The Breakdown by B.A. Paris was one of my Page One books! I have heard awesome things about B.A. Paris, so I was pumped. Based on what I’ve heard, this is not one of Paris’ best, but I was still pleased to get my first Paris book.

The Story

The next chilling, propulsive novel from the NYT and USA Today bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors.

Named One of the Most Anticipated Thriller Novels Of 2017 by Bustle!

THE NEW CHILLING, PROPULSIVE NOVEL FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLING BEHIND CLOSED DOORS.

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

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…

You won’t be able to put down B. A. Paris’s The Breakdown, the next chilling, propulsive novel from the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors.

My Thoughts

I’ve mentioned before that I need a book to be logical for me to enjoy it. (There are exceptions for the worlds of magic or fantasy or the like.) When a book takes place in the “real world,” it needs to make sense. If not, I’m just going to get annoyed with people.

The Breakdown started so illogically that I almost put it down. I really did. Cass is driving home one night after an end-of-school party with her fellow teachers. It’s late and she’s tired, so she takes this shortcut to get to her house (and her husband). It’s this road that goes through some woods that apparently is really scary. Oh, and it’s also storming pretty bad. She drives past this car that is pulled over. She also pulls over EXPECTING THE DRIVER OF THE OTHER CAR TO GET OUT OF THEIR CAR AND COME KNOCK ON HER DOOR TO ASK FOR HELP. Really?

Anyway, she makes it home safely. The next morning, however, she finds out that the driver of that car she passed was murdered. Then, she finds out that she actually knew the driver of the other car. This sends her into this psychotic tailspin where she starts medicating to get through her days, quits her job, and just loses control. Seriously, if everyone came unhinged like that if someone they knew tangentially was killed (or died in general), the world would come to a screeching halt.

However, I did end up giving The Breakdown three stars on Goodreads. It started VERY slowly, but then I devoured 50% of it in one night. Part of me just really wanted to be done with it, but the other part of me really wanted to see how it all wrapped up.

Honestly, it’s pretty twisted, which I appreciated. I should have seen it coming based on the twist in Endless Night (yes, that is a spoiler if you’ve read it), but it still caught me off guard. Everyone got their just desserts in the end.

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