I have to say honestly this book wasnt a thriller more of a drama. The story lacked the suspense for me. The one bonus was that the scenery in the book really made you fell like you were in Paris.

Harper Brown begins her dream job in Paris as an Arts journalist. Eager to make her mark she sneaks into Noah X’s art exhibition ahead of opening to get a preview & ahead in her game. She gets more than bargained for when she finds herself in the midst of missing girls & a murder investigation. Who can she trust? Lots thrown into the mix with mystery, a love interest and a developing psychological thriller aspect. With short punchy chapters I kept finding myself wanting to read one more.
Harper Brown was for me an engaging protagonist, sassy, synical about relationships, headstrong, confident & amusing. It’s a novel of today with modern technology featuring social media especially, with Instagram accounts providing clues. Some of this may go over the heads of a more senior generation with the use of Ubers & Tinder appearing, but for me I appreciated a contemporary story very much set in the world of today.
Having also enjoyed The strangers we know, it’s time to go back & read The Sunday Girl, whilst waiting for book number four!

Full disclosure, Pip Drysdale is a favourite author of mine. This novel did not disappoint.

Harper Brown is trying to make it in Paris as a journalist. All of which has come about because of a particularly hurtful breakup (read: she is still stalking him and relentlessly listening to his music).

Right now, Harper has a lacksadaisical approach to her social life, sexual encounters and work.
She is relegated to the “girl about town” and “how-to” articles, and she is good at these articles, but she is looking for more. She bides her time with meaningless sex, and nights out at events. Until the story of a lifetime falls into her lap. Enter Noah X…..

While out and about, a person Harper has a run-in with is murdered. Harper is drawn into the investigation in the hopes of solving what happens, not because she wants to be an amateur sleuth, but because she wants the scoop and has an interesting angle, one that perhaps no one else has.

Pip Drysdale continues to go from strength-to-strength with her writing. Her characters can be (or are) unreliable and unlikable, yet you want to know what happens with them, you are rooting for them to succeed. Her approach to twists and creating drama is so good because she doesn't make the whole thing seem so far out of left field. The twists, turns and resolutions are believable, you can see yourself in these situations and, more importantly, you can see the ties in the story to them.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this one. I have already pre-ordered my signed copy.

The Paris Affair is an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller set amidst the contemporary art scene in Paris.
Harper Brown is a British journalist in her late 20s, working as an arts-culture columnist for a Paris online magazine, The Paris Observer. Her ambition is to succeed as an investigative crime journalist, a goal she's pursuing doggedly after wasting years supporting a former partner, a musician, who dumped her as soon as his band found success. Her love of true-crime podcasts has enabled her to amass an intriguing armoury of self-preservation and crime-busting skills, detailed through her blog How Not to Get Murdered.
When she attempts to obtain a somewhat unorthodox preview of a new art exhibition at a private gallery, she has no idea that she'll soon be putting theory into action, drawn into a complex web of murder, suspicion and intrigue in the underground art trade.
Although billed as a mystery-thriller, it wasn't until about the one-third point of the book that the psychological tension took hold. Up to that point, Harper struck me as a rather pathetic and self-absorbed character, stuck in a behavioural rut. With no apparent sense of irony, she uses her resentment for the way she was manipulated by her former partner Harrison to justify her ruthless treatment of any potential future partners. Meanwhile, she's unable to resist the temptation of stalking him and his new partner online.
The action really picks up after she meets beguiling American artist Noah X., and accepts an invitation to attend a party at his Montmartre apartment. She's among the last to see Noah's life model, Sabine, alive before she disappears and is found dead in woodland outside Paris. Sabine's death mirrors the circumstances surrounding the recent death of another young Parisian woman, and Harper senses that she might be in the perfect position to write a career-making scoop! Harper's investigative techniques are not quite as subtle as she thinks, however, and she soon realises that she's caught the attention of some very shady characters, who'll stop at nothing to protect their secrets.
The story gathers momentum towards a dizzying crescendo as Harper races against time to prove Noah's innocence and identify the real killer or killers.
The Paris Affair was a quick and enjoyable read, with an engaging storyline and a glamorous setting. Pip Drysdale uses misdirection and suspense skilfully to create an edge-of-your-seat final act.
I hadn't read anything by Pip Drysdale previously, and feel I'm a bit late to the party! My enjoyment of The Paris Affair was such that I'll be seeking out her other titles soon. I'd recommend it to all readers who enjoy spunky female protagonists and lots of action in their thriller reads.
My thanks to the author, Pip Drysdale, publisher Simon & Schuster Australia and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Journalist, Harper Brown is the @new.girlinparis but she's no stranger to the ‘city of love’. Love hasn't been so kind to Harper, having wasted eight years on a man she thought was ‘the love of her life, only to be epically dumped when he finally got his big break as a musician. Now, bitter and cynical Harper trolls the city for men to hook up with. But her risky behaviour is about to place not only her job in jeopardy, but her life as well.

