B.A. Paris is one of those authors whose books I always look forward to reading. She weaves such interesting and unexpected plot lines and The Prisoner did not disappoint.

The story is told in two timelines - Past and Present - by main character Amelie.

In present day, we learn that Amelie and her husband Ned Hawthorne have been taken prisoner. In the past timeline, we find out that Amelie is an orphaned adult who has recently moved to London where she meets three women who become her friends and also help her land a job at Exclusives.

The book is a slow burn and kept me turning pages to figure out what was going on - who was holding Amelie and Ned hostage and why?

I enjoyed this book very much and recommend it to any reader who enjoys mysteries and thrillers. I am grateful to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and to B.A. Paris for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was not a fan of BA Paris' most popular book, Behind Closed Doors. I found it ludicrous. But I kind of liked two other books by her—Bring Me Back and The Breakdown. Both were bad but bad in the way a movie-of-the-week crime drama starring Tori Spelling might be—bad but you can't stop watching.

Unfortunately, The Prisoner is just bad-bad, without the camp that made Bring Me Back and The Breakdown bearable. I'll be honest in that I don't quite understand Paris' popularity. Her plots are always rife with billboard-sized plotholes, the writing is mundane at best, stilted at worst. In this case, if I heard one more person say "sexual assault" I was going to scream. There are other ways of saying sexual assault: attack, rape, assault, etc. Paris even has the old white men saying "sexual assault" as if this is anything they would utter.

I give an extra star as Paris at least attempted to inject female friendship into the book, and make her heroine a bit more feisty than her usual.

Really enjoyed this book. The timeline from past and present kept me guessing. B.A. Paris is genius!

I LOVE B.A. Paris novels and this one did not disappoint. I enjoyed hopping between past and present and it was an easy story to follow. The ending was frustrating; who is Mr. Smith?! but overall a great, easy read that I would recommend.

Not… great. I think it may be time to give up on this author, sadly. And that breaks my heart because their earlier thrillers were so phenomenal. But this was not a good read, and for that, I’m sorry.

The Prisoner - B.A Paris
Amelie has never been one to back down to life's challenges. After her father's passing, with no family left, Amelie takes a chance and escapes to London. She lives a life she never thought possible, with great friends who took her in and a job. Her goal is save enough money to become a lawyer, and when Amelie is presented with a business deal to marry her boss Jed, receiving tuition money in return, it's a no brainer.
But, when she wakes up in a pitch black room, she suddenly feels safer than she did with her husband. She has no idea who her captors are, but knows that no one is coming to save them. If she wants to escape, she must find a way.
I was so excited to receive an early copy of The Prisoner and was not disappointed. Fair warning, the book starts a bit slow, but as you learn of Amelie's story, it's hard to not root for her. She was taken advantage of, manipulated into a scary situation and managed to keep her brain sharp through the whole ordeal. The last bit of the book, I wasn't able to put down. I never could have guessed the details surrounding the kidnapping and was in awe of how good the ending was. ⭐⭐⭐⭐/4!
Thank you Netgalley for the amazing ARC!

If this book were a rollercoaster, it would be one of those that goes from zero to 70 in five seconds. The ending though, is more of the pirate ship that just sways side to side until it just eventually stops.

The beginning was promising as you are immediately catapulted into the climax of the story. The middle is still pretty intense as you’re unraveling the story. The end (or what I thought was the end) wasn’t the end at all. And that’s where the book losses me. The real ending was just blah. Too many revelations that just didn’t make sense.

I'm a huge B.A Paris fan, so I really wanted to love this one. While I did find it to be an entertaining read, it missed the mark a little bit for me. I think I just expected a bit more based on the previous books I've read.

It was a very quick read for me, totally bingeable, which I really liked. It kept me turning the pages and I read it in two days. I thought the plot was interesting and it had the potential to be really cool. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a slow burn. Seems weird to say that considering how fast I read it, but it's true. It had my attention but I still felt like it took a while for things to get interesting. Even once it did get going, it didn't have any mind blowing twists and was mildly predictable. I felt like I needed a bit more character development and some better pacing in order to give this one a higher rating.

I did like it, so I think if you're a fan of the author, it would be worth checking out. Unfortunately though, this one won't be a favourite of mine.

I loved this book! It kept me intrigued and on the edge of my seat the whole time. I will say it felt like it ended a bit abruptly. I would have liked an epilogue to tie things up a bit more.

I couldn’t put this book down! I thought Amelie was a good MC for the most part, but I was frustrated with some of her decisions. The first part of the book goes back and forth between present day and a few weeks in the past; this was a little confusing at first but made more sense as more was revealed. I liked the short chapters and thought it made reading easier and faster. I didn’t see all of the twists (except one) coming, and needed to keep reading to find out what would happen next. The ending felt abrupt and I thought there was going to be more to the book, but it wrapped up enough that I felt like I knew where the story was going. Overall, this was a captivating and fast-paced psychological thriller.

ARC REVIEW

The Prisoner
by BA Paris

Publishing date: 11/1/2022

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Amelie is kidnapped and being held in a complete darkness. She has no idea why, or who is doing this. She learns her husband is also being held against his will and although she knows that many people would like to cause harm to him ( her included) she still doesn't understand why or what is happening.

The first part of the book bounces back and fourth between present day  and the events leading up to her kidnapping. I feel like this was done REALLY well and definitley had me interested in knowing who/what was doing this and why...and why to Amelie.  As the past catches up to current times, we learn more about motives, and eventually who is doing the kidnapping.

