This book in 3 words: Twisty. Defeating. Courage. 

After her father dies, Amelie moves to London from Paris. With terrible luck and no real job prospects, she meets Carolyn, her real-life guardian angel. Amelie is quickly swept up in Carolyn's life, including Ned Hawthorpe (son of a billionaire), and has no idea what she's actually gotten involved in. A "for-show" marriage turns ridiculously fast and Amelie pays the price. 

When the book opens with a kidnapping, you know there's no slow burn in sight. Told from 2 different timelines, B.A. Paris holds your attention hostage up until the last line of the story. The Prisoner is one of the first thrillers, in 2022, to demand my attention and beg to be finished. I stayed up late getting to the end and was not disappointed. 

I thought the premise was fresh and interesting. I loved how invested I was in Amelie, even after just a few pages. The story pacing was so good - great execution!

B.A. Paris sure knows how to write a villain. I found my skin crawling and heat burning with anger throughout the book; the story completely engulfed me. I feel like this is going to be one of the best thrillers released in 2022. 

I'll post this on my blog closer to release.

This one was a solid 3.5 stars rounded up for me. I’ve love BA Paris since the beginning but this one didn’t hit the spot the way the others have. Part 1 was so good and suspenseful but part 2 seemed to drag on. There were so many characters to keep track of.

The Prisoner was a page turner! I have loved all of B.A. Paris’s books. This book is told in two parts and like other reviewers, part one had me on the edge of my seat. However, part two seemed slow and it felt like another book entirely. I would recommend B.A. Paris’s other books before The Prisoner. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Another great BA Paris book. This is a quick, fun thriller that will have you intrigued from the beginning. This book centers around Amelie and her husband Ned. It starts with a kidnapping and flips back and forth from the past to the present to build the story and help the reader to understand how Amelie ended up in her current predicament. Like all Paris books, it is a solid and great read. I thought the author did a great job creating intrigue, building the suspense while building the story and the background. Not my favorite BA Paris book, but still worth the read.

Told in two parts and two timelines, this moves rather quickly and quite intense! Amelie at sixteen years old was the caregiver to her ailing father in Paris. The only family she had, life was tough after his passing. She found employment in London and a friend through Carolyn, a stranger she followed home. Another chance meeting and Amelie is introduced to wealthy socialite Ned Hawthrope. Present day, Amelie is kidnapped! But it all isn’t as it seems! Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a gifted copy.

B.A. Paris has quickly become an auto-buy author for me. This was a one day read for me. Amelie Lamont is alone in the world at after her father passes away from cancer. Amelie is trying to make ends meet to go to college when she meets Carolyn who offers her a job and a place to live. Through this arrangement she becomes friends with Carolyn’s friends, Justine and Lina who work for a magazine run by Ned Hawthrope. Eventually Amelie starts working for the magazine and goes on a work trip to Las Vegas and ends up married to Ned. This is the turning point in this story before every aspect of Amelie’s life starts going down hill. While the end brought much closure, I was hoping for a little bit more for Amelie.

B.A.Paris is truly the best at suspense fiction. The alternating chapters of present and past assures a page-turning read. Who is the kidnapper of the newlyweds Amelie and Ned? And why does Amelie feel safer alone in a dark shuttered room than being with her new husband? As suspicion falls on one character after another, layers of deceit unfold as the story progresses.

3.5 rounded up
Good characters. Fast paced and smooth transition between the timelines.
Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Amazing new psychological thriller! This book leads you on a winding, twisting road into the dangerous life of marrying the handsome billionaire Ned Hawthorne. The attention to details were written so well with the plot that I felt like I was experiencing the story through my own eyes. It was a very fast-paced story that’ll have you gripping your book until the very end. Highly recommend giving this a read!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Publishing Group and B. A. Paris for this amazing ARC!

The Prisoner begins right in the middle of the action with the main character Amelie being kidnapped, and switches between the past and present to unfold the story. It was an easy, mostly fast-paced read that kept me enthralled. The ending was a little abrupt, but the story was overall entertaining. This was my second B.A. Paris book, but definitely won’t be my last.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC!

Imagine my surprise, when my 3 week old netgalley account got approved for an arc by an author I have read before!!! Therefore, I did the most logical thing I could and immediately started the book (bypassing the 5 library books I have in 🥴) and was hooked instantly!

((After staring at my phone for ten minutes, I've realized it's a lot easier writing a review on a book I do not enjoy. When it comes to a book I like, my brain just thinks "well that was good" and becomes a gloopy, incoherent mess... Hopefully, I can divulge my thoughts.))

While I did find some things to be predictable, I still enjoyed the book very much. The pacing was perfect! Thoroughly enjoyed the frequent switching from past to present. And We STAN a short chapter! 👏👏👏

Throughout the book, I did see similarities between The Prisoner and Behind Closed Doors, but it was not overwhelmingly so and didn't take away from the book or plot.

Overall, This book is a must read page-turner, and I can't wait for B. A. Paris' next novel!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC. Amelie marries Ned and instead of being in newlywed bless, she is kidnapped and wondering if she will survive this ordeal. This book is divided into 2 Parts, I could not put down Part 1: The Kidnapping, not only did it cover her kidnapping but also her past and the events that lead up to the night where a bag is thrown over her head and pulled into darkness. I enjoyed how Part 1 alternated between her past and present. I was just so drawn into Part 1 and had high hopes for Part 2: The Reckoning. Well, sadly part 2 didn't have the same impact. I found my eyes skimming over paragraphs and I was still able to follow along. I still enjoyed the book and I would recommend it since it did have a few plot twists.

