B.A. Paris’ newest novel, The Prisoner, is another smashing success. Main character, Amelie, finds herself kidnapped and trapped in a room with the lights off and no hope in sight. Alternating between her current situation as a prisoner and her past, readers learn that Amelie is a woman of incredible strength. Orphaned, she has traveled from Paris to London where she serendipitously is taken in by a group of extraordinary and successful women. Before long, she finds herself in a marriage with a famous bachelor, Ned Hawthorne. Of course, things are not as they seem and Amelie is very quickly in over her head. The Prisoner was incredibly well done. The complicated story unfolds in a way that keeps readers engaged and guessing. While I suspected that some of the main characters were more than meets the eye, I enjoyed the twists and turns to discover the truth. For fans of psychological thrillers, The Prisoner should not be missed!

A sincere thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Prisoner was a fast paced, easy read that was hard to put down!

I've only read one other B.A. Paris novel but I know suspense is the name of her game and this book does not disappoint. I wouldn't necessarily say it is action-filled, but the plot ropes you in right away. Immediately there is action in each of the dual timelines, and it made me want to continue reading through the night.

I enjoyed Amelie's story. The loss of her parents so young really tugged on my heartstrings, especially since she had no one else to turn to. I loved Amerlie's found family (Carolyn, Justine, and Lina) and found myself rooting for her right away. Knowing she was so younng and faced with a tough choice, I think she made her decision like many young girls would, trusting a person in a position of power and not really thinking it through. Rule of thumb, though. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Amelie learned this the hard way and lost friends because of it.

One criticism is the appearance of her father's attorney at the end of the story. I still have a niggling feeling that whole part of the story was tied in with the Lukas story, otherwise it just seems fairly out of the blue and a bit unrealistic.

I also wish there was more to the ending. After having those feelings for so long, I can't imagine Amelie wouldn't act on them. But, I guess with the open ending we are able to decide how we truly want the story to end!

3.5 stars rounded up from me!

FAVORITE THING ABOUT BOOK: The author weaves the current time which begins with a kidnapping with Amelie’s life as she arrives in London. The intricacies of each allows the reader to experience thrill after thrill.

PROS/CONS OF WRITING: I am a huge fan of B.A. Paris and read every book that has come out. This book is just as excellent as the prior books. It is another huge hit from a great writer. Amelie is a simple girl from a small town. She is naive and easily manipulated. However, the writer shows her digging deep into traits her father taught her to survive an environment she never anticipated finding herself in. She swallows every blow, both physical and mental, continuing to carry on. There are wonderful characters – both good and bad. The narrator is perfect for this story and the listener becomes so enthralled that time passes without realizing it. I switched between the written book and audiobook and enjoyed both equally.

WHO WOULD ENJOY THIS BOOK: All fans of B.A. Paris; Mystery and thriller lovers; Audiobook lovers.


I received an ARC from St. Martin Press and Macmillan Audio through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review and am under no obligation to do so.

I am a B. A. Paris fan and have read several of her other novels. This one just didn’t get my juices flowing. Perhaps her previous novels have been so darn good that they were a hard act to follow and my expectation level was a bit too high. Whatever the reason, I found this offering disappointing.

A kidnapping with questionable motivation, a marriage that is really a business deal, a few revelations that are not all that revealing and a heroine so painfully naïve that, in several instances, the reader finds her actions and thought processes hard to swallow.

While THE PRISONER is definitely not the worst book I have read this year, it is certainly not up there in my top 10.

This book grabbed my attention and didn’t let it go! I ended up reading it in two sittings and I highly enjoyed each moment. The story was written well and I enjoyed the plot twists.

I’ve read nearly all of B. A. Paris’s novels and I’m so glad I stuck with her books! The first book I read of hers was Behind Closed Doors, and as much as I liked the story and concept behind it, I couldn’t get into the choppy writing style. I’m so glad I didn’t give up though because each of her books has gotten progressively better and better.

In The Prisoner, main character Amelie is struggling to survive after her father’s death and ends up happily ensconced with a new group of friends who have helped her find her footing, even landing a job at the same company as two of the woman. After a whirlwind Vegas wedding, Amelie discovers some unsavory things about her new husband (who happened to be her boss), which culminates in her abduction.

