim, and she's growing increasingly more afraid that the murderer saw her stop that night, and is planning to silence her.

Cass' days are spent feeling convinced she's being watched, worrying that someone is trying to break into her house, and someone keeps calling her house but not saying anything. She's coming utterly unglued, and to make matters worse, she's starting to forget things—plans she's made, occasions she's planned—even whether she took her pills or activated the burglar alarm. The only way she can seem to cope is by taking pills to calm her anxiety, but they leave her in a drugged stupor, much to the chagrin of her husband.

Why can't she get past the murder? What is happening to her that she can't remember anything? Will she wind up alone, unaware of what is going on around her?

The Breakdown took a while to build up speed and tension. Obviously you know something will happen, but you don't know what or when. For a while, Cass' character really started grating on my nerves because she was just a sniveling mess, falling to pieces at the slightest thing, yet taking all sorts of risks. And then...BOOM. B.A. Paris throws in a twist which, while not utterly surprising, really turns the plot on its ear and sends the book careening to its conclusion.

I haven't yet read Behind Closed Doors so this was my introduction to Paris' storytelling. Once the book hit its stride, I really enjoyed it, and found myself reading it quicker and quicker, so I could see how everything panned out. While it took a little while for the tension to build, once it started she didn't let up, which is the mark of a good thriller.

I tend to be really hard on thrillers, so I can totally see why others fell so hard for this one. I still have Behind Closed Doors on my to-read list, and I have little doubt that The Breakdown will be seen on beaches, airplanes, and e-readers once it is released this summer, and deservedly so.

NetGalley and St. Martin's Press provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

I really enjoyed this book. Cassandra and Matthew Anderson are newly married. Cassandra, known as Cass in the book, had just inherited a large amount of money from her mother, whom she took care of until she had passed away. Her mother and been diagnosed with dementia at 44 and died when she was 55. Cass's friend Rachel also helped take care of both of Cass's parents before they died. Rachel is Cass's best friend. On the way home from a end of term party for teachers Cass takes a short cut to get home sooner due to torrent rain. She passes a car along the side of the road. She stops, but the driver doesn't give any sign of distress so Cass leaves. Then she finds out the woman was murdered and that she knew her! This is when things start going south for Cass. Her memory falls her, she gets so concerned that she is like her mother, that reality and her mind start getting mixed up. What will happen with the newlyweds? Can they over come this? Who killed the woman in the car? You can really feel the emotions in this story, and just wait till you get to the twisted ending!!! I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes thrillers!

This was a fantastic book! I will be posting on retailers on release day!

BA Paris does tension well. This is a pager turner from the very start - dark stormy night, tick! Going into the woods you've promised you wouldn't go into, tick! Woman, alone, thunder, heavy rain, headlights - tick tick tick tick tick! I felt unease the whole time reading this story of manipulation and suggestion.
We learn of a murder very early on in the book and everything's moving along very quickly by this point (the author drops a few hints to make you suspect a different people) and the end of the book is a satisfying enough finish, (the murder didn't work for me), but this book dragged through the middle section.
The repetitiveness of the story reminded me of Elizabeth Is Missing (although different genres), but the author does a good job with the big reveal at the end.
It's hard to give any more detail without giving away the plot!
This was a decent page turner on the whole, with just a few details that had rolling my eyes at the protagonist who could have helped herself out on occasion!

Ok mystery but ending is slightly predictable. Very readable!

As you can tell from the 5 star rating, I loved this book! There was something so raw and real here, written so you could put yourself in that spot and see it all happening to you just as it's written. I was riveted and didn't want to stop reading! I thought Cass was a character that was so easy to sympathize with. (Though at times you might feel a tad frustrated)

I did guess some of what was going on, but it didn't spoil the beauty of reading this frantic, psychological thriller where you watch someone second guess everything they know to be true. Things that are second nature. It was scary and crazy. So much better to me than BA Paris' first book. I liked it, but this was so much more.

**Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for an ARC to read and honestly review!**

I liked this book, it was very readable and compelling enough that I finished it in one day. The story had an interesting set up and premise, but that being said, I wasn't really surprised to find out that her friend and husband worked together to facilitate Cass' "breakdown" and that they were involved in the murder. I was satisfied with this though - there were not a lot of characters in the book, and I was glad that some minor character or some newly introduced character was the murderer. I would recommend this to anyone looking for an easy summer read.

A good plot but somewhere along the line it got a bit boring as it was repetitive and in some places predictable.
I got the impression that the characters were too nice for a thriller and i really got into the book in the second half once I got through the repetition.
A good summer read without being too frightening.
Good description at the begining kept me on the edge of my seat a pity it did not last throughout the whole of the book as it is a thriller.

This was an interesting storyline, but I didn't connect with the characters.
It felt as though the writer never really got into the depths of the characters'
feelings and shared more of the reasoning they might have had.

It was not one of my favorites, and it left me with an empty feeling at the end

This book has more twists & turns than the winding, isolated road Cass drove down only to find a woman sitting in her car, which she drove by, only to find out the next day the woman had been murdered. After learning of Cass's possible early-onset dementia, ill admit, I wondered if she had murdered the woman (and I wonder if she had admitted taking that road to either Matthew or Rachel if things could've gone in that direction), so it's safe to say I didn't see the end coming, at all. This was just as excellent a read as Behind Closed Doors.

I tore this book up, one sitting, devoured. Wow!!!

I spent the entire time trying to figure this one out. As soon as I would think I knew what was going on something would happen to throw me off.

I took away one star because it felt like the same telephone ring scene happened too many times and even a few minutes into the book I was annoyed at how many times the murder was referenced. Ever new character had the same exact conversation with Cass about the murder. Looking past this annoyance it was a good book.

I would recommend this book.

I didn't understand at first what the whole point of the book was but I still couldn't put it down. Cass is not remembering a lot of stuff that she supposedly did. At the beginning of the summer her life seems to start to follow apart. She can't remember making plans or ordering things and thinks that she is starting to get dementia. There was also a murder at the beginning and she thinks the murderer is stalking her. We follow Cass through the whole summer and beginning of fall until we finally see what is really going on. The only thing I really didn't like was the ending. I found it to abrupt. You spend the whole book wondering what was going on then you get 1 chapter that tells you the whole thing and then it ends. We don't find out what happens with Cass afterwards or anyone else, it's kind of annoying.