Review : Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris
Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris
Pages : 304
Genre : Psychological Thriller
Stand alone
My Rating : 3.5/5
About the Book :
Picture this: a dinner party at their perfect home, the conversation and wine flowing. They appear to be in their element while entertaining. And Grace’s friends are eager to reciprocate with lunch the following week. Grace wants to go, but knows she never will. Her friends call—so why doesn’t Grace ever answer the phone? And how can she cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim?
And why are there bars on one of the bedroom windows?
The perfect marriage? Or the perfect lie?
My Thoughts :
Behind Closed Doors is a fast-paced psychological thriller that could also be tagged as horror, as far as I am concerned! I can’t remember the last time a book made me this anxious. I was so ready to be done with this story, I needed to reach the conclusion a.s.a.p.!
I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by the experience. I had read many reviews mentioning the book being creepy, dark, unsettling, so I had some expectations. And for me, the book was all of that. It’s not gruesome, and it’s not full of twists. If you read the summary, you know what it’s about. But everything is in the way the story unfolds, and the more you know about Jack and Grace’s life and history, the scarier things get. In fact, it reminded me a lot of a Criminal Minds episode, but without the investigating part; so if you are into this show, this book might interest you.
There were a few flaws to the story I thought, mostly with the character of Jack : he is too evil, too perfectly balanced with the two sides of his personality, and honestly, no one is this perfectly charming. I get that he is a psychopath, but I would have appreciated a bit more nuances in his evilness, and to see a few more people question his character. I also needed to see a few more flaws and hesitations to make him and the story a bit more believable.
I loved Esther. You’ll have to read it to find out why, since I want to keep this as spoiler-free as possible, but she was a great character with a small, yet important role.
Overall though, this was a successful reading experience. It was scary and gripping, I read it in little more than a day. It made me so nervous! This claustrophobic story isn’t for everyone, but fans of intense psychological thrillers might want to give it a try!
I liked this book a whole lot more than you did. I know what you mean about Esther – a friend and I talked about her after we read the book.
Oh, but I did like it a lot still! Maybe my review didn’t speak to that very well, but a 3.5 rating is still really good since I rarely give more than 4 stars (and have been thinking of moving this one up). It was really gripping, I think the anxiety I felt just made me react strangely to it.