This book was such a page-turner! It was so fast-paced and intense that I could not put it down. I especially loved Amelie’s character – her strength of will despite everything she had been through (even before the sham marriage) was really inspiring to me. I was pleasantly surprised by the way this story clearly brings awareness to the “me too” era in a subtle way.

The Prisoner also calls attention to the meaning of justice and how different people feel about what equals justice. Is it serving time in prison or paying a fine? Depending on the individual’s social and financial status, we have seen people (generally rich, white men) circumvent justice and accountability since the beginning of time and, despite the attention to “me too,” people are still able to brush accusations under the rug with alarming ease.

What makes B. A. Paris’ novels really get in my head is how relatable and realistic they are. Through these stories, I can see how easy it is for someone to unwittingly walk themselves into a horrific nightmare, many of which happen with the people closest to you behind closed doors. I absolutely loved The Breakdown and Bring Me Back. For additional thoughts, check out my reviews for The Dilemma and The Therapist.

Amelie is a survivor! After her father dies and she becomes homeless, she strikes a friendship with Carolyn and works for her. She soon becomes friends with Carolyn's friends. The story switches to the present day where Amelie is kidnapped and held hostage. She realises her husband is held hostage in the same house as well. The story switches between the present and the past and how she comes into her current situation. The secrets and mystery behind everything that's happening slowly unravels.

This was my first B. A. Paris book. I enjoyed the fact that it was fast paced and there were several intriguing elements in the book. I found certain events towards the end a bit flat and lacked the punch that I was expecting. Still a good read for fans of mystery and thrillers.

Thank you @stmartinspress for the eARC of the book.

I found this story very entertaining. Right from the beginning we learn Amelie has been kidnapped along with her husband, Ned. Who has kidnapped the couple and why? Told in two parts, I found it got interesting for me during the second half, The Reckoning. I love stories with past and present timelines, and I couldn’t flip the pages fast enough to find out how everything tied together!

I’m disappointed in this one. There was barely a plot and the characters were thinly developed. This didn’t feel like a BA Paris novel.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, the author, and NetGalley for the free gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Prisoner was a really solid thriller. The first 55% had me absolutely sucked in and on the edge of my seat. But it felt like the conflict came to a climax 3/4 of the way through the book and felt like the book would wrap up but the twists and turns just kept coming. I love a book with twists and turns but this one felt a little dragged on like we could have gotten to the point a little sooner.

Overall still a really good thriller and I love a book that snags your attention right away which this one did.

This one should have a slight trigger warning of kidnapping because it can be a little intense and creepy at times throughout the book.

The Prisoner, by B.A. Paris, is an engaging thriller/mystery, but not quite as compelling as some of her earlier work. The protagonist made a few incredibly rash decisions that catapulted her into vulnerable situations. The “reveals” were a little too neat, compact, and insufficiently woven into the plot. Nonetheless, Paris is an incredibly talented writer who can create convincing settings with all the terrorizing atmospherics. Similarly, she is attentive to all her characters providing nuance and background. This is a quick, satisfying read, perfect for an escape weekend or a long flight. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this novel. It was a pleasure. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I thought this book was okay it was so hard to get engaged into and it dragged a lot. Thank you to NeyGalley for allowing me a copy to read!

This was SOO thrilling and addictingly fast. I don't care for the minor flaws, the main one being the prose, and the other one being stupid weird choices by the MC. If i were being critical, I'd give this, 3.5/5. But 4/5 because of how enjoyable it was! Job well done to the author for making me simp for a certain character even though it was wrong, especially with THAT ending. But the author made it work because the MC held her ground.
I thought this was plotted really well with the dual time lines. It didn't make it too predictable but we still knew what would sort of happen because of the dual timeline. But it all tied up very neatly and made it extremely fun!

Let me start by saying that B.A Paris is one of my favorite authors. I LOVE all her books and can read them easily in one sitting, that is how immerse I get into her books. I read this one in one sitting BUT I had to power through it and I never faced that with one of her books. It started out strong..not as strong as her other books, but still strong enough to keep me invested. I think this was the first one of her books that I wasn't as into as the rest of them. It wasn't a bad book., not at all. It just fell a little flat compared to her other books. So I didn't hate it, not at all, but it I were to rate her books, this one would be low on the list.

