Must read! Fell in love with Cassie the Main character! My heart broke for her! I had the chills! Definitely recommend this book

3.5 stars

This one had all the makings to be a top thriller read, for me. Cass sees a car stopped on a deserted road, in a storm. She decides not to stop and help the person, but then finds out the next day that the person was murdered. Her decision to not help the stranded driver weighs heavily on her and is only made worse by her forgetfulness. It starts with small things, but quickly escalates to things like forgetting she ordered a baby stroller (when she isn't pregnant) and taking too many pills when she can't remember if she took them. Cass makes a startling discovery when she starts looking into who the stranded driver was.

The beginning and ending of this novel were gripping and fast paced. Unfortunately, the middle part seemed to drag for me. It was a lot of internal dialogue with Cass and trying to figure out if she had a mental illness. It became slightly repetitive as it tried to throw you off course from what you may have figured out from the beginning. There was a HUGE clue given right from the start. You may not be able to put together all the pieces, but you'll have an idea where the plot is headed.

I was given an advance copy from the publisher via Netgalley.

Another thrilling page turner by B.A. Paris. My readers are always looking for recommendations and they devoured Behind Closed Doors so this will be a great June read for those awaiting the next hot read. Paris knows how to hook her readers and string them along a mysterious path. I was surprised at the ending, but in her usual style, I got tremendous joy out of it. Prepare for another all nighter. You won't want to put this one down.

The Breakdown didn't grab me until about halfway through... then the pace and the ending made sticking with it worthwhile. The beginning was necessarily slow and tedious in order for the second half to make sense. Definitely worth reading!

B. A. Paris has no need to fear the dreaded “sophmore slump.” Bestselling debut novel Behind Closed Doors left fans with high expectations, and I’m sure more than a few wondered if she would be able to catch lightning in a bottle twice, and worried her next book may not be as stellar as the first.

Wonder and worry no more, reader. She did, and it was.

Cass Anderson took a shortcut through the woods (despite promising her husband she wouldn’t) as she was driving home on a stormy night, and saw a woman sitting in a parked car alongside the road—presumably a breakdown. Fearful of offering help in case things weren’t as they appeared to be, Cass goes home. The next day she learns the woman in the car was murdered, and worse still, she is someone Cass recently befriended. Overcome with guilt (could she have prevented her friend’s murder?) and unwilling to admit the broken promise to her husband, Matthew, Cass stays silent. But the more she hears about the murder, the more fearful she becomes that the murderer might come after her next… a fear that seems justified when she starts receiving silent calls that feel menacing in nature. Fears of a different nature surface when Cass begins to have serious difficulty remembering things—her mother had early-onset dementia, and the problems Cass is having feel heartbreakingly familiar to her. Paralyzed with fear and weighted-down with guilt, Cass is unable to cope and it wreaks havoc on her mental health. Is someone stalking her… or is Cass having a breakdown of her own?

The Breakdown is simply phenomenal. I was able to guess a particular event that takes place, and I was disappointed at first, but what I didn’t know was that laid the groundwork for an explosive reveal that was truly astonishing. Fast-paced and clever to the core, this novel is destined to be a hot topic of conversation between readers. Trust me. This is a book you do NOT want to miss out on!

B. A. Paris is well on her way to becoming my go-to author for psychological thrillers. If you’ve read her books, I’m sure you know why. If you haven’t…. what are you waiting for?

Loved the plot. Couldn't put it down. The author really understands the interaction of her characters. Classic gaslighting! Would make a terrific film.

I really, really want to give this a 5 star review because it kept me reading late into the night, but it didn't keep me guessing. I loved how well it was written, but it was too predictable. I did appreciate the ending because it was a bit of a twist. All in all I really think suspense readers will enjoy it. The characters were really well written and the pacing was perfect.

The only reason I can't give this 5 stars is it was.........spoiler alert.......











too much like the movie Gaslight for the majority of the book. It was too easy to guess that she wasn't really going insane and that she was being manipulated. Maybe if I hadn't ever seen this movie, I'd have been guessing more.

As a woman driving alone on a country road at night, Cass isn’t that inclined to get out of her car when she passes what appears to be a motorist with engine trouble. It’s pouring buckets, and Cass’s cottage is not far away. Finding out the next day that a woman was murdered is a huge shock, more so when the driver is identified and Cass realizes that she knew the victim.

On a long holiday from work, Cass hopes that she can bring her life into focus. Recently wondering if she is going to go the same way as her mother and experience early onset dementia, Cass has been suffering increasing occurrences of memory loss. The smaller events such as misplacing her bag and phone could be brushed off as the meanderings of a distracted mind but ordering items online such as a pram (when she and her husband are not expecting) is evidence to Cass that her slippage is a symptom of something more serious. The silent phone caller is now ringing the cottage landline every day and the feeling that someone has been entering her house increases Cass’s paranoia – perhaps it is someone that knows Cass could have stopped the murder. That if Cass had only gotten out of her car, a woman’s life might have been saved.

