The Breakdown: A Novel

Before Behind Closed Doors, I only had one favorite author. I read Behind Closed Doors and finished it thinking 'that was a great book'. But after reading this as well, I now know I have a second favorite author and I cant wait for more books! Great read!

Very predictable. If you think you have it figured out after the first few chapters, you have. A rehashed story line that's been done to death. Read her "Behind Closed Doors" instead. ~*~LEB~*~

While her first novel Behind Closed Doors was a grabber, B. A. Paris lets her readers down with this highly predictable story . Well written , but it has been done so many times before it was like watching a movie over again for the 10th time !

The writing flowed wonderfully, the story never became stale, the characters and plot were captivating. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

This is definitely hard to put down. I was just a little disappointed because the end was rather predictable. However, I still highly recommended it.

Couldn't put it down. Kept me thinking and guessing throughout twists and turns

Excellent book. Love the suspense. The characters are real and the story keeps you guessing.

Yes the plot line has been done before, yes it is predictable, but it is a great story line that kept me interested all the way through it. I will definitely read more by this author. It was very well written.

Enjoyed Behind Closed Doors but this was slow,boring wnd predictable. Pass in this book and save the money.

I was a little disappointed in the book I kept waiting for it to get suspenseful and exciting That eventually happened in the last 30 pages Wished the author could've reeled me in sooner

I was rather disappointed with this novel. I did love her first one but I figured out the plot of this one by the 4th chapter. It's an old plotline that's been done to death in the USA. Of course B. A. Paris is from the UK and perhaps this particular plot line is not as popular over there. I kept reading as she threw in some red herrings but in the end, it ended exactly as how I thought it would after I read the first four chapters. Yes it is amazingly written and I enjoyed that part of the book. But if you are a regular reader of suspense/thrillers you, like me, will figure out what is going on very quickly. And you will be right. The Author makes is so obvious who done it. The characters are written in such a way that it's like she WANTS us to know how the book will end after you've read the first four chapters. So if you read the first four chapters and say to yourself "ah ha, well it's obvious what is going on", you are probably correct so unless you enjoy her writing, put the book down and read something else.

Wow! A thrilling read. Great story, lots of twists and turns. I had to keep reading to see if my hunch was right or completely wrong! A definite recommendation!

I could not put this book down! It was so good

I don't normally read psychological thrillers because they trigger issues for me but this is our book club book this month so I read it. It's a good story. I was sucked into from the first moment (of course, I did have all the lights on.) I guessed what was happening to her within the first chapter and I was right. I knew her husband was up to no good and I was right. I did not guess the murderer and was only half right on the reason for the murder. I was guessing up to the end on how it would all fall into place. Luck was on Cass' side and she deserved it. I'll read this author again.

This is a suspenseful story about a young woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Cass (Cassandra) is happily married, has lots of friends with one BFF, Rachel. She works as a teacher and is very good at her job. Both her parents are dead, her mother from early onset dementia. Her husband Matthew does not know about her mother's death. Cass is driving home one night and she sees a car on a road that is used as a shortcut through the forested area. Although she stops to check on the driver, she leaves the scene. The next day, she finds out that the driver of this car, "Jane", has been killed. Cass is riddled with guilt about not stopping. Could she have saved this woman from death if she had stopped? She starts to forget things, lose things, and can feel reality sinking away? She begins to fear that she is developing early onset dementia as well. This is written in the first person, and you can feel Cass' fear and terror as she begins to realize that she may be going developing dementia or having a nervous breakdown. There is a lot of twists and turns in this story that keep you wondering what is going to happen next. The story takes a bit to develop but stick with it because everything comes together in an amazing conclusion. I loved this book, but it is scary to realize that you never know who your real friends are. The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley. The opinions expressed are my own.

I actually can say this was a great read from beginning to end. this book kept me flipping the pages, wondering what was going to happen and how it was going to end.. Ended up reading this in a day and half. Wasn't disappointed and can say that this author delivers...... Will continue to read more!!

B.A. Paris does it again!!! Amazing book!

