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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
A digital ARC of this book was provided to me by NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. The opinions are my own and freely given.
Cast of Characters:
Amelie - Ned's wife
Ned - Amelie's husband; wealthy man, head of magazine
Carolyn - friend of Amelie
Lina - friend of Carolyn and Amelie; employee of Ned
Justine - friend of Lina and Amelie; employee of Ned
Amelie and Ned marry in Las Vegas under the guise of stopping Ned's father from pestering him to marry. However, their marriage is an arrangement, and no one knows. But Amelie discovers that Ned has an ulterior motive for the marriage. A couple weeks later, Ned and Amelie are abducted and held for ransom.
The morning after the wedding, Carolyn tells Amelie that Justine was attacked, and now no one can get a hold of her. Amelie starts to piece what little information she can find out together and is scared for her life. Then comes the abduction.
I liked the storyline of this book. Wondering, like Amelie, who is behind the abduction. I felt it was just a little anti-climactic when Amelie confronts her kidnapper, and I wished there was a little more of an epilogue at the end. It left me wondering if something happens a few months down the road, or not. But this was not enough for me to dislike this book. Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and B.A. Paris.
Cast of Characters:
Amelie - Ned's wife
Ned - Amelie's husband; wealthy man, head of magazine
Carolyn - friend of Amelie
Lina - friend of Carolyn and Amelie; employee of Ned
Justine - friend of Lina and Amelie; employee of Ned
Amelie and Ned marry in Las Vegas under the guise of stopping Ned's father from pestering him to marry. However, their marriage is an arrangement, and no one knows. But Amelie discovers that Ned has an ulterior motive for the marriage. A couple weeks later, Ned and Amelie are abducted and held for ransom.
The morning after the wedding, Carolyn tells Amelie that Justine was attacked, and now no one can get a hold of her. Amelie starts to piece what little information she can find out together and is scared for her life. Then comes the abduction.
I liked the storyline of this book. Wondering, like Amelie, who is behind the abduction. I felt it was just a little anti-climactic when Amelie confronts her kidnapper, and I wished there was a little more of an epilogue at the end. It left me wondering if something happens a few months down the road, or not. But this was not enough for me to dislike this book. Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and B.A. Paris.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Toxic relationship, Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment
Minor: Vomit
Thanks to Netgalley and St Martins for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
I’ve read every one of B.A. Paris’s books and this one did not disappoint. It’s fast and twisty and easy to read. I couldn’t put it down!
I loved that the story was new and fresh- something original compared to a lot of the latest thrillers. It kept me guessing all the way to the final page! I found myself trying to get through the book as fast as I could to figure out what was happening!
As usual with this author, it’s thriller plus a healthy dose of moral dilemma. I find that to be the ongoing thread of all the books. I really enjoyed it!
I’ve read every one of B.A. Paris’s books and this one did not disappoint. It’s fast and twisty and easy to read. I couldn’t put it down!
I loved that the story was new and fresh- something original compared to a lot of the latest thrillers. It kept me guessing all the way to the final page! I found myself trying to get through the book as fast as I could to figure out what was happening!
As usual with this author, it’s thriller plus a healthy dose of moral dilemma. I find that to be the ongoing thread of all the books. I really enjoyed it!
The Prisoner is the newest thriller by B. A. Paris in which we follow Amelie in two timelines. In the before timeline, Amelie’s father has recently passed away, leaving her an orphan. After living on the streets, Amelie eventually befriends Carolyn and begins to live her dream life. In the present timeline, Amelie is a captive in a completely dark room, losing all sense of time and wondering what is happening to her husband.
I think this is the time in my life where I cut ties with this author. This is the fourth book I have read by her and it’s time to admit that she just is not the author for me. The premise of this book was so promising and I was engaged at the beginning. With chapters that are only a few pages long, it is easy to fly right through this book. But that is about the only positive thing about this.
Everything that I disliked about this book would be considered a spoiler so I won’t go into detail about it. What this felt like to me is if you have ever been in a writing class and you are given a prompt and have five minutes to write something out about it. After five minutes, you pass your story to someone else and someone passes their story to you and you have to finish what they started. This first half of this book led to more questions than answers and then the way it is wrapped up at the end felt like another author had to go in and figure out a way to make everything make sense.
The twists were very predictable and the end was so much yelling and not showing. It’s easy for an author to write a crazy story and then have a lot of exposition at the end to explain why. It felt very lazy to me. I like thrillers and mysteries that have very organic reveals throughout where you are figuring things out with the characters. This book also heavily relies on a question between characters. It comes up several times in different ways. The first time, I thought it was clever. The second time, I appreciated the callback to it. After that, it just felt like beating a dead horse. If you have read the book, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
I think my biggest issue with Paris as an author is I just really don’t like how naive the lead characters always are. If the main character in this book would have just thought about things for two seconds, she could have avoided a lot of trouble. I also hate that a lot of times, she will write a character that is “bad” but give no reason for why they are that way. It would be fine if it had only been this book, but it’s been all of her books that I have read.
This book gets two stars instead of one star because it is a very quick read and the beginning is super engaging.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book ahead of its release. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I think this is the time in my life where I cut ties with this author. This is the fourth book I have read by her and it’s time to admit that she just is not the author for me. The premise of this book was so promising and I was engaged at the beginning. With chapters that are only a few pages long, it is easy to fly right through this book. But that is about the only positive thing about this.
Everything that I disliked about this book would be considered a spoiler so I won’t go into detail about it. What this felt like to me is if you have ever been in a writing class and you are given a prompt and have five minutes to write something out about it. After five minutes, you pass your story to someone else and someone passes their story to you and you have to finish what they started. This first half of this book led to more questions than answers and then the way it is wrapped up at the end felt like another author had to go in and figure out a way to make everything make sense.
The twists were very predictable and the end was so much yelling and not showing. It’s easy for an author to write a crazy story and then have a lot of exposition at the end to explain why. It felt very lazy to me. I like thrillers and mysteries that have very organic reveals throughout where you are figuring things out with the characters. This book also heavily relies on a question between characters. It comes up several times in different ways. The first time, I thought it was clever. The second time, I appreciated the callback to it. After that, it just felt like beating a dead horse. If you have read the book, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
I think my biggest issue with Paris as an author is I just really don’t like how naive the lead characters always are. If the main character in this book would have just thought about things for two seconds, she could have avoided a lot of trouble. I also hate that a lot of times, she will write a character that is “bad” but give no reason for why they are that way. It would be fine if it had only been this book, but it’s been all of her books that I have read.
This book gets two stars instead of one star because it is a very quick read and the beginning is super engaging.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book ahead of its release. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Pros: - Quick, fast-paced read - Twisty and thrilling from the very beginning - Dual timelines (past and present) - Dramatic - Action-packed Cons: - Very little character development - Too many characters - Overly complicated ending - Feeling of detachment from our protagonist - Too Far-fetched
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Having read a couple of other novels by B.A Paris, I had an idea of what I was getting into. Still, this suspense/thriller kept me guessing, and partially because of it's use of flashbacks. Every time I thought I had a handle on what was going on in the present, a flashback chapter would have me questioning myself. I am growing a bit tired of the dual timeline style in general, but believe it was done well. There was also a bit of a Stockholm syndrome vibe that I did not like and felt like the story didn't need at all. Overall, I think this is one of the weaker novels I've read by the author but by no means does it mean I won't continue seeking them out for solid mystery choices!
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No