Can a book be labelled a ‘thriller' when the majority of it wasn't? It was a shame because the actual resolution to mystery and the motivation and psychology behind the murders was great, but the story lacked ominous build-up, and instead chose to focus on Harper's social and professional life. And her one-night stands, appalling treatment of men, partying, fashion trends, the art scene, and office politics just didn't interest me in the slightest. Therefore, it was pretty slow and boring with the thriller plot only really kicking in towards the end.

Also, I never at any time felt afraid for Harper as her character was written as some kind of female ‘MacGyver' capable of extraordinary physical and mental strength able to ‘lock-pick' herself out of every dangerous situation she found herself in. I appreciate that the author wanted to make her strong and capable, but I think she went a bit far. Not only that, but did Harper have to be written as quite so emotionless? I realise that it was a personality trait of her character, a way to protect herself from being hurt again, but it backfired because whenever she was in trouble, I never felt her fear, so since she wasn't scared, I wasn't scared for her either.

The setting was conveyed in interesting descriptive detail, and I really felt like I was in Paris which was a definite plus, but I craved more thrills and chills. If you enjoyed Emily in Paris, or prefer contemporary drama with a light crime subplot then The Paris Affair might be a better fit for you.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Wow...what a ride!! I wasn't sure where this book was headed...it certainly keeps you guessing!

The Paris Affair’s heroine is Harper, who has just moved from London to Paris and begun a new job, writing for the Arts section of a local online magazine. Eager to make her mark, as she ultimately hopes to crack into crime journalism, she pursues a story of a mysterious up-and-coming artist, Noah X. Harper finds herself as attracted to Noah as she is to his edgy artworks -- and the feeling seems to be mutual. But the story she planned on writing takes quite a deviation when she realises Noah could turn out to be at best a witness to a murder, or at worst the actual murderer.

Harper is an interesting heroine. She could almost be described as an anti-heroine at times, given that she often makes very questionable choices. Circumstances have led her to find real strength and independence, however, and this, combined with her intelligence, makes her no pushover for any potential serial killer.

Drysdale’s mystery plot was multi-layered and complex. She managed to link everything together. A lot of the scenes I thought she’d written to merely highlight some character trait of Harper’s, ended up being integral to the main plot in the end. Very clever indeed.

The book is written from Harper’s first person point of view which felt very intimate. The action scenes were very clearly described and, given the Paris location, almost had an old fashioned Hitchcock-like way about them. The suspense and tension built gradually, with interactions Harper has with other characters going from innocuous to threatening at a nice pace.

Drysdale takes full advantage of the Paris setting when it comes to the suspense and tension. The style of the houses -- their less than secure entrances due to numerous sets of stairs, and their internal designs that allow neighbouring properties a clear view of each other -- add to the Harper’s sense that someone is watching her. Drysdale also throws in a few dimly lit back lanes and (in the complete reverse really) the crowded Metro carriages and stations, to great effect.

This book is very modern, its young characters are effortlessly tech savvy and conversant in all things social media and app driven. Harper’s relationships are [mostly] initiated on dating apps. She investigates the murders via videos, Instagram and podcasts. Her previous job was writing a blog. As such, I’m not sure every older reader will be able to easily relate to the book. (I think a lot of it would go over my 84 year old mother’s head.) I would, however, highly recommend it for those new adult readers who are in their 20s and looking for something relevant to their generation.

In fact, Drysdale is fast becoming the queen when it comes to the modern contemporary thriller and I highly recommend this book if you’re looking for a sleek and stylish thriller. 5 out of 5

Harper Brown just landed herself a job in Paris as an arts journalist but is hoping to make her big break as a news reporter.

