Cass seems to have it all—a loving husband, a great job (go ahead girl, a plus in this day and age), and good friends. One night in the middle of a rainstorm, she takes a shortcut home through the woods (I am seeing Little Red Riding Hood here) despite her husband’s warnings not to. When she’s nearly home she spots a woman sitting in a car on the side of the road.
You would think that being a woman herself she would stop and make sure everything is on the up and up, but does she? Heck no! She assumes the woman must already be waiting for help, (and well all know what the word assume says to you) and Cass decides it would be better to go straight home and call the police from there. GREAT plan… IF she remembered to follow through!
The next morning, Cass is devastated to find out that the woman she saw in the car was murdered. (She must be rationalizing that the woman HAD to be ok when she drove by, right? And maybe this was all a clever plot for the killer to kill Cass as well, so she really SHOULDN’T have stopped, right?) Cass is so distraught that she can’t even admit to her husband that she took the shortcut against his request. She becomes consumed by thoughts of a killer laying in wait for her.
Cass becomes convinced she’s being watched. She starts getting strange phone calls. She starts falling apart and forgetting things. She starts taking anxiety pills to calm her down, but they leave her in a drugged stupor, much to her husband’s dismay.
Why has she become so fixated on the murder of a woman she didn’t know? Is she doomed to be a paranoid recluse all from a path she shouldn’t have taken? Is she going to become an unreliable pill-popping woman, destined to lose her husband as well?
The Breakdown took a while to build up its tension, but when it does, hang on to your hat! The plot takes a huge twist and you can’t help but hang on for the wild mouse ride to the end.
This is the second book I have read by B.A. Paris, and I would not hesitate to pick up another novel written by him in the future! Go ahead, jump in the car and see what happens when you read The Breakdown.
This was a 4.5 out of 5 stars read for me!
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher and B.A. Paris for the opportunity to read and review this thrilling novel!
Oceans of Books 