The Prisoner by B.A. Paris

⭐️⭐️
.ePUB, 267 pages
Expected Publication: 01 Nov 2022
By: St. Martin's Press
Amazon | Goodreads

About The Book:
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 Jed Hawthorne. But then, Amelie wakes up in a pitch-black room, not knowing where she is. Why has she been taken? Who are her mysterious captors? And why does she soon feel safer here, imprisoned, than she had begun to feel with her husband Ned?

My Review:

Oh how I hate writing a bad review...this is my first book by this author and I am sad to say it just wasn't for me. Let's start with some positives...I liked the two timelines of the past and present and what was unusual for me was the fact that I enjoyed the present chapters much more than the past. I found the pacing quicker and of course, the tension of being kidnapped, locked up, and isolated in a completely dark room was nerve-wracking to read, the terror Amelie was feeling was palatable. The past chapters made me have to suspend my belief a little too much for my liking and it wasn't exciting enough to be considered a "popcorn thriller", which I do enjoy.

I didn't like any of the characters in this book at all, I had absolutely no one to cheer on or for. I didn't really care what happened to Amelie or Ned and felt no emotional attachment to them. I found the story to be very repetitive, the same thing over and over again, and this affected the character development. I also found the writing to be a little disjointed, it was as if two different people wrote the book. I figured out the kidnapper almost right away, maybe that was done intentionally, I do not know. This was such a great premise but I found the execution lacking, I think the author tried to make it be too much all at once, and that ending was really disappointing.

Let's end with something positive, I always like to "sandwich" bad reviews...positive-negative-positive. I really liked the short chapters as they made me feel the tension even more and helped with the pacing. The book is pretty short, was a quick read that kept me engaged, and was finished in a single sitting.

Disclosure:
Many thanks to NetGalley, B.A. Paris, and St. Martin's Press for the giving of the ARC.