The Breakdown

Product Information

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? But, I decided to take a more cautionary approach, concerned that the book might suffer from the dreaded ‘second book hangover’. The concept is not original, and has been done often enough and notoriously enough, its format has gone down in pop culture history. However, the author did a fine job of modernizing a classic and ever effective plotline.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and B.A. Paris for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

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. The main character in The Breakdown is Cass Anderson. She’s spooked by something she saw driving in the woods while going home– and now that woman is dead and she can’t get it out of her mind. Now things are getting weird, and she’s not sure who it is that is calling her at night. Is it the ghost of the woman who died– or someone else entirely? B.A. Paris does it again with The Breakdown. If you read, Behind Closed Doors, you know that Paris has both hands tightly on the wheel taking you on some mighty slippery slopes. This one proves, in another go-round, that she has an uncanny knowledge of what makes those marbles roll and spin in staccato motion. As the character of Cass becomes unglued, you feel the trigger of instability happening a bit too close.

B.A. Paris is an author of suspense novels. She grew up in England but has moved to and spent most of her grown life in France. In the past, she was worked in finance and also as a teacher. She has five daughters. She has written two books, Behind Closed Doors and The Breakdown, both of which have been published by St. Martin’s Press. She is a New York Times and USA Today best selling author for her novel Behind Closed Doors. Cass starts to think someone is watching the house, that someone has been in the house. When she goes shopping and is leaving for home she can't find her car. She KNOWS where she parked, so it must have been stolen. Cass and the parking attendant look everywhere, on all the different floors only to eventually find her car..... Cass is literally having a mental breakdown after the murder of a local woman is discovered…a woman she could possibly have helped.

The other major theme is dementia. What a horrible realization it must be to discover you are, for all intents and purposes, losing your mind. If this insidious disease runs in your family, any tiny misplaced item or forgotten appointment could trigger alarm bells. Anyone who has read the runaway hit ‘Behind Closed Doors’, has probably been looking forward, with great anticipation, to the second novel by this author. Expectations were high, and the excitement about the book was palpable. That is until the next morning, when she wakes to hear that a woman was killed in her car last night on the same road. Her mind is spinning. Could it be the same woman who she came across? Should she have stopped? Was the killing personal? Or is there a maniacal killer on the loose! 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. Vira bruscamente no sentido do atalho, e... após uns quantos percalços mais ou menos aterradores, eis que Cass chega a casa sem mazelas!