She is writing a story on artist Noah X when his painting model Sabine goes missing and is later found dead, Harper is then on the hunt for the murderer and possibly the scoop of a lifetime!

Harper considers herself quite knowledgeable when it comes to murder after writing a column back in London called "How Not to Get Murdered" but is that enough to help her against a potential serial killer?

I love Pip's writing style! Fast paced and naturally flowing and so difficult to put down! Harper is such a brazen character which really made me like her so much!

Harper Brown, arts afficiando, has finally got the career she wanted - a real job as a journalist at the Paris Observer - in Paris of course! Among the arts and culture articles her boss, Hyacinth, wants her to write Harper yearns to be taken seriously as a journalist and write serious articles. Harper is feisty and snarky and just a bit manipulative. She’s also not above using her feminine wiles to get what she wants. Despite all that I did actually like Harper because she didn’t moan and complain about things, she just got on with it and sometimes got even! She attends a small gallery which is launching an exhibition of works by hot new artist, Noah X, for an article she plans. There she meets the enigmatic Noah X although she doesn’t know it at the time and he doesn’t know she’s a journalist.

Two days later, having learned his identity, she invites herself to a party at his place to learn more. But while there she is filmed, with Noah, by one of his life models and arts student Sabine. Soon she realises that she may have made a mistake that will cost her her career. It turns out that Noah is married to a very well connected doyen of the Paris art world who is older than Noah. And soon after that Sabine is found dead in similar circumstances to another dead girl a few weeks ago. Harper really wants to write this story! She thinks she knows what happened but does she really?

Soon after that she notices she’s being followed and she gets possession of some information that throws a different light on things. How can she use this to get her story? Unfortunately pursuing this story puts her in the crosshairs of a dangerous predator and as she puts it all together it’s - oops! How could she have got it so wrong?

This is Pip Drysdale’s third book. I really enjoyed the first two but, for me, this one wasn’t quite as good. The first half was quite slow and it took a long time to get to the thrills. Nevertheless I did enjoy the story. Harper’s character is so refreshing after so many books where the women are weak, snivelling and don’t trust their own shadows, although the other characters were a little underdeveloped. The Paris location was also a pleasant change. And after the slowish start the story did race to an exciting conclusion. Thanks to Netgalley, Simon & Schuster Australia and Pip Drysdale for providing me with a copy to review.

4.5★s
The Paris Affair is the third novel by Australian author, Pip Drysdale. Three weeks into her new job as arts and culture writer for online English-language magazine The Paris Observer, Harper Brown is desperate to please her editor-in-chief, Hyacinth Cromwell-Scott, hoping she might get a chance at the more prestigious crime column.

Her piece on American artist Noah X’s exhibition is criticised for lacking personal details; luckily Harper has formed a connection with the artist and is confident that she can get what’s needed at his private party. But that doesn’t go quite like she expected…

When a young female art model goes missing, Harper realises she was one of the last people to see her alive, at that party, but is conflicted, as the woman has something that has the potential to threated her career. When the body turns up, Harper begins to suspect the person who compromised her situation.

What sort of person is Drysdale’s protagonist? Previously burned in a relationship, Harper likes to keep her encounters with men uncomplicated, no strings attached. Having dropped her most recent three-day-old relationship as he was getting too clingy, she finds herself in an indiscriminate liaison that could jeopardise her career. Yet, with a killer out there picking off women at random, she reacts to her job worries by distracting herself listening to a murder podcast and hooking up for a quick session with an unknown man met online.

Considering she’s under pressure from her editor and having to deal with a very competitive colleague, she is quite clever, innovative and resourceful, although she has a poor grasp of the correct use of personal pronouns considering she is meant to be a writer, but perhaps this is a common trait for those below a certain age.

She is surprised to later find herself taping over a CCTV camera, picking a lock and photographing documents. Nor has the research for the blog she used to write (How not to get murdered), which included freeing yourself when bound by duct tape, escaping a car boot and opening handcuffs, sufficiently prepared her for being in those situations herself.

