I had no expectations going into this because I have, yet, to read B. A. Paris's previous book. Although, I have heard great things about that one, which I will be reading very soon! This book had me hooked from the first page. I had every intention of reading a few chapters before I headed off to work but then I couldn't seem to get myself to put it down. And even after I got to work, I found myself sneaking into the breakroom to read! One of my friends has read this and found it to be predictable but I didn't think that at all. I thought this was so well written that I just had to find out what and how this was all going to come together. I was not disappointed in this story. Highly recommend for any mystery/thriller readers out there!!

**Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thoroughly enjoyed this one - read it in one sitting as confined to house by illness but surprised just how quickly I got through it.
Cass takes a short cut through the woods on her drive home. She sees a woman in a car but doesn't stop to help. It emerges the woman was murdered. Cass is consumed by guilt after realising she knew the woman and strange things begin happen. There are silent phone calls. She gets forgetful, she sees things. Is she inheriting her mother’s early dementia or is something more sinister at play? Is the murderer tormenting her?
It didn't quite reach the heights of Behind Closed Doors, the authors previous novel, and was perhaps just a little bit predictable but there were lots of twists and turns to make this a very entertaining read. I really couldn't put it down!
Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for this copy to review.

B. A. Paris turned me into a huge fan of hers with Behind Closed Doors so when the opportunity came up to review this I thought my birthday had come early and she did not disappoint. Her plot is involved, well-written, and extremely clever; once you start reading this you’ll see it just never lets you go until the end. Her story line will have you on the edge of your seat as the fear of what is to come will keep you glued to the pages.

She writes multifaceted characters so intriguing that just when you know you figured out who the villain is that is when you are most wrong. There is just something intense and haunting about this book that will creep you out to the core.

Her fast pace, short chapters, and the emotional impact from the mental breakdown (hence the title) add up to a winning combination to make one hell of a thrilling ride you won’t want to miss. You really need to read this and if you haven’t read Behind Closed Doors it’s a MUST!!!

Received this eARC from St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review. I was so excited to have my request approved. This story was good. The only problem I had that dropped the rating to 4 stars, I felt it dragged on in some parts. Love the conclusion.

I really liked Behind Closed Doors so I was excited to read this one as well. It was somewhere in the 4.5 star range but I rounded up because I couldn't put it down! It had me spooked just thinking about the fear of someone watching you + the fear of losing your memory/mind and I couldn't wait to see what happened. I felt the twists weren't the most shocking twists I've read...but that's because I read a lot of these books. My suspicions were in the general vicinity of the conclusion however, just like in her previous book, the story wraps up well. I didn't have that one standout sentence that gave me goosebumps like "What was the color of Milly's room?" in Behind Closed Doors...but I can forgive that fact. Definitely will continue to read Paris' books!

Page turner! Loved this fast paced thrill! Another great novel by this author!

Happy birthday to me! After reading and LOVING Behind Closed Doors, I was ecstatic to finally be approved to read this, just in time for my birthday.

B.A. Paris honestly outdid the last novel with this one. Going on my favorites list, no questions asked.

Cass is plagued by guilt after driving through the woods one night during a storm, and not helping the woman in the car sitting on the road. That same woman is then found murdered the next day. After losing her mother to early onset dementia, Cass is worried that she is suffering the same fate. She starts forgetting things, dates, appointments...and is going mad.

The silent phone calls soon start and only plunge her further into madness. This book, wow, just wow. The amount of tension and paranoia that comes to life from the pages made this an epic page turner.

Can't wait for the next novel by B.A. Paris!

No book has made me so tense since I was eleven years old reading horror by torch underneath my covers. I was legitimately scared by this book, and found myself twitching and jumping with the turn of every digital page. It was legitimately at a place where I couldn't look away.

If I had slowed down a little I would have known what was happening, because my suspicions were both confirmed in various ways; however, I felt as lost and as bewildered as Cass did because of how imperative it was that I keep reading.

I started this in an attempt to read before I fell asleep which was a bad idea and I ended up having to stop myself forcibly in order to get any sleep because it drew me in so quickly. I'm not particularly fond of Cass as she's a fairly weak character and is easily pushed around, but the writing was powerful and I completely understood why she felt the way that she did.

Figuring out each of the characters and what motives they might have was incredibly interesting and Paris once again did a fantastic job of bringing each minor event into the plot. I was never completely sure of anything while reading this.

I may be a little bit jumpy for the next week or so after reading this. I didn't expect it to be quite so thrilling. But I highly recommend it.

