I know B.A. Paris gained popularity with Behind Closed Doors, but I never read that one. This is my first novel by this author, and unfortunately, although I enjoy thrillers, this did not resonate for me.

Positives:
An intriguing and fast paced first half of the novel kept things moving.

Negatives:
The second half required a slog and suspension of disbelief and I found the kidnapped In a dark room scenario quite hard to read.

In conclusion, for the right reader this book will be a home run, but not my cup of tea.

I loved the early parts where she was trapped in the room and trying to figure things out. I loved the mystery of that and trying to figure out who was involved. I do think the explanation at the end of everything was a little too much for me. Also just the fact that there was SO much explanation was not great to me.

B.A. Paris is great at creating psychotic characters that seem so normal and can hide their crazy. The Prisoner is no different. Told in her alternating timelines of before and now, Amelie is a very likable character. You can’t help but feel bad for her. This is one of those books that once I got started I couldn’t stop reading. 4 stars!

I received an Advance Reader Copy free from NetGalley and am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

Another thriller from BA Paris. This time our heroine is kidnapped along with her husband, and thrown into a dark room with just a mattress on the floor, and a bathroom that provides the only illumination only if the door is closed and latched.

We learn that Amelie who is just a college student, marries a billionaire on a pretense, the marriage is to last just a month, then will be annulled and he'll pay her a hundred thousand dollars for her efforts. But alas, all is not what it seems, and there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Jed Hawthorne, her husband, is nothing like he claims to be. But why has she found herself locked in this dark room? And why is he is similar straits in a room just below hers? A ransom demand was made of his father, but he is not paying it.

The book moved along at a quick pace, with action and intrigue on each page. Amelie loses all those close to her, and she sets out to find out what ultimately happens to her husband when she is released.

Recommended for all public libraries

The Prisoner by B.A. Paris is a must read for anyone that enjoys a good psychological thriller. I’ve read other books by B.A. Paris, and this is another that will not disappoint you. It was impossible to put down, and had my attention from the first chapter, which was when we encounter the kidnapping of the main character. The book opens up with Amelie in a dark room, with only a mattress on the floor. Who has kidnapped her and why? Amelie has suffered a lot of loss and heartache in her young life, and now a kidnapping. Her parents are deceased, and she is alone and homeless when we begin this story. However, her luck changes when Carolyn takes an interest in Amelie and offers her a job. This event will bring happiness and despair into Amelie’s life. Living with Carolyn has brought Ned Hawthorpe into Amelie’s life. When Ned becomes involved, things start to go very wrong. In order to earn money for further education, Ned has convinced Amelie to marry him for one month and then they will divorce. Is this really an altruistic move on Ned’s part? You will find that there is much more to Ned, as Amelie eventually discovers. This book was fast moving with short chapters that kept my interest. I highly recommend this book. If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would. I am looking forward to reading many more books by B.A. Paris. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

I didn’t enjoy this one. I found the characters one dimensional, and the plot to be convoluted and full of holes.

Amelie has known what it’s like to live a hard life and barely make it by. She watched her father grow weak and die, she was then left on the streets in Paris and understood the hardships of homelessness. After many years, and one lucky opportunity, she is finally making it in life and following her dreams.
And then she is kidnapped.
Her husband, a billionaire whom she has a mutual relationship with that does NOT include love, is the cause of her kidnapping. And as the kidnappers hold her hostage in hopes of getting a nice ransom in return- Amelie can’t help but feel safer in their hands than that of her husbands.

The concept: great.
The execution: flat.
The story had so much promise, and as a fan of BAs other works, I was excited to start this one! But sadly, something about this story missed its mark.
There was no emotional connection formed between reader and the characters. There felt like a huge disconnect between the words and my emotions as a reader, and I was never quite rooting for anyone and had to force myself to pick up the book each day.
If you’re a fan of slower-action and flashbacks that help create a story, then you may enjoy this one. But for me, I was never able to be invested enough in the characters to want to continue the story at a nail-biting pace.