An interesting sidebar to the story is the attitude of the French police to missing persons: “in France, the police won’t search for you unless there are clear signs of foul play or you’re a minor. Which means that approximately one thousand unidentified bodies are found in France each year, compared with around sixty-six in Britain, which has a similar population. Most of the time the DNA from those bodies isn’t recorded either.” Lesson: don’t go missing in France, unless you want to.

Once again, Drysdale gives the reader a fast-paced thriller with plenty of turns and not a few red herrings, an excellent twist and a nail-biting climax. A gripping read.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Australia.

“Because sometimes that’s what you have to do in life: you have to bruise your own heart to ensure it doesn’t break”

Heart break leads Harper to find a love for writing. Her best friend Camilla sends her a job advertisement for a journalist role in Paris which also happens to be Harper’s favourite place and she beats the other hundred applicants and get the job. Packing up her life and leaving the heartbreak behind.

Harper knows how to loose a guy in 5 minutes and does this on purpose so she doesn’t catch feelings. When reviewing a up and coming artist she accidentally meets the artist and becomes interested. Caught at a party together a young model highlights to Harper that artist is in fact married and she leaves the party in a hurry.

After hearing nothing everything goes up in flames when the young model from the party goes missing. Suddenly Harper finds herself on the trail of a serial killer only she doesn’t realise how close she is to the serial killer catching her first. There were so many amazing quotes in this book! Pip had me turning pages until I got to the end.

This is my 3rd Pip Drysdale novel and the third I’ve absolutely devoured in one sitting,

Harper Brown has always dreamed of being a journalist, preferably writing about crime. However, after University she found herself working for eight years in a boring marketing job in London, supporting her boyfriend Harrison while he got his musical career going. Unfortunately, as soon as he got his big break she found herself dumped when he took off with his keyboardist (who he'd been seeing all along). However, she did learn a lot about art while spending all her holidays in art galleries all over Europe when he was on tour and started writing an online micro-column about lifestyle, music, art and the true crime podcasts she loved. All this led to her new job at an online magazine in Paris as an Art and Culture journalist allowing her a fresh start in a new city away from Harrison.

Harper is enjoying Paris, settling in to her job and writing about art, even if she'd rather be writing about crime, especially with the current cases of young women disappearing. She's determined not to start a new relationship and has perfected the art of the one-night stand. That is until she meets the enigmatic Noah X, an artist whose exhibition she attends. Somehow, she finds herself getting mixed up in dangerous matters that she doesn't fully understand.

Harper is a great character - cool and feisty, never giving up when backed into a corner. The novel moves at a good pace with strange events piling up and the suspense building as Harper gets deeper and deeper into trouble. An excellent thriller with a high tension ending!

My final read for 2020 was an epic one – The Paris Affair. I loved Pip Drysdale’s previous novels, so I was really excited when I got approved to read her latest book before the release date and it did not disappoint. Wow what a great book – it may be my favourite one from Pip Drysdale yet. This book was fast paced and so interesting – I just loved all of the characters and the setting in Paris. I felt as if I was going along with Harper trying to piece the mystery together and I did not see the twists coming at all. I loved the way Harper was so into True Crime podcasts and how that was put into the story throughout – as it is really relatable. I do not want to say too much more because I don’t want to spoil this book for readers. If you read one book in 2021 – make it this one! You will not be disappointed. Cannot wait to see what book you write next Pip Drysdale.
Thank you to @simon&schuster, @Pipdrysdale and @Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this amazing book before its publication date on the 3rd February 2021

I must admit when I started this I thought it was going to be a typical story of a woman who travels to Paris, meets a married man and falls in love. I was partly correct but there was also so much more to this novel that really kept me engaged and wanting to keep reading. even though I was exhausted.
Harper Brown gets a job as a journalist and moves to Paris to get over the demise of a long term relationship. She tends to discard men once they become attached and has a bit of a drinking/prescription drug problem as a result. Harper meets a famous artist and they engage in a liaison only to be interrupted. This then leads to the more exciting second half of the novel when Harper starts researching a potential crime linked to some dead girls. There are quite a few plot twists to keep you guessing and eventually Harper becomes the victim of a crime herself. (trying to not give too much away). Eventually, the novel reaches its peak and then we see Harper moving back to England to recover and eventually have a happy ending.
I really enjoyed this book from Pip Drysdale (particularly the second half) and look forward to her next one.

I was absolutely hooked with The Paris Affair, what an intriguing thriller, you won’t want to put this one down until the end! The author has nailed it!