Make sure you've got a few hours and a cosy light before you read this, but definitely put it high on your must read list.

4-4.5* Emotionally HAUNTING.
This was my first B. A. Paris read, but it won't be my last. Once The Breakdown grabbed me, it had me completely absorbed and I couldn't put it down. I love when you read a book that has you all paranoid, questioning everyone and not being sure who to trust.

* Thank you NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review *

This is the third book within a couple of weeks which I anticipated for quite a while and got disappointed after reading them finally. What’s wrong with me?



I really liked “Saving Grace” from the author. It was not flawless but I enjoyed reading it very much. So was very much looking forward to this book. But my problems with the story started right after the first few pages. Cass drives home late in the evening from a pub during a heavy rain storm. She takes a shortcut through a little forest which her husband begs her not to take so late in the evening in this weather. She regrets her decision after a few minutes but then she sees a car standing on the road. She drives past it and stops. She can see a blurred woman’s face but nothing happens. Cass considers leaving her car and walk over but she is afraid it might be some kind of trick or a trap. Remember, it is late in the evening, it rains, she is alone in her car, no mobile reception and she is on a remoted street. So when the woman in the car does react to her Cass drives on. The next morning she learns that the woman in that car was murdered. She is ashamed to tell anybody that she took the shortcut and saw the car. But she feels awful about it. When she hears that the victim is her friend of hers her guilt grows worse. And that is the problem. Would it really be so bad if she admits that she saw the car? She was alone in the dark on a road in the forest. She stopped and waited. This guilt she nursed during the book is important because it leads to her ongoing mental meltdown. But this initial situation did not work for me. It felt too made up. It just started implausible.



Unfortunately it does not get better. Cass slides too smoothly into her mental disorientation. She even makes it worse because she makes a lot of stupid things like lying when it is absolute unnecessary. But what ruined it for me is that I figured out who was behind everything after a few chapters. I was hoping for a surprise but it turned out exactly like I suspected. Only the murder thing was a bit of a surprise but somehow it was not that important.



The book is well writing and reasonable entertaining. I read it in two sittings. But it is very predictable and Cass is a very annoying character. She is whiny and needy and unable to cope with her daily routine. There are a lot of unlikely things in this book but I will not spoil it for you. There were a lot of negative reviews about “Saving Grace” which I could all understand but I really liked it. Now it seems that everything negative I read about that book fits twice as much for “The Breakdown”. The story seems not genuine, not natural. It is a readable book and entertaining enough but also very predictable and the main character is very annoying. So I am a little bit disappointed.

Wow ! I loved this book , right from the start I was hooked ! I really enjoyed behind closed doors so was a bit apprehensive about reading this , I didn't need to worry it was fantastic , pacy , thrilling ! I didn't know if Cass was spiralling into madness or wether her breakdown was something much more sinister , were her friends and her husband all they seemed ! It was a fantastic read , thank you so much for this opportunity

I was the biggest fan of Behind Closed Doors, and recommended it to everyone. I was thrilled to get the second novel, but it's an utter disappointment. Cass is irritating from the first page, and the plot is so obvious. So cliched and done a million times. So angry that this book is as sloppy, as the first book was masterful. Sadly, to say, I won't recommend.

On a miserable, rainy night, Cass takes a short cut home down a deserted road. There she sees a woman sitting alone in a car. Cass stops, thinking the woman may be having car trouble, and waits for the woman to join her. When the woman doesn’t get out of her car, Cass continues on her way home. She later learns that the woman has been found dead and is filled with guilt for not doing more. As her guilt and shame continue to grow, Cass finds herself forgetting everything else, from where she’s parked her car to why she ordered a baby carriage when she has no baby. Is she losing her mind, succumbing to early dementia as her mother did? Why is she getting so many strange phone calls from someone who never utters a word? I finished this book in one sitting because I just couldn’t put it down. Paris is a master of suspense

Within a few pages I smugly assumed I knew what was happening and who done it. Not only was I wrong but I couldn't put down this story of psychological suspense until I finished it and found out what really happened. B.A. Paris is quickly becoming an author to look out for in this competitive field of mystery and suspense.

I enjoyed this more than Behind Closed Doors.
Good story which I flew through. Little predictable ending but it didn't spoil book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I could not put it down. The writing style brought me into the story and made me feel like I was involved in it. Lots of unexpected twists! I'd recommend this book to anyone.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1769949477

This book was awesome! Once I started reading it I couldn't stop. Finished it in one day!