Thank you for allowing me to read an ARC of The Prisoner. This is one of my favorite authors. I have read and loved every book. Each book has crazy twists throughout the whole book. Amelie suffers a tragic loss, fearing she has no other choice she leaves and goes out on her own. Luckily she met Carolyn and she took her in. They became fast friends. She opened up many doors for her. Then she met Ned. Ned is not a good man. Her world spirals out of control...... murders, kidnapping, fearing for her life and not knowing who to trust. Excellent from start to finish. Highly recommend.

I received an advance ecopy book on NetGalley to review. RUN don’t walk to get this book when it comes out. Even better, preorder it! I finished it in 2 days, probably could have been one if I started it on the weekend. I loved behind closed doors so I was excited to read this. Such a different plot and half way through, bam huge plot twist! This was thrilling and I didn’t see each twist and turn coming. I’m not 100% sure I loved the ending though. It seemed a little abrupt. It could probably use an epilogue but other than that I absolutely loved this book!

Thank you so much @StMartinsPress & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 01 November 2022)

SYNOPSIS | A young woman & her billionaire husband are both kidnapped for an unknown reason and held prisoner in separate isolated dark rooms.

WHAT I LIKED:
- that the book opened with a kidnapping & we as readers don't know why

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- the pacing felt really off & slow throughout
- the kidnapping chapters especially were quite repetitive & not particularly suspenseful so didn't help to build up the tension in the story
- the reveal was so drawn out & we were told a lot of it rather than shown
- the ending... it just stopped mid conversation...

Thank you to NetGalley for approving me for an early copy of this.
I love B.A. Paris as an author, so I will continue to read every publication. This books follows a woman who is kidnapped and kept in a dark room with only a mattress. She learns that her captors also took her husband. That are both being help for ransom, but quickly the reader learns that it's not a happy marriage, and this kidnapping isn't about ransom money. Secrets are slowly revealed and you never know who you can trust.
I enjoyed the pace of this book, and I liked the atmospheric descriptions. However, I felt like there was way too many characters to keep up with, and their names were too similar to keep straight. I kept having to go back and re-read parts to remember who is who and who is connected to who. I think the same plot and concepts could have been completed well without so many characters that were left undeveloped. I also can't tell if the author plans on writing a sequel or just wanted to leave the ending very open. Overall, this is not a fav but I can appreciate that those who love kidnapping trope would probably really enjoy this one.

I normally enjoy BA Paris' stories but this one fell flat for sure. I was captivated in the first chapter but it all fell apart in the end. There was so much monologue explaining at the end that I just wanted to rush through and be done with it.

After losing her parents, Amelie decides she's going to move to London and make it on her own, even if she has to lie a little because she's so young. When a chance encounter in a cafe leads to an amazing job and a nice place to live, Amelie couldn't be happier. Not only does she have a job and shelter, she has also found a family. Maybe her dreams of becoming a lawyer could happen after all? Will one poor decision ruin everything?

I only got a couple of pages into this, but had to stop due to the kidnapping aspect. All on me, so not publishing a review.

Oh how I hate writing a bad review…this is my first book by this author and I am sad to say it just wasn’t for me. Let’s start with some positives…I liked the two timelines of the past and present and what was unusual for me was the fact that I enjoyed the present chapters much more than the past. I found the pacing quicker and of course, the tension of being kidnapped, locked up, and isolated in a completely dark room was nerve-wracking to read, the terror Amelie was feeling was palatable. The past chapters made me have to suspend my belief a little too much for my liking and it wasn’t exciting enough to be considered a “popcorn thriller”, which I do enjoy.

I didn’t like any of the characters in this book at all, I had absolutely no one to cheer on or for. I didn’t really care what happened to Amelie or Ned and felt no emotional attachment to them. I found the story to be very repetitive, the same thing over and over again, and this affected the character development. I also found the writing to be a little disjointed, it was as if two different people wrote the book. I figured out the kidnapper almost right away, maybe that was done intentionally, I do not know. This was such a great premise but I found the execution lacking, I think the author tried to make it be too much all at once, and that ending was really disappointing.

