Day: July 12, 2017

Behind Closed Doors

Author: B.A. Paris
293 pages in Hardback

Published: August 9, 2016
Dates Read: July 1-7, 2017
Reviewed By: Jessica

My Rating: 5 Stars

Description from Amazon:

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.

My Review:

Things are not always how they appear and we never truly know what goes on with another couple behind their closed doors…

Grace meets Jack and he is perfect. He even has no issue that Grace has a sister with Down’s Syndrome and that down the road she will have to care for her. Her friends also like Jack. Very quickly Jack and Grace become engaged and marry. But from the moment they say ‘I do’ he does a complete 180 and very quickly Grace’s life becomes a living nightmare.

That is really all I want to say about the premise of Behind Closed Doors. If you say too much, you will give something away.  This is a domestic abuse nightmare and I was pulled in from the beginning of the novel. Behind Closed Doors chapters flip between the past and the present and it all comes together in the conclusion.

Warning:  This will not be a book for everyone.  The mental abuse that Grace experiences is horrific and it may be too much for some readers.  Discretion is heavily advised on this novel.  There is abuse that involves an animal that we find out after the fact.  There is not much physical violence, but Behind Closed Doors really shows how bad mental abuse can be.

Behind Closed Doors will disturb you and it made me thankful for my husband.  I told him a couple of times “I’m glad you aren’t a psycho!” while I was reading this.  His answer: “Not that you know of…” (In an evil sounding voice of course… LOL) It might even affect your dreams, it did with mine.

I was pulled into this story from the beginning and it was a quick read for me. It only took me seven days to read. As I was reading, I often wondered how Grace would find a way to get away, especially when she discovers Jack’s true intentions. It really seemed to me that there was no way out. And if she did somehow get away, how will Jack get what he deserves?

Behind Closed Doors shows how a person who is stuck in a domestic violence situation realizes they need to get away, but faces that big question of “how?” and “what could happen if I try to get away and fail?”

And the ending: I loved it!

B.A. Paris, thank you for a brilliant debut, and I am currently reading your second novel The Breakdown to be released July 18th here in the US.

Thank you to Saint Martin’s Press for providing me a copy of Behind Closed Doors.