The story follows two time lines. The present where Amelie has been kidnapped along with her husband Ned and is trying to escape. The second time line explores her past. Her story starts from the death of her father leading her to become homeless to her landing a high-flying job and meeting her husband.

Its a relatively quick book to read with lots of short, punchy chapters. The kidnapping story line was about the perfect length, if it had been longer I would have started to get bored. I enjoyed the book however I did wish Amelies past life and backstory had been explored more.

This is the first B.A. Paris book I have read and it's not going to be the last! I found the writing to be enormously addictive and picked it up whenever I had a spare minute. Luckily the chapters were short and very easy to read so this meant that I could pick it up between doing other things to gain the next bit of the story!
I found the characters easy to like/dislike and care for or be concerned about what they were doing. The story moved between the timelines easily showing us what was happening now and what had lead up to this point also.
I'm really hoping the author will revisit the remaining characters in the future so I can have resolution to those small area's which are still making me wonder what happened and what did I miss but maybe I just need to re-read the book or the ending again to figure those answers out?!

The Prisoner B A Paris


3 stars

I enjoyed reading this book and like any good thriller I wanted to know what happens at the end but the whole plot just seemed very far-fetched to me.

Amelie’s father has just died and at 17 she is left with nothing. She travels to London where she is sleeping rough. One day she is sat in a café where she is trying to eke out a cup of coffee when a lady comes in and when she leaves some of her muffin, Amelie is desperate to finish it for her. This lady, Caroline, looks sad so Amelie follows her home to check she is okay. A few days later Caroline returns to the café, she had seen Amelie following her and is intrigued. After a few minutes of conversation she offers Amelie a job as a live-in housekeeper and cook. It seemed incredibly lucky for Amelie to be offered this opportunity after such a short acquaintance.

Amelie meets up with Caroline’s friends one of whom works for Exclusives magazine, Amelie gets a job there and meets the owner Ned Hunter. She is offered a job with the magazine despite having no relevant qualifications. She is working in order to save up to pay for her Law degree, an ambition she has had for a long time, When Ned offers her an arranged marriage in exchange for a large amount of money which will cover her fees, Amelie cannot say no.


Suddenly Ned and her are kidnapped and imprisoned in separate rooms. This is where, for me, the story became a bit contrived. I did not really understand the motives behind the kidnapping just as I did not see why the arranged marriage which was meant to be for one month only really benefited Ned.

Finally I found the ending quite disappointing so although it was worth reading it will not stay long in my memory.

Karen Deborah
Reviewer for Net galley

Pros:
- Quick, fast-paced read
- Twisty and thrilling from the very beginning
- Dual timelines (past and present)
- Dramatic
- Action-packed

Cons:
- Very little character development
- Too many characters
- Overly complicated ending
- Feeling of detachment from our protagonist
- Far-fetched

The Prisoner by B A Paris
I have read other books by this author and I must admit that this is my least favourite. I did not find I could believe in Amelie, the main character. The fact that she arrived in London at 17 and then found herself working as a live in housekeeper for a wealthy business woman just because she asked her for a blueberry muffin did not convince me. I was also amazed at how quickly she became a part of this well-heeled life.
The sections where she is held captive do not convince and the twist about one of the main characters I predicted very early on in the novel. I did not really invest in any of the characters and therefore was not really interested in what they did.
My thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for a copy in return for an honest review but I am sorry this book was not for me.

Brilliant! This is my second book by the author and by far my favourite.

I love the drama and suspense, the main character is likeable and complex which kept my interest, the plot is fast paced and there were enough twists to keep me guessing.

A great storyline of love, friendship, abuse, justice and kidnap! Easy to read but not to forget!

I am really sorry to say that I struggled with this book. I just didn't connect with it, and it was not a good read for me.

I'm a huge fan of BA Paris - you know you're in for a twisted thriller when you spy her books.
I devoured The Prisoner in one sitting and didn't see the twists coming which made for a fun read.
4 Stars,

I enjoyed this book. Was gripping and thrilling.
5*****
Kept me guessing to the end.was a amazing read if you like psychological thriller

I enjoyed this as a quick-read thriller but feel it's certainly not one of the best of the author's books. I usually love B.A. Paris and look forward to a new book coming out. The plot is quite unbelievable at times but that's ok; you can go along with it. However, I felt it badly needed to be edited more. A lot of information is given in monologues or letters and sometimes too much comes at once to try to resolve parts of the plot. The first half of the book is the strongest. Having said that, I did keep reading to find out what happened. The peripheral characters were actually more interesting and I enjoyed those.

BA Paris has done it again! I swear anytime I read their work it just gets better and better. I devoured this book, like always and like always it was a thrilling and second guessing read. I cannot recommend it enough!

I have read a few books from this author, and they have always been really good.
I was a bit dubious about reading this one, because the reviews aren't that great, and although it's probably not my favourite book from this author, I still really enjoyed it, and would recommend it.