Normally, the end of a book is what saves a  book for me, but this time, I liked the overall plot/story and the ending was just MEH. I was a little let down and it felt anti climactic. I really thought I was going to WOW'd but I wasnt unfortunately.

However, I did enjoy the book! I would definitley suggest adding this to your TBR for November! I am harsh when reviewing thrillers so don't let me deter you from this! Because it was still a great read.

And shockingly, this was my first B.A. Paris?!! what else should I read?

Big Thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this awesome arc!

3.5 stars - BA Paris certainly doesn't follow any typical formula for thrillers, which is very refreshing! The ending definitely left me wanting more, and not in a good way. I never felt any closure to the story or any understanding of the "why" it all happened. I still found it fast-paced and suspenseful, especially the first half.

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

First off I will say that I love B.A. Paris. I read Behind Closed Doors for a book club and quickly picked up the rest and loved them all. I was really excited to see this one coming out and was ecstatic to receive an ARC for it. That said I think this was my least favorite B.A. Paris book. I still enjoyed it and I still think it is a good book. It just fell a tiny bit flat to me compared to her others.

The situation was a bit less believable so it was harder for me to fall into it. The characters were not as deep and the main character seemed to make a lot of weird situations. The storyline was still good, just more of a b Netflix movie than the amazing works of her previous books. Some storylines were cut short in what seemed a little to abruptly without really explaining it. The ending wrapped things up well but there were no revelations I didn't see from a mile away. I am not one of those people that dislikes a book because the twist was obvious though so this did not bother me really. This book was one the good side of okay for me. If this is your first B.A. Paris book and you didn't love it give the others a chance. She is one of my favorite thriller authors and I will continue to follow her works. This one just didn't hit as much for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press Publishers for the ARC!

The world is a disorienting place for Amelie when she wakes up in a dark room, unable to remember how she got there. Like other stories by B.A. Paris, The Prisoner is told in flashbacks that lead to the present.

While Amelie grapples with her memories, she takes the reader along on a journey of psychological twists and turns a-plenty, drawing you in as she searches for an understanding of what has happened, how and why, and who is responsible. Amelie is vulnerable but not afraid to exploit any opportunity for escape.

Its quick pace will keep you interested and engaged as you anticipate what happens next. The Prisoner is a thoroughly enjoyable read, and I look forward to the next Paris book with great anticipation.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press Publishers for the ARC in exchange for this independent review.

B.A. Paris looks as....I don't even know what to put here, this book was just a train wreck

Normally I would write what I think the synopsis of the book should be as sometimes what is on the book is misleading, but I just can't with this book as I'm not 100% sure what is going on other than a woman is kidnapped and all this stuff before happened that we don't get much about.

I have been wanting Paris to capture what she had in her debut novel Behind Closed Doors and I am sad to say that Paris was not able to succeed in this book. If this book would have been longer, I would not have finished it and unless by making it longer it became a more complete novel.

This did not feel like a full novel as it jumps around A LOT and we get random bits of information here and there and you wonder how we get there. In one of the past she is an orphan living on the streets and follows a lady home from having a coffee and the next chapter they are older and friends, like wtf.

It feels like Paris had all of these ideas but no idea how to connect them together, I felt like I was reading a first draft of this book and she was struggling to write a full novel. I mean the guts of the book is there, but there was random shifts of information, that would come out of left field that I did not see them as twists but just slaps in the face of this new info and why didn't we get this information earlier or lead up to in the past parts. I kept thinking that I have missed something and had to back track to make sure I had not. What do mean this person is dead? When did they die? When did this go down? I don't think I have said WTF in regards to a book in a long time.

Don't get me started on the ending, just when we are supposed to get what happened and why it happened in more depth readers do get to be part of the conversation.

Sorry Paris but I am done with reading your books. It pains me to say that as I have always been excited to read them and hope you could regain your magic but you have not been able to. I have read all of the books you have released (except the Therapist) and they have just not hit the mark each time (though I did think that The Breakdown was okay). On to the next book and author, I'll keep recommending Behind Closed Doors but that is it.

Cheers!!!

B.A. Paris does it again!! This was a great read. I love storylines that jump around. Amelie is a likeable heroine and what happens to her is awful. What made me not give a 5 star rating was the ending. Totally fell flat for me. Nonetheless I would still recommend this to others!

Very interesting and rather creepy read. Enjoyed this book and found the ending to be a great way to end the book. Makes you wonder if they will or won't.

I had a bit of a hard time with this book in places. Overall, I liked it, but there were times that I found myself wondering if it's possible for a main character to be so naive. Towards the end, something happened that left me totally disbelieving in regards to her relationship with her father.

Aside from the main character, some of the relationships fell flat for me. There didn't seem to be a lot of depth to her relationships with her friends. This book spans a couple years at least and yet she didn't seem to know these people all that well.

I don't know if the book just needed some more development before coming out, or this was just one I was destined not to like as much as the authors other works.

I'm a big fan of B.A. Paris, but I to admit this was not my favorite book. I really enjoyed the first half or more, but as the story moved on, it' just moved on. I will still be right in line for her next book. Thank you #Netgalley#StMartinsPress#ThePrisoner.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an egalley in exchange for an honest review

The premise of a woman waking up and discovering she has been kidnapped and imprisoned sounded like I needed to read it. Although I was hooked for the first portion of the story, I soon grew impatient with a chapter that was intriguing followed by a chapter that would just rationalize it all. I know that I am the outlier as I see so many glowing reviews. However, this one just didn't work for me.




Goodreads review published 10/10/22
Expected Publication 01/11/22