The Prisoner: The bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club pick for 2023

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This was so good at first! I was all in! With short chapters, alternating between the past and the present, I was hooked. Amelie's story was intriguing and I couldn't help but gasp a few times at what was happening.

The Prisoner by B.A. Paris | Waterstones The Prisoner by B.A. Paris | Waterstones

B.A. Paris knows how to build suspense in an unforgettable way.” — Tarryn Fisher, New York Times bestselling author of The Wrong Family For want of another adjective I would call this a professional piece of work, a many multi-layered mystery-thriller that really caught my attention, that was genuinely interesting and had me thinking throughout, even though it does stretch credibility in places. The book also takes a thought provoking look at the power of brands and how they could navigate #MeToo moments with their ambassadors and/or representatives.. Another very fine read from the 2023 Richard & Judy Book Club. An easy 8 out of 12, Four Star read. 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: 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 Ned Hawthorne.Psychological thrillers don’t get any better than B.A. Paris’ scorching The Therapist, one of those books that make you want to draw the blinds to make sure nobody’s peeking inside."— Providence Journal This is my 6th BA Paris novel and also my least favourite. Yes, it ranks below the much-panned The Dilemma. I don't think The Prisoner is slow, boring or badly written at all. I actually started out liking it so imagine my own horror when I realised it would be a 1-star read for me. 1 stars and BA Paris just don't exist in the same world... until now.

The Prisoner: The bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club pick for 2023 The Prisoner: The bestselling Richard and Judy Book Club pick for

I will say, however, that all in all, this was one of B.A. Paris' stronger novels, (my favorite still being her first, Behind Closed Doors). i will say that i do enjoy “taken captive” stories, so even though the narrative is repetitive and the events themselves wholly unrealistic, i still really enjoyed the concept. and i loved the short chapters! for me, mystery/thrillers have to have short chapters to keep my attention, so im very grateful for that. A harrowing Cinderella thriller featuring an underestimated heroine in ruthless survivor Amelie, whose sharp-edged narrative keeps the suspense churning and offers a counterweight to the malignant entitlement of Hawthorpe’s world."— Booklist However, the second half of the book won me over, as the pace increases significantly due to the shorter chapters, and the answers I needed were discovered.In the present, Amelie and her wealthy husband Ned have been kidnapped and held for ransom. Admittedly, I don’t enjoy captivity stories. It’s always been hit or miss with B.A. Paris’s books. This one for me was a hit. I loved it and the emotional rollercoaster it put me through. The ending I was like eh but this was an exciting, tense, read. It definitely had me on the edge of my seat as I stayed up late to finish it. As I got further in, however, the story started to get a little outlandish, and disbelief set in. You all know I'm not good at suspending disbelief, lol, and well, that was that. Then when I got to the end. Waah waah. In the Past, Amelie, orphaned at 16, naive and gullible, takes herself to London after her Papa’s death, and manages to get herself a job as a live-in housekeeper/cook after following a woman home from a coffee shop. (Really?)

The Prisoner - Macmillan The Prisoner - Macmillan

This was a solid 3-4 stars until the wheels fell off at the end, when the reader is subjected to a confession monologue and a very long-winded explanation of who, what, where, and why. My eyes started to glaze over until they popped open at the mention of a name and I had no idea who this person was, even though they were pivotal to the reveal. Hmm….I had both the audio & e-book copy of the book and I almost did a kindle search for the name but couldn’t muster enough interest to bother with it. 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. 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. The Circle evokes the chills of 'The Stepford Wives.' A well-crafted psychological thriller."— Booklist The first half of this book was super compelling, but the rest went on longer than it probably needed to. It felt like some parts were spoon-fed to the reader.In the end, this story didn't work for me. The plot holes were hard to overlook, too much explaining was going on and the boring characters made me feel like the prisoner. Amelie has been a survivor from day one. After losing her parents, she has made a life for herself in London with help from Carolyn Blakely a kind woman who took her in. Shortly after marrying billionaire, Jed Hawthorne, she is kidnapped and held in a dark room. Who has kidnapped her and why does she feel safter there in that dark room than with her husband? Pretty bad when you feel better being held captive. However, the storytelling, the one-dimensional characters and the implausibility let it down and it became a struggle to finish. Captivated - absolutely not. No question, Amelie has had a rough life. Orphaned at the age of 17, she was rescued off the streets by a woman who would give her a job, a home and friendship. But after moving on to a new job with tycoon Ned Hawthorpe, her life once again is about to spin out of control.

The Prisoner — B.A. Paris The Prisoner — B.A. Paris

Loved the first half of the book! But the ending just came apart at the seams. Endless explanation as to why and how the kidnapping happened. To the point I just wanted to scream “enough already”! Just too much! Then the narrative alternates between the present, which includes Amelie being held hostage reflecting on her situation, what could have lead her here and how she can get out of it, and the past, which fills the Reader in on Amelie's life from the time her father died, up to the present. Unfortunately by the time Amelie pieced everything together and finally unearthed the 'Who, What, Where, Why' of everything I was already OVER IT! Some of the scenarios with Amelie, including her Vegas trip, seemed too far-fetched and unrealistic. To say the explanation fell short and was far from believable and I was very disappointed would definitely be an understatement! Overall, it just seemed like everything about this one was just all thrown together in a hurry, hoping for the best. Ironically, I did actually feel like this read a bit long at multiple points too. I just had an overwhelming feeling of frustration upon completing this, and I believe tenured thriller/suspense enthusiasts will agree with me on this one. That being said, I believe new readers of the genre might receive this one differently. Anything's possible! This was my least favorite of her novels, by far and it almost felt like a different person had written it, especially towards the end. Everything considered, with this being my second bad experience with this author, I'm probably done reading her work, unfortunately. All the male characters were practically indistinguishable from one another. I was almost at the end and one of them was mentioned and I thought, who the hell is that? It took me completely out of the story. I'm still confused about who he was and he played a pivotal role in the plot.There's zero character development so I never once felt emotionally attached to anyone and couldn't care less what happened to all of them. The protagonist is Poor You, the antagonist is So Evil, everyone else is unmemorable and exist just to be plot devices. While I enjoyed the book, I didn't quite love it. I found it to be entertaining and was invested in it all the way to the end. Amelie was a character to root for which I did. Like other reviewers, I found the ending to be what dragged my rating down. The ending lost a little of what made me enjoy the book in the beginning. The book was a solid 4 for me going into the ending. After her father’s death, Amelie tries to start over in France. There she makes a few friends who get her set up including the handsome and wealthy Ned Hawthorne. After a shotgun wedding, broken promise, a murder or two and a car ride later, Amelie wakes up in total darkness. Her world begins to crumble around her as she realizes that she has been kidnapped. Who has done this to her and why?