I love BA Paris and have read most of her novels, so I was giddy when I was approved to read the ARC of her latest book, The Prisoner. The Prisoner is told from the point of view of Amelie, an orphan in her early 20’s. The narrative switches between past and present, which acquaints the readers with Amelie’s history and perspective, so we understand how she came to be a kidnap victim who would rather die than be released with her husband. I enjoyed most of the book very much. I thought the alternating timelines were interesting and effective and there was a lot of intrigue and thrills to keep me interested. But near the end of the book, the writing fell flat to me. It became the opposite of the beginning- the author told us instead of showing us. The big wrap-up where we find out how all the crazy events tie together is told in one long narrative by one character. That just did not hold my interest at all, even though they explained things that I wondered about.

The worst thing a thriller can be is slow, and unfortunately, The Prisoner is extremely slow. The story is told in dual timelines though why it is is unclear, truthfully, if it had been simply told in chronological order it would have probably been better served. Instead, every time that the book returns to the present timeline, it is like the plot events are moving through jello. Nothing happens and almost every single thing that does is done because someone tells the heroine to, not because of any of her own strength or will.

Additionally, the twists in this are just completely and utterly unbelievable and convoluted. At every new reveal, it's hard not to roll your eyes at the sheer absurdity of them all. By the time the heroine turns out to (spoiler) have inherited money all along, it's hard not to throw your hands in the air and say "of course!" It doesn't help that basically every character feels like complete filler with three of the heroine's friends basically being interchangeable from each other.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to St Martin's Press and NetGalley

Amelie has always been a survivor and has made it on her own. Soon, she's swept up into riches by Ned Hawthorne. One day she wakes up in a dark room. She's been taken! By who? and why?

I have mixed feelings. There was potential, but it fell flat. Some of the details are hard to believe. I liked one of the storylines, but I didn't think it was emphasized enough.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Amelie recently lost her father to cancer as a teenager. She is swept off her feet by Ned but things are not what they seem. When shecis kidnapped, she tries everything at her disposal to escape. This book was a page turner.

Another book that I have complex feelings for! Firstly I gave to admit this is not my favorite book of B. A. Paris! But it is still easy to read and captivating!
Here are my thoughts:
Pros:
Plot line:
Plot line is unique: a young woman married with a billionaire is kidnapped with her husband but being prisoner in a dark room is far better than her imprisonment of marriage!

Writing style and pacing:
Mystery builds slowly by going back and forth between timelines. Short chapters and past-present’s eventual colliding keep you excited. You want to know why people kidnapped Amelia and her despicable husband Ned and the reason behind their marriage!

Twists and story’s unfolding:
At the end: all the pieces of puzzle were positioned at the right places. The questions were mostly answer. Some of the answers were a little far fetched but they are still satisfying enough.

Likable heroine: Amelia, orphan, trying to survive in England to find her way, is naive, good hearted girl evolving into a bold, damaged, tough woman. The character development of Amelia is great and she’s easy to connect with.

Cons:
Broken heroine:
Things happened to Amelia were too tough. I actually felt too sorry for the girl. Even the ones have good intentions about her didn’t come to her help.

Character development:
Instead of Amelia, there were so many characters lacking of depth and development. I can differentiate Amelia’s three friends by their occupation but they have no extra characteristic attributes.

Ned, Amelia’s husband is real villain without a back story. Why is the reason he turned into a monster. But it’s obvious there’s nothing charming about him so I still have questions why Amelia married him at the first place. She’s kind, lack of life experience but the her abrupt decision made her extra naive and make us question of character’s credibility.

Overall: I found pacing fast and the twists smart enough to read this book in one sitting! Amelia’s naiveness and wrong decisions can be justified by her young age and having nobody to depend on.

The positive attributes of the book absolutely surpassed the negative ones so I decided to round up 3.5 stars to 4 claustrophobic, dark, twisty, thought provoking stars!

I still think I expected more from the author but this is still solid, action packed, smart, well written work. Especially I recommend it to thriller lovers and the author’s dedicated fans like me!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

Another great thriller by Paris.
Amelie has been pretty good at figuring things out for herself since her father died and left
her an orphan when she was just a teenager. Niw she seems to gave struck it rich when she enters into an arranged marriage with billionaire scion Ned Hawthorne that will give her enough money to go to college.
But then she wakes up in a darkened room, kidnapped and being held for ransom, along with her husband and stuck having to hope her father-in-law is willing to pay for her return.
The chills start as the story moves on and she tries to fight her captors and plan an escape when her husband's father refuses to pay a ransom for either of them.
Paris hits it out of the park once again.

This may be my favorite book by this author! This fast paced, page turner was so good, with it’s twists and turns! I had trouble putting it down as I need answers to the many mysteries this novels had. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity.

Amelie. Orphan. Unemployed. Homeless. Through a series of fortuitous events, Amelie finds employment, a group of friends and a very wealthy husband, Ned Hawthorpe.
A hood. Tape. A grip on my shoulders. A push forward down the stairs. Scuffling feet. A whine. "This is not what I thought it was."
B.A. Paris has another winning psychological thriller. Told in the first person narrative, chapters alternate between present and past, giving the history of Amelie, her life and her relationships. The Prisoner had me hooked from the first chapter; devouring this novel in one sitting and enjoying each and every chapter. Suspenseful. Interesting, but not always likeable, characters. Some unexpected turns in the plot line. What else could you ask for in a thriller? 5-star read.