The first 50-60% I really enjoyed - I kept trying to work out who was who for real, and enjoyed the storyline.
It slowed down for me a little at this point, but then picked up again towards the end.
I was a little disappointed in the ending as it seemed quite rushed, but it did tie up any loose ends from the book.
Overall an enjoyable book, and hasn't put me off reading any future books from this author.

B. A. Paris’ first novel, ‘Behind Closed Doors’, was a really engaging read. Since then, nothing she’s written has been as powerful or felt as true. Unfortunately, her latest book ‘The Prisoner’ reinforces this view. Put bluntly, it is her worst yet and I doubt that I’ll be looking to read any more of her thrillers.
Orphan Amelie finds herself befriended by some kind women and, through them, becomes entangled in a fake marriage to a very rich man. She and her husband of a few days are kidnapped and held to ransom by which time she has discovered that he is a vicious narcissist who will stop at nothing to protect his reputation.
About half of the novel focuses on her time in captivity. Just as it would be very boring to be held in a pitch-black room for days on end, so it is that this section of the novel is very dull indeed. And when Amelie is let free and begins her own detective work, the narrative lapses into twists and turns that are preposterous rather than exhilarating. It was simply impossible to suspend my disbelief.
In the final pages we are told the story all over again from another perspective. Yawn. All in all, a waste of my ‘reading time’.
My thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

I could not get into this book at all, I’m sorry to say. I haven’t read anything by this author before, and I doubt if I will again.
It’s yet another split time-line tale, and I have had enough of this trope. It’s great when it’s done well, but when it’s not, it is just really irritating and distracting.
I did not like the characters, and I really didn’t care about the reasons behind the kidnap. Implausible in the extreme, I’m not able to suspend disbelief to the level that this book calls for.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

This book started off slowly for me. I was at the point of putting it down. Don’t. I continued and the storyline got more engrossing. The author started pulling the story together and I found myself invested in the outcome. A woman locked in a pitch black room not knowing why she is there or what has happened to her husband. A thoroughly dislikable chap.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to see an ARC.

Short, quick chapters filled with white-knuckled suspense as the kidnapping takes place! Who is behind the kidnapping? And why? What will happen if the ransom isn't met?

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!

I was a bit nervous when I started reading this as the reviews I've read have not been great, but I'm glad I ignored them because I LOVED it.

You do have to suspend reality as the plot is not believable in the slightest, but it is so very entertaining. The pacing is really good and I loved the past and present narratives. Just as one was getting exciting we would switch timelines and I couldn't read fast enough! I've read books by B A Paris before and I really like her writing style. The world building was great and I could vividly picture the locations described in the book.

The one thing that stopped this from being an easy 5 star read for me was that I felt a bit let down by the ending. It was a bit abrupt and I felt like such an exciting and interesting story deserved a better conclusion. Also on a petty note, the book is British but for some reason the dates in the book had the American format and that wound me up a bit!

Overall I would absolutely recommend the book as it was exciting to read and I really struggled to put it down.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

This is my first book with this author and I’m sorry to say it but I wasn’t impressed.
I didn’t warm to any of the characters. I found it far fetched and a bit like a soap opera.
The girl was irritating.

BA Paris’ The Dilemma is one of my favourite books but this? Gosh! I did not like this at all! The senseless treatment of women and their pain as an expendable plot device was awful. And the ending! So tedious and long-winded! I am really sorry to be writing this as I really like the author’s other books. But this one, I am sorry to say was not good. The main character was unlikeable and implausible and the rest of it was…. far fetched and packed full of cliches. I am honestly really surprised about this because, as I said, I love the author’s other work. If this book had been written by another author I likely would have given it 2/5 but knowing it came from BA Paris - who I expected a lot more from - I am sadly proceeding with 1/5. Thank you to the publisher for the advance copy and apologies for the rating but I want to be honest. I wanted to love this! I went into if hopeful and persevered till the end but, alas… it unfortunately did not deliver.

First off let me say that the other books I have read by this author have all been 4 stars and I have really enjoyed them. So much so that B.A Paris is fast becoming an auto buy author for me. So, was this as good as I hoped? Yes and no.
This is a story told in dual timelines, which has become something of a bug bear of mine in recent times, as I find it be an overused trope which just wastes your time with too much useless backstory.
This however, I found worked well! It helped the story develop and added depth with no real filler.
The plot was packed with tension that kept building and building and I was having a great time.
Then things started to go a little wrong for me.
One thing I noticed that happened a couple of times was some Americanisms had started to appear. For example saying cart instead of trolley and writing the day month and year the American way. As this story is set in England that really puzzled me and through me off a little.
Then as things develop I found the last 30% to be way too convoluted and I started to lose interest. It really felt to lose momentum and became an over the top soap opera and by the end I felt disappointed as this had started off so strong then just completely unravelled. Unfortunately this is not one of my favourites by the author.
I would recommend this however as others may find the ending to be enjoyable.