Amazon/ Barnes & Nobles/Indiebound

Excerpt:

Taken from Amazon Product Detail Page:

Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace. He has looks and wealth; she has charm and elegance. He’s a dedicated attorney who has never lost a case; she is a flawless homemaker, a masterful gardener and cook, and dotes on her disabled younger sister. Though they are still newlyweds, they seem to have it all. You might not want to like them, but you do. You’re hopelessly charmed by the ease and comfort of their home, by the graciousness of the dinner parties they throw. You’d like to get to know Grace better.

But it’s difficult, because you realize Jack and Grace are inseparable.

Some might call this true love. Others might wonder why Grace never answers the phone. Or why she can never meet for coffee, even though she doesn’t work. How she can cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim. Or why she never seems to take anything with her when she leaves the house, not even a pen. Or why there are such high-security metal shutters on all the downstairs windows.

Some might wonder what’s really going on once the dinner party is over, and the front door has closed.

From bestselling author B. A. Paris comes the gripping thriller and international phenomenon Behind Closed Doors.

Book Trailer:

Review:

Disclaimer: The fact that I received a complimentary copy of this book from the wonderful people from Wunderkind PR (who have impeccable taste in books) has no bearing whatsoever on the way I evaluate books or review them. My feelings about this book are entirely my own!

Towards the beginning, I kept asking myself…”Everything seems a little too perfect..” Have you ever read one of those books, where you exasperatingly think to yourself, or  mutter to yourself in a snarky fashion…”Could anything be more saccharine and cheesy?” How about some of those romance books that seemed to lack any genuine development or intrigue; the ones that are so suspiciously “perfect” that it prompts the question of… there has to be something weird or off “behind closed doors.”

While reading the book, I humorously added on my own subtitle: “Fifty Shades of Grey: The True Story,” the type of book that realistically tears apart the silly trope of the naive, insecure woman being beguiled by a disgustingly rich, smarmy guy…and how perfect their romance is…Basically, this thriller fills-in-the-blanks for us cynical people, who question and probe every seemingly perfect surface-layer of everything and anything.

Aptly-titled, and written with wonderful, enthralling, sometimes enervating suspense, B.A. Paris’ suspense thriller novel about that seemingly quaint, perfect couple, where subversive secrets are lurking beyond the superficial visage, is the exact type of book that finishes the thread of a thought…”What if this perfect scene of romance I’m seeing isn’t what it seems…you know..behind closed doors?”

Beginning as an idyllic facade, the book unravels into a sinister, nail-biting, frightening novel, a survival story about one woman enduring the scary sociopath nature of her husband, who is so convincingly duplicitous as to fool everyone but her. And that is the genius of this novel, taking full advantage of  dramatic irony, to spin something as devilishly clever and tense as Shakespeare’s Othello (one of the first examples of a psychological thriller).

Towards the end, while being satisfying given what transpires in the pages of this book, I was a little disappointed by the book’s ending, and wanted something a bit more ambiguous…Also, some parts didn’t quite cohere well together, meaning that there were parts where I felt a different circumstance or plot development may have improved the suspense level of certain segments. One of the biggest strengths, for me, was the fact I ended up really liking the heroine, when I usually dislike the vast majority of characters in these types of books, e.g. The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl  (fantastic, genius books with flawed characters, but not ones you’re always cheering on, but they’re real and very interesting)

It is certainly a page-turner,  interesting, frightening, unnerving piece of fiction that I recommend for fans of psychological thrillers, ones that want something to make any and all interminable stretches of time more than just bearable…but extremely worthwhile..That is the mark of a brilliant read!  Of course, you might also find yourself speaking carefully, but passionately to a friend or colleague, in an effort to spark some discussion or encourage them to read it. It is definitely one of those types of books. I was always anticipating my downtime during work or my commutes in order to keep digging at what will ultimately happen to the heroine in this book.