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outsmartyourshelf 's review for:
The Prisoner
by B.A. Paris
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is told from main character, Amelie's point of view both in the past & in the present.
Past: Amelie was left orphaned when her father died when she was just 16. Her mother had already passed away when Amelie was a child & there were no other relatives that she knew of, so she was left to fend for herself as she did not want to go into care. Instead she heads to London & lives on the streets, in & out of youth hostels & working waitressing jobs. When she loses her latest job there is nowhere left to turn, but when she follows a woman who looks upset home from the local cafe to ensure she gets back safely, Amelie is stunned when the woman returns to the cafe a few days later & offers her a job as a live-in housekeeper.
Carolyn has just split from her husband & has a busy career & so needs someone to take care of the day-to-day details. Amelie accepts & Carolyn & her friends, Lina & Justine, become Amelie's surrogate family over the next few years Justine works for a rich businessman called Ned Hawthorpe, & when now nineteen-year-old Amelie is introduced to him at a party, he offers her a job. She is stunned when Ned asks her to travel with him to Las Vegas to talk with a client & asks why Justine isn't going. Ned replies that Justine is on another assignment but Amelie happily goes along, but things get weird when Ned suddenly proposes a short marriage of convenience. Amelie agrees as it seems the only hope of paying for her dream of studying law at university, but does she really know what she is getting herself into?
Present: Amelie is woken in the middle of the night, a cloth hood put over her head & hands tied behind her back. She is taken away to a place where she is kept in a room which doesn't have any natural or artificial light. Just a square room with a small bathroom through one door & a mattress on the floor to sleep on. Her captors bring her food to eat & a blanket, but they keep the door locked & don't speak to her. Over time, she realises that they have kidnapped Ned too & are keeping him in a separate room - holding both of them until his rich father pays up. Strangely though, Amelie feels safer in this room than when living with Ned.
The first 70% of this was very atmospheric as it led the reader through what Amelie was experiencing whilst kidnapped with the light deprivation etc, alternated with chapters about her early life. Amelie was fairly easy to empathise with, although she was a little naïve, not only in accepting a job from someone she had only just met who could have had nefarious motives, but also in agreeing to marry Ned. It was a 4/4.5 star rating for sure until the final 30%. Things slowed down & there was a lot of talking as Amelie tries to find out why she was kidnapped & who was behind it. It made the pace of the book rather uneven. In the end, I'm rating this 3.5 stars (rounded up) as the first 70% of it was great.
My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Hodder & Stoughton, for the opportunity to read an ARC. I am voluntarily giving an honest review.
Past: Amelie was left orphaned when her father died when she was just 16. Her mother had already passed away when Amelie was a child & there were no other relatives that she knew of, so she was left to fend for herself as she did not want to go into care. Instead she heads to London & lives on the streets, in & out of youth hostels & working waitressing jobs. When she loses her latest job there is nowhere left to turn, but when she follows a woman who looks upset home from the local cafe to ensure she gets back safely, Amelie is stunned when the woman returns to the cafe a few days later & offers her a job as a live-in housekeeper.
Carolyn has just split from her husband & has a busy career & so needs someone to take care of the day-to-day details. Amelie accepts & Carolyn & her friends, Lina & Justine, become Amelie's surrogate family over the next few years Justine works for a rich businessman called Ned Hawthorpe, & when now nineteen-year-old Amelie is introduced to him at a party, he offers her a job. She is stunned when Ned asks her to travel with him to Las Vegas to talk with a client & asks why Justine isn't going. Ned replies that Justine is on another assignment but Amelie happily goes along, but things get weird when Ned suddenly proposes a short marriage of convenience. Amelie agrees as it seems the only hope of paying for her dream of studying law at university, but does she really know what she is getting herself into?
Present: Amelie is woken in the middle of the night, a cloth hood put over her head & hands tied behind her back. She is taken away to a place where she is kept in a room which doesn't have any natural or artificial light. Just a square room with a small bathroom through one door & a mattress on the floor to sleep on. Her captors bring her food to eat & a blanket, but they keep the door locked & don't speak to her. Over time, she realises that they have kidnapped Ned too & are keeping him in a separate room - holding both of them until his rich father pays up. Strangely though, Amelie feels safer in this room than when living with Ned.
The first 70% of this was very atmospheric as it led the reader through what Amelie was experiencing whilst kidnapped with the light deprivation etc, alternated with chapters about her early life. Amelie was fairly easy to empathise with, although she was a little naïve, not only in accepting a job from someone she had only just met who could have had nefarious motives, but also in agreeing to marry Ned. It was a 4/4.5 star rating for sure until the final 30%. Things slowed down & there was a lot of talking as Amelie tries to find out why she was kidnapped & who was behind it. It made the pace of the book rather uneven. In the end, I'm rating this 3.5 stars (rounded up) as the first 70% of it was great.
My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Hodder & Stoughton, for the opportunity to read an ARC. I am voluntarily giving an honest review.