This is my first time reading a book by B.A Paris and I am hooked! I read some reviews saying this is one of their least favourite books by this author and if thats the case I am going to LOVE her other books!

The beginning of the book was intense and we were trying to figure out what happened and why she was kidnapped. Will she survive? The second half of the book was more storytelling about her life and her life after this huge event happened to her.

I liked how we got to see her life after the event and how she was handling everything, I wish more thrillers had this. Usually it is just intense, intense, twist, done!

I would definitely recommend reading this book!

I am rounding up from 2.5 to 3 stars because I typically love the authors work but this one was a miss for me. It wasn’t overall awful but it is probably my least favorite or at least in the bottom two.
The story is about a woman who gets kidnapped and held in a dark room. And while she is being held in the dark room, we are given many, many, many, details about said dark room. To the point where you’re like ugh seriously? How much details can there be about a dark room? But somehow there’s more. I get that if she is in a dark room there’s not much action taking place so you’re left creating an atmosphere but wholly moly that was a bit much. Then there were the chapters that explain how she found herself in the situation that led to her being kidnapped and in the dark room-she went from being broke and feeling hopeless to being befriended by some rich women and working as an assistant to one of them, and that brought her into a whole new world and a whole new set of people and problems.
The plot was outlandish and beyond belief and when the ultimate reasoning behind why she is there is revealed I was left going “no. That can’t be it. “
The narrator did a fairly good job of keeping the voices identifiable and not cartoonish.
This may be a winner for some, but sadly not for me. But that won’t stop me from reading the next book she comes out with!
Thanks to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for this audiobook arc in exchange for my review

Amelie Lamont knows hardship. She is orphaned before she is even a legal adult, and heads to London to try to find a job. Down to her last bit of money, she meets Carolyn who provides her with a job, a home, and friendship. She finds a family with her and her friends. She goest to work at the same magazine as the ladies, and she ends up on a work trip with the boss, playboy billionaire Ned Hawthorpe, and comes home a married woman. But who exactly did she marry?

She and Ned are kidnapped, and Amelie wakes up in a dark room alone. In her short farse of a marriage she realizes she feels safer in her own room than with Ned and waits to see if his family will pay the ransom for their lives.

What starts out as a great book, fizzles a bit towards the end. Amelie is sweet, but naïve to a fault. Her rescuer Carolyn seems to good to be true, and her husband’s monstrous behavior is never really explained. Despite the pacing slowly rapidly down at the end of the novel, and too many coincidences than I care for in a thriller, I still finished it.

Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and B.A. Paris for the advanced copy of the audiobook. The Prisoner comes out on November 1st. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Net Galley for an advanced audio copy! The
synopsis intrigued me and the book started out strong.
Amelie has lost both of her parents and is swept into what
she thinks will be a glamorous life with a new husband. The
truth of her new life is revealed and one thing after another
starts to snowball into a kidnapping. As much as I wanted to
love this book, it quickly became implausible and the
kidnapping scenes were repetitive.

Are you afraid of the dark? Are you afraid of being alone in a dark room?B.A. Paris puts someone there in The Prisoner.

"Amelie is taken from her bedroom in the night and wakes up alone in a completely dark room. Where is she? Who kidnapped her and why? Where is her husband? Why does she suddenly feel safer?"

Like many current thrillers there are dual timelines. We get Amelie's story before she was locked up and what's going on while she is locked in the dark room. She is the definition of the unreliable narrator. Her life circumstances led to much of that but her decision making is not the best.

Her billionaire husband, Jed, is a character everyone will love to hate. Several characters will make you question the grey areas of how far is too far.

A great audiobook performance by Georgia Maguire. You can hear and feel the terror that Amelie has in the darkened room.

If you enjoy B.A. Paris books, you should like this one.

Amelie has had a difficult life, both of her parents were dead before she was 18, but she has survived. When the owner of the magazine where she works invites her to join him on a work trip to Las Vegas she decides to go and when he presents a business proposition she takes the chance. But her phone is missing and her laptop broken so she can't share the news with her friends turned family. When she does hear from them it is not what she expected and now she has been kidnapped. What do the kidnappers want? Can she survive?

The narrator does an excellent job of bringing Amelia to life.

The Prisoner is a tense thriller about a young French woman that is orphaned at a young age. She is driven and finds solace and help with friends. She wants to go to law school and when she has the opportunity to make that happen, she goes for it. How could marrying someone rich go wrong? She makes a seemingly no-brainer deal that ends up being the worst decision of her life. Amalie narrates in the present from a locked room where she is imprisoned after being kidnapped. We learn how she ended up that way through her memories of the events leading up the present. Strangely enough, she feels safer being in prison that she does in her new life. Will she die in this room or will she escape? If she gets out, what is waiting for her in the outside world?

The story is well written and a page turner, similar to Behind Closed Doors. The plot is somewhat confusing and convoluted, however, it does eventually make sense and ends well.

3.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

I usually really like B. A. Paris' books but something about this one just didn't do it for me. The audiobook is great and the story is unique, but I just didn't care for the characters or the plot. I think Behind Closed Door is still my favorite book by this author.

Paris has always been an auto read author for me but I see I generally only give 3⭐️ so I may need to reassess the auto status.

This book had a lot of potential and I actually really loved it until about 75%. I strongly dislike when authors do information dumps the last couple of chapters and this was exactly that. While the information was necessary to the conclusion of the story, it absolutely could’ve been incorporated much better.

The kidnapping kept me interested and the doubling aspect was also pretty unique. I liked that we slowly learned what a bad guy Ned was and how he so successfully duped Amelie. Some of the murders felt a little unnecessary and I get that Ned is rich and privileged, but come on, you can only get away with so much.

