Hopefully the first and only suspense novel you have read – “The Breakdown” by B.A. Paris

Let me begin at the beginning. I did not love “Behind Close Doors” which was B.A. Paris’s previous book. It was fun and that was enough to carry me through to the end. So I was not completely smitten with her writing to begin with.  But all of that said what the hell was this book “The Breakdown”?

To clarify, if you have never read a suspense book before, never seen the movie “Gaslight,” have been living in a cave or have been raised by wolves and have just learned to read, then this may very well be the book for you. And in that case, please enjoy.  However, if you actually enjoy the suspense genre, go and see a movie now and then, and engage in general society then I challenge you to not figure out the twist of this story within 10 pages.  I have laid down a fairly easy gauntlet, I promise you.

The combination of the riddle being so easily solved and how actually unlikable and whiny the main character is makes this book even more disastrous.  Our simpering, pill-popping heroine is just too much to bear and quite frankly I felt at times sympathetic to the alleged stalker who was messing with her sanity.

In sad news, I read the entire book because I was hoping that my initial thought was wrong and perhaps Paris had a different plan – pssst, I was mistakenly hopeful.  As an added insult to reading injury, when the story reveals itself you then get to read a lot of pages about how the evil doer(s) plan unfolds. Just in case you, dear reader, are that stupid and can’t figure it out for yourself.

No, I did not give you a synopsis of this story because well, that seems to be wasted time. But do, watch “Gaslight” – it is a wonderful old movie and really the same story.  On the reading front, if you want to read an interesting suspense novel both Karin Slaughter’s “The Good Daughter” and Ali Land’s “Good Me, Bad Me” are certainly worth your time.

And for the time being, I am wondering if I should challenge myself to read my unread books sitting on countless shelves and surfaces around my house.  But then again, Alice Hoffman has a new book out that may be calling my name…