Hey there, bookworms! The weekend is almost here and I figured while I still feel slightly awake, I’d get to a book review because I’ve mentioned in numerous prior posts.. they’re stacking up. What can I say? My day job involves writing all day, so once I get home, it’s been a bit rarer that I sit on the computer and write. It’s terrible because I have this blog I love to update and I have my book I haven’t added to in.. two months now? Perhaps? Bottom line, I need to get back into the swing of things Isn’t that always the case.
Anyway, I’m still eyeballs deep in all things Driven. I’m still only three books in, so I’ll be on a cloud of Colton Donovan (and Casey Deidrick.. the guy who plays him in the Passionflix adaptation) until further notice, but I have to take a breather so I can get to these backlogged books for you! Now, I’m going to stop my blabbing and do just that… right now!
Not only am I taking a rest from my romance-induced haze, but the book I’m reviewing tonight is the furthest thing from a romance I’ve read in a while. Let’s talk about The Breakdown by B.A. Paris.
Let me start by saying I was a HUGE fan of her first book, Behind Closed Doors. It was creepy, full of suspense, and just downright unnerving. I devoured it, and then was lucky enough to get a signed ARC of The Breakdown at Book Expo 2017. Unfortunately, I got bogged down as usual and didn’t get a chance to read it until recently.
“Cass is having a hard time since the night she saw the car in the woods, on the winding rural road, in the middle of a downpour, with the woman sitting inside—the woman who was killed. She’s been trying to put the crime out of her mind; what could she have done, really? It’s a dangerous road to be on in the middle of a storm. Her husband would be furious if he knew she’d broken her promise not to take that shortcut home. And she probably would only have been hurt herself if she’d stopped.
But since then, she’s been forgetting every little thing: where she left the car, if she took her pills, the alarm code, why she ordered a pram when she doesn’t have a baby.
The only thing she can’t forget is that woman, the woman she might have saved, and the terrible nagging guilt.
Or the silent calls she’s receiving, or the feeling that someone’s watching her…”
I wanted to love this book, and on some level, I did, but The Breakdown wasn’t as good as Behind Closed Doors. I understand that Cass feels like she’s losing her mind, and because of the murder hitting too close to home for her, it becomes a slow burn inside her brain to try to figure it all out, but after a while, it got a bit repetitive. Something in the house is out of place, she forgot where she parked the car, she flakes on plans or winds up clotheslined by them because she’s forgotten, and it all builds up until paranoia gets the best of her, and her husband Matthew has her medicated.
I can’t really elaborate too much on the characters and my feelings towards them because it would spoil everything about the plot, so all I’ll say, is that once the ball starts rolling, and I hit that peak before the downfall of the unraveling mystery, I had to applaud the heck out of Cass. For a woman who spent most of this book afraid of her own shadow, or so unresponsive due to pills, watching her come to the realizations as to the strange events surrounding her, and then witnessing her pull herself together and light the match that starts the fire that becomes everyone’s undoing was totally kick ass. I had such respect for her when all the puzzle pieces started falling into place and she began strategizing. I just wish everything leading up to those moments were more engrossing. a small part of me had already checked out mentally, so I wasn’t screaming with excitement, but it was still a cool moment.
Bottom line, you can’t go wrong with a B.A. Paris thriller. She writes some dark and twisted tales that seems tough to accomplish because I haven’t come across many other suspense/dark novels that lure me in the way hers do. Even with its bumps in the road, The Breakdown is still highly worth the read!
Until next time, guys.. happy reading!
My Final Rating: three out of five stars
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