Amelie was pretty obnoxious. She was so naive and rash. Her whole life seemed like one bad decision after another and it was annoying how well they all seemed to work out for her.

I listened to the audio of this novel and thought the narrator did a pretty good job. The acting was on point and engaging without being overdone. Her voice was good but not overly memorable.

I’m really disappointed with how the final 25% or so of the book was written because this really should be at least a 4⭐️ but I just can’t go there.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, MacMillan Audio, and NetGalley for a copy of this novel.

3.5 stars rounded down!

I don't typically listen to thrillers, but the narrator and story worked so well on audio! I would call this more of a mystery than thriller, but it was well done! This was a super quick audio read. I enjoyed the dual timeline and secrets throughout. However, it did feel like this was missing something and the ending was abrupt.

Thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and MacMillan Audio for advanced copies in exchange for an honest review!

{3.5 stars}

Amelie has been kidnapped. She wakes up in a pitch black room with nothing more than a mattress and a tray of porridge provided to her each day. She knows her rich new husband has been kidnapped as well. She must work out who is after them and how to get away.

I liked the pacing of this thriller. Amelie’s panic turned to survival mode made for an entertaining read. As we get more chapters of backstory we realize not all is what it seems. I’m not sure this one had the traditional jaw dropper twists so much as some unusual characters in really unlikely circumstances.

I did this one on audiobook and the narrator was fabulous at building the tension.

Thanks to St Martin’s Press for access to this audiobook via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.

Although I did enjoy this book overall, I did find it a bit far fetched. The way the characters wound up being connected seemed unlikely as well as how the main character turned from poverty stricken to u knowingly rich. It did keep me on the edge of my seat when while main character was "prisoner" I found it easy to listen to and enjoyed the narration as an audiobook.

B.A. Paris is an auto-read author for me. Her book, Behind Closed Doors, is one of my all-time favorite thrillers. However, The Prisoner left me feeling a little disappointed.

The opening of the book sucked me in. It felt fast-paced, and I was invested in Amelie's story. However, the rest of the characters in this story were not well developed, and I felt disconnected and indifferent toward them.

The story is told in dual timelines, between Amelie's past and present. While I enjoyed how the story unraveled, the pacing sometimes felt a bit too slow.

I really enjoyed the narration of the audiobook. Georgia Maguire did a great job bringing the characters to life.

The ending of the story left me feeling underwhelmed. Perhaps my expectations were set a bit too high.

While this book was entertaining, and I enjoyed it, it is not one of my favorites by the author. I will continue to read future works by B.A. Paris.

Review on BN & Amazon to come.

This book was intriguing! I was hooked and had to keep listening to the first half but the second half lost its pace. I loved the past and present POV as it added to the complexity of the story line! In my opinion there were to many secondary characters that made it difficult to keep track of everyone. The plot was great and the ending was tied up neatly but overall it was kind of a disappointment, as I was expecting more thrilling/unexpected twists.

I listened to this as an audiobook and really enjoyed the narrator, Georgina Maguire. While this one wasn’t as thrilling as I hoped for, I plan on check out some of her prior work.

***** Many thanks to Macmillan Audio, St Martins Press, BA Paris, and NetGalley for the gifted copy as it was provided to me in turn for my honest opinion.

Rated this as 3.5 stars but rounding up on Goodreads

I previously read and enjoyed Behind Close Doors but this one didn’t quite work for me. While I loved the short chapters, dual timeline and intriguing first half, the ending was too convoluted and underwhelming. Also who knew so much math would be involved?! The accountant in me is not complaining, though! 😂😂 While this one didn’t quite meet my expectations, I’m still interested in reading Paris’ backlist.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

B.A Paris has done it again!

The book starts at a fast pace. Amelie and her husband are kidnapped near the beginning, and then the reader slowly learns more about the couple and who has imprisoned then and why through chapters that vacillate between past and present and switch to different characters’ POV. The structure is very effective and unfolds the plot at a fast enough pace to keep you engaged and avoid any lulls, but slowly enough to allow for character development and to give you all of the pieces of the puzzle by the end, avoiding plot holes or weakly written characters. A unique and engrossing story and the narrator was perfect- great voice and pace overall and did a great job of giving each character a different enough voice to help prevent confusion while listening about who was talking etc. Highly recommend!!!

Amelie has always been a survivor. That character trait comes in handy when her marriage of convenience turns dark, and even more so when she and her new husband are kidnapped. Amelie tries to figure out how to escape her captors and her husband. Great narration! This audiobook will keep you listening and on the edge of your seat until the very end!

Fast paced but overly explained at the end. It felt more true to B.A. Parrish than her others, but fell flat. I wish she had done more with the second half.

As always, B.A. Paris writes another book that I am unable to put down and left guessing until the end. Our story starts with Amelie being held prisoner in a room, as the days continue on our story goes from present to past as we learn how Amelie arrived in her current position and formulates her escape plan. Overall, a book I enjoyed, though I was a little let down by the ending, and felt it was written in a hurry to finish the book.

After the death of her father, Amelie's life hits very rock bottom. Within a few years, she manages to improve her lifestyle and marry one of the wealthiest bachelors in London. And now, seating on a mattress in a pitch-dark room, she looks back at the last two weeks of her life determined to break free of her captivity and make her husband pay for his wrongdoings.

Huge fan of B.A.Paris but this book just didn't trigger the excitement in me as her previous novels did. The plot was good, but it was incredibly easy to predict the ending. The split dual timeline revealed all the exciting twists very early in the book. There were a few thrilling moments here and there, but I felt disappointed by the novel at the end. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to the author's new novels, and in a meantime, I will look into her oldies.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a free and advanced copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.