Let’s end with something positive, I always like to “sandwich” bad reviews…positive-negative-positive. I really liked the short chapters as they made me feel the tension even more and helped with the pacing. The book is pretty short, was a quick read that kept me engaged, and was finished in a single sitting.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the advanced reading copy of The Prisoner by B.A. Paris.

Amelie has just started to build a life for herself after the passing of her father. She has found the best of friends, a great job, and now a proposal of marriage from her billionaire boss? What could go wrong?

Amelie soon finds herself and her new husband held hostage. Does she have what it takes to outsmart her captors?

B.A. Paris knows how to craft a fast paced dual timeline. Unfortunately for me this was between the two other novels I’ve read from her.

Sigh. This month is not off to a great start for me with another two star thriller. @scaredstraightreads mentioned in his review that maybe his time spent reading this author is done and I think I agree with him. Which truly bums me out because I’ve really enjoyed some of her books in the past but this one just really wasn’t good. It started off ok, a kidnapping plot is nothing new but I was curious to see where it would go. But things quickly turned repetitive and then went into a twisty mess. It was a convoluted disaster that didn’t make any sense, there was pages and pages of explanation as far as why the kidnapping took place but somehow there were still giant plot holes and unanswered questions? Make it make sense. And then it just ends. Super abrupt and jarring and it made me want to throw the book across the room. That’s really all I have to say, not a fan at all.

Summary from Goodreads:

Amelie has always been a survivor, from losing her parents as a child in Paris to making it on her own in London. As she builds a life for herself, she is swept up into a glamorous lifestyle where she married the handsome billionaire Jed Hawthorne. But then, Amelie wakes up in a pitch-black room, not knowing where she is. Why has she been taken? Who are her mysterious captors? And why does she soon feel safer here, imprisoned, than she had begun to feel with her husband Jed?

I never truly connected with any of the main characters, but I still found myself drawn into the story straight out of the gate, hard-pressed to put this one down. This was told in alternating chapters of past and present. I really enjoyed both parts. The chapters are also short which keeps the story flowing nicely. There is a Part Two in this book called “The Reckoning” and that talks about Amelie and what happens after her kidnapping. I did like Part One somewhat better than Part Two, but the whole book had me on the edge of my seat. There are some surprises, but I will say I hoped for a different ending. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending, it felt very abrupt and didn't give me a sense that the story was "finished". A few more pages tying up loose ends would have been better and I think helped a significant amount. There was such a giant build-up to that final confrontation, and the conclusion to me just fell flat. While I can’t say that this is my favorite B.A. Paris novel to date, I still found it to be an enjoyable and unpredictable summertime read and if you enjoyed her other novels, I think you’ll enjoy this one. Readers who like Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware will also enjoy this book. Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and B.A. Paris for the ARC. I eagerly await her next novel!

The Prisoner
by B.A. Paris
Pub Date: November 1, 2022
St. Martin's Press
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
This author is very popular at our library so I was excited to read it before it is published in November.
From the author of “The Therapist”, “Behind Closed Doors”, and others, B.A. Paris returns with “The Prisoner”. B.A. Paris has quickly become one of my favorite psychological suspense writers, and I was thrilled to get the opportunity to review her new work. However, I was disappointed with this book. The first part of the book focuses on her current situation and then flips back to her past and gives us a feel for how she came to be in the predicament she is in. I felt this part was too long and dragged the procession of the book. What really draws me into a book is character development, which I think this book lacked in. Very weak on character development.
Overall this was an OK book. Because of her fan following, she will do ok with sales, but I will not be recommending it to readers.
3 stars

First off, thank you so much to #Netgalley, the publisher and especially the author for this ARC!
I had been wanting to read something from this author for the longest time and I knew that this was the book I would read once I saw the synopsis….. I was not let down! The premise of this book is pretty original and there was a ton of atmosphere in this book, I loved it. The only thing is for me at some points in the room it could drag a little but the ending to this book left me very satisfied. I will be going back to read more of this author now!