Let me start off by saying I read B. A. Paris’ first book, Behind Closed Doors and absolutely fell in love with it. When I heard a new book was coming out I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. A lot of the time when a book is extremely hyped, I tend to be disappointed. Luckily that was in no way the case with The Breakdown. The character building in this book was amazing, I felt like I got a wonderful idea of who each character was while also questioning them all throughout the book. I found myself immediately drawn in because the book was written with an extreme air if mystery. I physically felt as though I had to keep turning each page and find out immediately what was going on. I love the fact that it touches on the subject of early on-set dementia, which I don’t hear or know much about. Overall this book was a great mystery that was so unpredictable I couldn’t stop reading if I wanted to. It flowed so well and kept me guessing until the very end. I would highly recommend this book if you like psychological thrillers.

Had it worked out in the first chapter.

What a way to end my reading year in 2017! I was literally sitting in bed last night thinking about what I wanted to say about this book in my review (yes, I'm crazy like that!). It was such a wild reading experience and way more intense than I expected. The book starts with Cass seeing a woman in a car on the side of the road. The next day she wakes up to find that the woman has been brutally murdered. Cass doesn't share with anyone that she saw the woman before she was killed which means that she is keeping this huge secret. Add to that the fact that she also seems to be having memory issues - forgetting things more often then is normal and doing things that she doesn't remember having done later on. She begins to think that the murderer is possibly after her which sets her even more on edge. And from there everything really seems to spiral out of her control. I was of two minds reading this book which is why it is almost so hard to share my thoughts on it. For a good portion of the book, I was just so completely frustrated by Cass and her lack of control with everything. I kept putting the book down and then picking it up five minutes later because I also didn't want to stop reading. It was like a constant tug of war to see what was going to happen next along with the desire to kick the main character so she would do something already. LOL! The only book that I can possibly compare my reading experience to was The Girl on the Train but I liked this one more than I did the other. I did have that same feeling though of just wanting to shake the main character in order to get her to wake up already! I'm going to get slightly spoiler-ey here so just a word of warning if you haven't yet had the chance to read this book - you might want to stop reading. Obviously this book made me feel all of the emotions which led to quite the reading experience! What really made me love this book though was the last quarter of it when Cass started to really stand on her own two feet. This had me cheering inside because this was really what I had been waiting for. It's funny because I feel like I guessed early on a part of what was possibly going on, but I was still so invested in seeing how this book was going to play out. It was a page turner and a reading experience that I won't be forgetting about any time soon! I peeked to see other reader's reactions and it looks like people either loved it or hated it. I can see both opinions because really my emotions were all over the place when reading this one. Ultimately this book will end up being a four star read for me for those reasons alone. Any book that can make me react and feel like this deserves those four stars! Overall this book was a way more intense reading experience than I expected. It was absolutely a great way to end my reading year because this isn't a book that I will be forgetting about any time soon. I am so completely excited to read more by this author! She has a new book coming this year that I'm going to have to get my hands on plus I haven't yet read her first book. Eek! I love when I find new authors with books to look forward to! I can definitely recommend this one - be warned that you aren't going to want to put it down though! I'm still feeling the after effects from finishing this one! Bottom Line: An absolutely thrilling read! Disclosure: I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.

Caught on pretty early but it was still fun to see where it wound up.

This was entertaining but I figured out the reveal too early on. Too predictable; been done before. Her first book Behind Closed Doors was one of the best books I have ever read - creepy, scary and surprising- so this book was a let down. Read behind ClosecDoors for sure.

Sample was the best part. It is downhill after that. Not worth ten bucks. Boring, contrived and often insipent. In between the switching from past to present is mind bogling, it does not work. The ending is abrupt and left me feeling annoyed that i wasted my time.

I struggled with the first half of this book in that it seemed to just drag and drag as we watch Cass disintegrate mentally. I felt she was totally obsessing about a person she had just met being murdered, and her guilt for not stopping to assist this woman she had passed on the road prior to her being murdered. As the story nears the halfway point, the story gently points reader in the correct direction, assuming you have been paying attention. Cass handled herself brilliantly the last quarter of this book, and I found myself cheering for her and wishing she had done way more than what she did! How's that for capturing your interest to read this book? I am glad I pushed myself to keep reading!