The Prisoner by B. A. Paris

 

In the middle of the night newly married Amelie and Ned Hawthorpe are abducted from their home. Their captives keep the couple separated. Amelie is locked in a pitch black room with nothing more than a bare mattress and access to a bathroom for weeks. The kidnappers have demanded a ransom from Ned's wealthy father, however he's refusing to pay. As the days stretch on Amelie is determined to escape.

There is a blistering start to the story as we are instantly in the grips of the kidnapping. You feel the tension and the terror as Amelie awakes in the middle of the night and describes what is happening. Your interest is then immediately piqued by a couple of comments from Amelie. Her thought processes are "Grab the knife" which is hidden under her pillow and "I can outwit him; I've done it before". I needed to know why Amelie was sleeping with a knife under her pillow and what exactly she meant by having outwitted him before.

The pace of the opening doesn't let up until we are catapulted approximately four years into the past. Chapters then alternate between the terror of Amelie's captivity and her desperate attempts to escape with how she ended up alone in London at the age of sixteen. We learn that orphaned Amelie, living in hostels or on the streets was befriended by Carolyn who took her under her wing. 

Thanks to the support of Carolyn and a couple of her friends Amelie is able to get her life back on track and eventually gets a job working for Ned Hawthorpe at his magazine. When Ned whisks her off to Los Angeles and offers her a business deal Amelie is a little awe struck but convinced she is fully in control, little does she realise the nightmare is about to begin - in more ways than one.

On more than one occasion I was convinced I knew where the story was going, only to have the rug pulled out from under me. It's fantastic when a thriller writer keeps you guessing. Up to the two-thirds mark this story had all the hallmarks of a superb thriller, then there was the introduction of a slightly "fairy-tale" element which spoilt the story for me. I fully appreciate this element was necessary for the revelations in the conclusion, I just wonder if those revelations could have been handled differently. Apologies if that sounds a little vague, trying to ensure my review is spoiler free.

The Prisoner by B. A. Paris will be published on 3rd November 2022 in hardback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and Hodder Books for a review copy.