How many people, for example, could remain unaffected by people threatening to burn their house down with their family inside it or hoping their kids die of cancer? Barnes tells of one world-renowned coach wondering publicly if he had been involved in match-fixing. Of high-ranking French officials storming into his dressing room to yell at him. Of routinely being told he was useless by complete strangers. “I’ve never headbutted, punched, screamed or shouted yet it’s me who gets accused of ruining games,” writes Barnes, pointedly.

Naturally this sequence of events does not help Cass’ mental state. Why didn’t she help? What if the murderer is after her next? And why does she keep getting these silent phone calls, only when her husband isn’t home? Playing on real fears and putting the reader inside the mind of a person living through those scenarios allows us to feel their confusion, experience their doubt, and understand their anguish. But, of course, we all know, there is something truly ominous brewing, and it is not clear who can be trusted, even Cass- or especially Cass.It’s hard to believe that the old appliances and the murder weapon would be hidden in the shed. Hello. Everyone knows you don’t leave incriminating evidence around. Maybe I’m jaded, suspicious by nature or too cynical because it didn’t take much guesswork for me to figure out what was going on; I'm talking within the first few chapters. It's not even worth getting into the nitty-gritty of the plot here, in the off chance I might spoil it for someone else. What it all boils down to is preference and subjectively what makes a story great in your eyes; unfortunately for me, this wasn’t my cup of tea. I can't say too much about the characters as I really do not want to risk giving anything away. They were all realistic and strong and I became completely invested in each of them. Your given the storyline from the perspectives of Celeste, Jayne, Dr Stephens and Adele which worked out perfectly as you could see what was going on from each of their perspectives and it made you also question each of them. I won't say anymore at the risk of dropping any spoilers. Needless to say the characters worked perfectly with this absolutely gripping unputdownable psychological thriller. The next morning, Cass discovers that this woman was murdered that evening, on that dark wooded road. For fear of being judged, Cass told no one that she saw this young woman, not even her husband Matthew. This woman’s name was Jane, and it turns out that Cass knew her. And that triggers a chain of events, leading Cass to fear for her own life. She becomes scared, forgetful, paranoid and begins to show signs of early onset dementia, which what her mother passed away from.

I believe if 'you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all,' so I thought Ms. Paris had a great idea for a storyline. I can't go into details, without spoilers, but she added a new twist I've not seen used before that I found quite clever, and like her previous novel, "The Breakdown" was also a very fast read.For a story that started so promisingly, I felt it dragged in the middle. What was meant to show the building fear and confusion started to just feel redundant. There were several parts of the storyline that beggared belief. Unlike a lot of mysteries, I started having a strong inkling of who the guilty party was early on. And I was proved somewhat right, although the author threw in a few twists I didn't see coming. If you love a story featuring an unreliable narrator, you will find plenty of material to enjoy in THE BREAKDOWN. Cass is the ultimate unreliable narrator, unable to trust even her own understanding of the events unfolding around her—and B.A. Paris does a great job crafting a believable explanation for Cass' memory loss, making her predicament feel authentic and sympathetic to the reader. It bothered me that Cass didn't take any responsibility for her own health or wellbeing. She seems content to turn over too many decisions to Matthew. Where’s my car? There’s a ridiculous scene in a parking garage, ridiculous because it is a logistical mess. I had to reread the scene many times and in the end it still didn’t make sense. Where oh where did the editor go? Smart, cunning and super conniving, every one of these characters is harboring secrets and anything anyone says or does has a double meaning. Each of them knew that everyone, including themselves were hiding secrets and lying to protect those secrets. But these secrets were festering and they needed to dig them up and come clean.

A car accident leads to a cesarean delivery that Celeste cannot even remember. She doesn't remember the accident. She doesn't remember giving birth to baby Violet. She doesn't even understand what happened to Violet soon after her birth. Suffering from major memory loss, Celeste is in a vacuum of darkness. This book grabs you at the start. Is there anyone who hasn't been deathly afraid driving through a pounding rainstorm, hands gripping the wheel? And it's totally understandable that Cass doesn't stop when she comes across a car stopped along the side of the road, given the location, worries that it could be trap and the miserable weather. But the guilt compounds the next morning when she learns the woman in the car was later murdered. She keeps quiet, not telling either her husband or friends about what she did (or rather didn't do) for various reasons. And on top of the guilt is the worry about her faltering memory. Her mom died of early onset Alzheimer's at an age just 10 years above Cass’s own. TW: mention of child death, kidnap, suicide attempt, alcoholism, brief mention of adult/minor relationship A frighteningly cool portrait of a serious sadist, Behind Closed Doors is a gripping, claustrophobia-inducing thriller... Read at the risk of running from every handsome British lawyer who crosses your path.” — Romantic TimesOK, I won’t,” I say hastily, folding myself onto the driver’s seat and dropping my bag onto the seat next to me. Consumed by terrifying thoughts, Cass is blanketed in paranoia. She begins to hear unaccustomed sounds within her house, misplacement of items, phantom phone calls, and the dreaded presence of someone watching her. Her greatest fear seems to be coming true. Her mother was diagnosed at the young age of forty-four with early on-set dementia. Is this what awaits Cass or something far more menacing? Cass is forgetting quite a lot of things these days. Riddled with guilt, self-doubt, and untold truths, her mind begins to slip. Then the telephone calls begin, with no one speaking but with an air of menace about them. Has someone been in the house? Why can't she remember anything? The paranoia begins to eat her alive, and she fears she is going mad. Her wild ravings and accusations have eroded her credibility with her husband, her friends, and the police. Cass is convinced the killer of the woman in the car is after her now.