Harper Brown is a great character, she is a journalist and has moved to Paris from London where she has taken on a position as Arts and Culture journalist with online magazine The Paris Observer although Harper’s dream position is writing crime. She’s an expert in picking locks and once had a recurring micro column named ‘How not to get murdered’ but that magazine folded.

Harper is a little damaged, she still has her musician ex on social media and stalks him frequently but she takes up with various men never wanting to stay with them long and going from cool girl to stage five clinger intentionally so that the guys don’t call back. She doesn’t want the stress of dating!

Harper's about to scoop the story of her life but it may cost her her own! I think it's best that I keep the details secret and not give anything away!

Loved that the story was set in Paris as it made it all the more engaging to read. Excellent read and wonderfully written. Out in Feb 2021!

Harper Brown does not believe in love. She thinks it can kill you. Harper works as an art journalist in Paris, and is seeking the story that will become her big break. When a woman turns up dead, she knows there is more to the story. As Harper works her way through art galleries, with her love of true crime podcasts, she begins to learn - what if love REALLY can kill you?

When I discovered that Pip Drysdale has another book out, I knew I had to get my hands on it. The first half of the book set the scene for what had happened and what potentially was going to. The second half - oh my goodness! There were so many moments when I could feel my heart beating so hard I thought it would jump out of my chest. At one stage, I was so on edge that when I received a creepy text message from an unknown number, I was sure there was a stalker/murderer out for me (it was a wrong number 😂). I had so many theories throughout the book and could not wait to get to the end.

Definitely pick this up if you are in the mood for a thriller!

I have read and loved Pip Drysdale's other two books, The Sunday Girl and The Strangers We Know and so I was super excited to read The Paris Affair. I am thrilled to report it was just as fabulous! I really love her writing style and found it incredibly hard to put this book down. Work got in the way a bit, but once home I read non-stop until I finished it! Giving this one ALL THE STARS!

I'm thankful to Simon and Schuster Australia and #NetGalley for an ARC of #TheParisAffair in return for an honest review.

Harper Brown is chasing her dreams, she has landed a job in Paris as an arts journalist but dreams of becoming a hard hitting news reporter. She loves true crime podcasts, once wrote a column called ‘How not to get murdered’ and is pretty handy at picking locks. Harper finds herself on the trail of a murderer with possibly the scoop of a lifetime that may be the key to her dream job. That's if the killer doesn’t catch her first.

Wow, wow, wow! Pip Drysdale has created a triumphant psychological thriller that had my heart racing and adrenaline pumping. Bursting with clever twists and turns, the last half of the book had me dashing towards the end to reveal the outcome.

Protagonist Harper Brown is a plucky young woman, a nuanced character of contradictions. She still harbours resentment for the years that she wasted on her now-famous ex, and habitually cyber-stalks him. She knows her way around a dating app but also how to ditch her matches before they get too attached. She’s likeable and relatable, she is full of self doubt and conversely, self assurance. Will this be enough to outsmart a killer?

Pip Drysdale is a masterful storyteller, The Paris Affair kept me enthralled from beginning to end with it’s fast pace and unexpected plot twists. I have no doubt that it will be every bit as successful as her previous books.

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster Australia and Pip Drysdale for the opportunity to read and review this advanced reader copy.

Harper Brown, moves to Paris and starts her new job as art journalist. After her break up with her ex boyfriend, she doesn't believe into long relationship anymore, and she commits to be a dumper than a dumpee.
She meets Noah X, an artist in a painting exhibition as she needs to write an article about the exhibition. The meeting brings her to unexpected whirlwind situation when the model of the paintings missing and found dead.
It's fast paced story with a bold strong main character that I can recommend to my fellow book lovers.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this fast paced thriller. Harper has just moved to Paris to work as a journalist. She is stuck reporting on the Arts scene but what she really wants to work on is crime, particularly the disappearance and subsequent murder of a woman in the city, who bears a striking resemblance to herself.

She is given the task of reviewing the new exhibition of Noah X and gets sucked into a murder investigation when the artist’s model gets murdered.

This is a twisty tale and just when you think you have figured out what is going on, the author gives you a curve ball and goes in a different direction. This was a quick and very easy read with a good storyline.