There is only a small cast in THE BREAKDOWN so our suspicious eyes are trained on characters that don’t have anywhere to hide; they are all close to Cass’s life and are becoming increasingly aware that her life is in disarray. Cass becomes more hemmed in by her memory glitches and is desperate to regain control of a life that is being puppet mastered by someone who must be close to her. THE BREAKDOWN is a very suspenseful read, tempered with periods of time where you alternately feel desperately sorry for Cass in her struggles, or frustrated with her as she seems to be going around in circles.

Like this author’s first sleeper hit, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, THE BREAKDOWN very much narrows the focus to one female character who is struggling without support and is the only one who can save herself. The everywoman leads are frighteningly relatable; we all know someone like them, or have experienced something similar. Compulsive, entertaining and tense reading from an author to watch.

On a deserted side road there is a murder. Cass happened to be on that road that night headed home. She did not witness anything but does the killer think she Did? Now she fears the killer is watching her. As she starts to break down mentally the suspense turns this into a page turning thriller. A must read!

Thanks to the publisher, St. Martin's Press, via NetGalley, for an egalley in exchange for my honest review.

I looked forward to this novel since I had enjoyed the author's debut novel, Behind Closed Doors. This is also a psychological suspense/thriller that is quite a page-turner. It's well-plotted with just the right number of characters, not so many that it's hard to keep track of them.

The protagonist is Cass, a young woman who is suffering from paranoia, forgetfulness, and guilt while being frightened about losing her short-term memory like her mother. Her mental stability is tested throughout the novel. There were times when I had no idea what was going on or who to suspect was causing the drama. But the book is so well-written, I just couldn't put it down.

Cass is traumatized by an event that starts the "breakdown" rolling. From there it's a roller coaster ride. While at times I felt it was repetitive, it continued to be fast=paced. Ms. Paris certainly knows how to grab you at the beginning and not let you go until you finish her novel.

I almost gave up on The Breakdown after the first few chapters because I couldn't wrap my head around what the protagonist was doing. Cass had promised her husband that she wouldn't take the shortcut home through the woods, but she did and along the way she drove past a woman alone in a parked car. I don't get why she didn't call the police after learning that the woman had been murdered and that she was probably the last woman to see her alive. Unrelated to the murder in the woods, Cass is suddenly suffering from lapses in memory and fears that she's showing the first signs of the early-onset dementia that her mother had. But she won't tell her husband about that, either. When I picked this book to read, I thought there would be a compelling reason why Cass couldn't tell anyone that she'd taken the shortcut. But there wasn't. She just refuses to be a grown up and do the right thing. Farther into the book, things do get more interesting and I'm glad I kept reading until the end. But I didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as I enjoyed Behind Closed Door, the author's first novel.

I was very excited about this book after reading Behind closed doors and enjoying it so much. B A Paris has done it again, bringing so much that I loved from the first book. I would highly recommend giving this book a read. This was a very fast paced compelling read. Thanks NetGalley for this Copy

After reading Behind Closed Doors, I knew B.A. Paris would be an author I will love for years to come. I was sincerely impressed, again, with The Breakdown. Honestly, I hadn't even read the description of the book - I just knew I had to read it. The novel was suspenseful and chilling - I was more than satisfied with the book, however, the conversations near the end of the book (via text) were slightly confusing - I had to read them a few times to understand what was happening. I would definitely recommend this books to fans of thrillers and suspense!

This is the second book I've read by this author and I was hopeful that this would be a stronger book then Behind Closed Doors. While I enjoyed Behind Closed Doors, it wasnt as good as I had hoped. With this book, I had it figured out within the first couple of chapters who was behind all of the "strange happenings" going on in Cass' life. About halfway through I figured out another part of the book. The only real twist came at the end when I hadn't figured out who the murderer was.

The book is about a woman named Cass who passes by a car in the rain and doesn't stop to offer any help. The next day the woman was found murdered. Cass is riddled with guilt because of not reporting this to the police and then strange things start happening to her. I will admit that it was kind of annoying to have to hear over and over again how I forgot this, I'm not sure how to do that and, I have early onset dementia but that was kind of tied up nicely at the end.

Overall this was a pretty good book. I would read something else by this author however I don't think this was a psychological thriller.

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

Another hit from B. A. Paris. Compulsive, page turner with lots of twists. Read this in one day. Couldn't put it down.

This book gave me nightmares. I heard so much about this author and her book Behind Closed Doors that I was feeling confident that I would enjoy reading this book. Unfortunately that was not the case.

This review has nothing to do with the quality of writing - it was excellent. I just couldn't connect with any of the characters and the plot had me all confused at times. I understand that it was a psychological thriller but for me it was a confusing nightmare that snug into my dreams.

At this point I have to acknowledge that this authors writing is not the right kind for me.

Because of this I won't be writing or publishing a review.

Oh my gosh...read this book. If you enjoy psychological thrillers and you want a book that you will not be able to put down, READ THIS BOOK. I read "Behind Closed Doors" by this author last summer and didn't think anything could come close, but this has. I was literally on the edge of my seat while reading it. It is amazing!

This book was outstanding! It kept me guessing right til the very end. Brilliantly told.

I was very excited to get an arc of this book. I read her first book Behind Closed Doors so I couldn't wait to read this one. While it had a good twist, it wasn't a page turner like I was hoping.
The last 20% or so of the book was the best part. It definitely had the suspenseful thriller feel to it, I just wish more of the book was like that.