Wednesday 28 December 2016

The Breakdown - B.A. Paris



If you can't trust yourself, who can you trust?

It all started that night in the woods.

Cass Anderson didn’t stop to help the woman in the car, and now she’s dead.

Ever since, silent calls have been plaguing Cass and she’s sure someone is watching her.

Consumed by guilt, she’s also starting to forget things. Whether she took her pills, what her house alarm code is – and if the knife in the kitchen really had blood on it.

What did I think?
I was very excited to see another BA Paris book hot on the heels of the fabulous Behind Closed Doors, so no sooner had The Breakdown hit my kindle than I started reading it.  I did wonder if the bar had been set too high with Behind Closed Doors being such an outstanding debut, but I'm delighted to say that I am not disappointed and think that The Breakdown is as good as, if not better than, Behind Closed Doors.

At the beginning, Cass seems like a normal happily married woman with her head screwed on.  Driving home one evening in torrential rain, she takes a short cut home and sees a car pulled into a layby.  Her first reaction is to stop and see if the driver needs some help so she pulls in front of the car, seeing a woman looking at her as she does so.  Sensibly, Cass has second thoughts and considers that this could be a carjacking trick, so when the woman doesn't show any signs of needing help Cass continues her drive home.  The next day the news headlines report that a woman has been murdered.  The same woman that Cass saw the previous night.  As if her guilt wasn't bad enough, she realises that she knew the woman.

Cass then seems to unravel, thinking that the murderer is out to get her when she starts to get sinister but silent phone calls.  She worries that, like her mother, she has early onset dementia and certainly everything that is happening seems to point in that direction. My heart really went out to her when she started to forget things and then when she turns to medication which all but knock her out she became even more vulnerable.  The confusion was oozing out of the pages and I've read enough books to know that nothing is ever quite what it seems, but I would never have imagined the book turning out like it did.

With a conclusion that certainly kicks ass, The Breakdown is a story balanced on a knife edge and one false move could result in an early bath for any of the main characters.  I had to hold myself back from pumping the air and shouting 'Girl Power' as I turned the final pages.  Definitely one I'd recommend reading, The Breakdown is an easy 5 out of 5 rating from me.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:




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