The positive attributes of the book absolutely surpassed the negative ones so I decided to round up 3.5 stars to 4 claustrophobic, dark, twisty, thought provoking stars! There's plenty of guessing and twists in this story of obsession that will leave readers wondering who to trust."— Parkersburg News and Sentinel The story started well, and initially I was intrigued but then I felt I was reading a book from a different author. We delve into the past to unravel the secrets, and the truth worth killing for, but then the story lost its momentum as we alternated timelines and stories, to the point I nearly didn’t finish.

B.A. Paris has always been a favorite. I'm a card-carrying fan from the beginning. But The Prisoner just didn't rise to the occasion for me. Let me explain: Things happened to Amelie were too tough. I actually felt too sorry for the girl. Even the ones have good intentions around her circle didn’t come to her help. Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review. Characters flit from place to place to serve the plot. Conversational exchanges happen that would NEVER happen in real life. Though the chapters are short and I was still able to blow through this in a few days, it was somewhat of a torturous experience. I kept wanting there to be emotional depth, surprising reveals, ANYTHING to make it make sense and make it seem like the plot was truly going somewhere interesting... but that never happened. While I still struggled with some inconsistencies, partially predicted the reveal, and didn’t love the open ending, a few surprises along the way helped raise my rating to a 3.5. While this is a true 3.5 star book for me, Goodreads forces me to round one way or the other, so I will give this one the benefit of the doubt since I mostly enjoyed it.BA Paris is a talented author who is highly skilled in masterfully orchestrating compelling psychological thrillers. Whilst on a business trip to Vegas, Ned offers Amelie a deal. If she marries him, he'll give her something she really desires. Who would think that something could go wrong from this?

The Breakdown is the second book from B.A. Paris. It starts out with a woman named Cass Anderson who is trying to come to terms with something she saw in a rural road in the middle of a storm. That’s when she first saw the woman sitting in a car in the woods– the same woman who was killed. She can’t tell her husband Matthew about it, because he would be mad that she took the shortcut home even though she promised not to. She might even have been hurt if she had stopped. After sighing, grumbling, and eye-rolling my way through most of The Prisoner...those feelings were a LITTLE too close to home. I liked Amelie’s initiative to try to gain some control of the situation when she was in captivity. Now, I’m curious after re-reading the blurb. In the version that I read, the husband’s name is Ned, not Jed. Wonder which one will go into publication… Personally, I hope it’s Ned because I think it’s more fitting to his personality. I’ve read a couple B.A. Paris books at this point: Behind Closed Doors and The Breakdown. Maybe they were overhyped, but both just fell flat to me. When I saw The Prisoner on NetGalley, I thought I’d give her another shot. Was it worth it? Keep reading! The StoryThe Circle evokes the chills of 'The Stepford Wives.' A well-crafted psychological thriller."— Booklist This was a totally different vibe than those two books. The Breakdown is a slow burn psychological thriller and The Dilemma is more of a thought-provoking familial drama.

Plot line is unique: a young woman married with a billionaire is kidnapped with her husband but being prisoner in a dark room is far better than her imprisonment of marriage! A] thrill-stuffed novel about a posh London gated community that’s a hotbed of secrets and lies."— The Washington Post However, the storytelling, the one-dimensional characters and the implausibility let it down and it became a struggle to finish. Captivated - absolutely not. A wave of sadness flows through me. If we were another couple, I might have put my mouth against the hole [in the floor] and called quietly to him, let him know I was nearby, tell him we could find a way to escape together. But we are not that couple, and when I escape, it will be to get away from him, not just our abductors. This is one of those thrillers where there’s not much to dissect about it. It’s just a good suspenseful novel.

Publication Order of Obsession Collection Books

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. Her first novel is called Behind Closed Doors and was released in 2016. The second book is called The Breakdown and was released in 2017. Her third book in the series will be coming out in 2018. Although the first half of the book was stronger than the book's second half, overall, the book was too S-L-O-W burn for my fastidious palate. So far I’ve read B.A. Paris’ The Breakdown and The Dilemma. I enjoyed both of those but I think I liked this one better!

The book introduces themes that it doesn't handle well and the ending felt abrupt. Overall, it's a very flat read and the emotional depth is non-existent. Also this book takes place in London but I kept forgetting because the terminology seemed more American which was unlike her other two books. When going to Vegas was such a big deal I forgot that they were crossing the pond to do so. I’m not sure what words should have been different, if any, the geography was just something I kept having to remind myself of as I read.That’s when I realize: from the moment the man came into my bedroom, our abductors haven’t said a word. Ten years later Finn is engaged to Layla’s sister, Ellen. Their shared grief over what happened to Layla drew them close and now they intend to remain together. Still, there’s something about Ellen that Finn has never fully understood. His heart wants to believe that she is the one for him...even though a sixth sense tells him not to trust her. T]his web of fear and lies is much more complex, satisfyingly so, than Room, involving many more characters, intricate plotting, and layers of subterfuge. Paris’s fans won’t be disappointed and readers new to the author will be hooked’ FIRST CLUE B.A. Paris was born in Surrey, England, in 1958 to a French mother and Irish father. She is the third of 6 children, including 4 brothers and a sister. After completing her education, she moved to France, where she worked as a trader in an international bank in Paris for several years. During this time, she met her husband, with whom she now has 5 daughters. They eventually left the world of finance to set up a language school together. As a teenager, Amelie moved to London on her own after both of her parents passed away. Not long after her move, she met Carolyn Blakely, who took her under her wing, giving her a housekeeping job and a place to live.