I just coudn't connect or even appreciate Amelie and her part of the story. It was hard for me to have any emotion tied to her as I read.

Again, it is not a bad book at all! I love B,A Paris and she will always be one on my favorite authors, but this one just missed the mark for me.

For the most part I enjoyed this story. The premise kept me reading - a woman is held prisoner in a dark room after marrying billionaire Ned Hawthorne and believing she’d finally get to do all that she wanted to in life.

I appreciated that the story behind the kidnapping was explained; however, it was done in such detail I was just kind of over it. It then ended abruptly and I would have appreciated a neater ending after there had been so much description previously.

The premise of this book is great; our young main character is being forcefully grabbed and taken to a dark room in the middle of the night. Instead of panicing, she at first believes she is in another of her billionaire husband's twisted schemes. She's been through this before, and is ready to use her knowledge of the past to get out of it. This time, however, things are different. She learns that her husband has been captured as well. She is kept in a dark room for days on end, with meager rations brought in by a silent stranger--and yet, she feels safer here than alone with her husband! The first two-thirds of this book are easy to fly through. I was invested in finding out who had kidnapped Amelie and her husband, and how she would get out of it. I think it could have ended much, much earlier and been a good thriller. The last third, however, was a lot of complicated explanation, unrealistic outcomes, and whiny behavior from the earlier feisty main character, I wanted to love it, but by the end I just needed the whole thing to be over.

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My first e-book and first #arc from #netgalley!

B.A. Paris can be hit or miss for sure, and this was a miss for me. To me it was a bad movie version of a prisoner story that went on for way too long. The only part I liked about this book was the backstory of the main character, Amelie, but other than that this book was a real struggle for me to get through. 📚
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#netgalleyreader #netgalleyarc #bookstack #booklovers #alwaysreading #readersofinstagram #bookreview #instareads #goodreads #bookworm #bookaddict #readersofig #bookreviewer #bookaddict #bookstagram

(Thank you @stmartinspress for the #advancedreaderscopy of this book! #netgalley)

Well this was disappointing. Being the first book I've read by this author, I had no idea what to expect, but went in with high hopes. It seems the general consensus is this is everyone's least favorite book by her, so although I didn't enjoy this one, I will be reading some of her other previous books and giving her a second chance.

The Prisoner was too much of a slow burn to hold my attention and I felt there was a lack of character development as well. I did not care what happened to any of the characters and honestly, just wanted to get through the book, so I could leave my review and move on. And if I might add, I did not care for the whole premise of this book. The majority of the story the main character is held prisoner with flashbacks to help keep the reader's interest, but, unfortunately, it wasn't enough to keep me entertained. I can't recommend this book and I'd go with the advice of others and read some of her previous books instead.

**Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion. I am posting this review to my Goodreads account immediately and will post it to my Amazon & Instagram accounts upon publication.

Amelie Lamont was only 17 years old when her dad passed away and she had to live on the streets of London. Fortunately, just when things could not look worse, she met Carolyn, a young woman who happened to need someone to work at her house. Carolyn introduced Amelie to her friends, and before she knows it, our protagonist found a new family and also a cool new job at a fancy magazine, where she catches the eye of the owner, Ned. Fast forward to the present: she and Ned have been kidnapped, and she is pretty sure she’s about to die. What happened? How did things turned up like this? And how is it all going to end?

This is the third book I read by B.A. Paris and while it wasn’t my favorite (go read The therapist!), it managed to keep my attention until the very end and it was super fast to read. There were a few plot holes and a few things that just didn’t add up for me, so the ending felt a bit incomplete, but all in all, I had a really good time reading this book.

3,5 stars! Give it a try and let me know what you think!

What a thriller! This pulled me in immediately and did not disappoint. It was written so well and kept me on the edge of my seat guessing until the end.

I like how this went back and forth between the past, before Amelie was abducted, and the present, while she’s being held captive. So suspenseful, creepy and atmospheric.