This book was so scary and disturbing! I couldn't stop reading though. It gave me a nightmare the first day I read it, so I quickly finished it on the second.

Share/Like this Review?

If you read only one book this year ... make it this one! It will play havoc with your emotions, make your stomach hurt, break your heart. It will make you angry, and it will make you think ... how well do you know someone close to you?

Jack and Grace have the perfect marriage ... the perfect life. Jack is an attorney who specializes in cases with battered women. Grace was a professional who gave up her job when she married Jack.

He is controlling, manipulative, evil .. as Grace discovers on her wedding night. What began as a love story turns into a living nightmare for her. I think the scariest thing for me is the realization that people like Jack ..and Grace ... actually exist.

The story bounces from the past to the present giving you insight on just how anyone could be vulnerable to a psychopath like Jack.

There are so many twists and turns .... there's no way you can second guess in which direction the author will be taking you. I found myself having to put this book down in order to catch my breath. But then I couldn't help but pick it up again almost immediately.

I highly recommend this book. It's a solid 5 rating.

Many thanks to the author / Harlequin (UK) Limited / NetGalley who provided a digital copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Share/Like this Review?

This is a thrilling, disturbing can't put down book. One of the best written I have read. Not for the squeamish as one of the characters is quite psycho. But the development of the people is so good. I lost sleep for 2 nights having a hard time putting it down. If you like books with interesting people, and thrillers this is for you.

Share/Like this Review?

Ok, now I love a good psycho thriller as good as the next person and I was sorely disappointed in this. Yes, it kept me reading, mainly cause I kept waiting for that twist that made it "breathless", "heart pounding", "chilling", or "simply: astounding". I mean 74% of the nearly 3500 people averaged it a 4* review on Amazon. Could that many readers be wrong? Surely not! So therefore, it must be me!
The characters were flat, I felt like the story was spoon fed to me rather than it actually happening, and what was psychological or thrilling about it? We knew who the bad guy was and why he was the way he was. Nothing surprising at all.
I found it very similar to other books and movies I've read and seen. There was no twisty ending or saving reveal, it simply after attempting (and failing) to build suspense, ended abruptly. Maybe, I've become jaded after reading so many great books but this one was not in any way remarkable. It was not the next "Gone Girl" nor "Girl On The Train". I really think hyping a book like this just makes you that more disappointed when it fails. I mean seriously, have you read a book that was hyped as the next "Harry Potter" and been blown away? No, and I doubt we ever will. That's why these books are so unique. There is nothing out there comparable.
If I'd read this 30 years ago before I'd experienced the thousands of books I've read since, it probably would have rated a bit higher but there was simply nothing that was new nor twisty to this story at all. The only saving grace is I bought it used and can pass it on to someone else who thinks it's going to be the next "it" book based on the reviews.

Share/Like this Review?

Fast paced, sick, twisted and disturbing kinda of book. Main character is a psychopath and very skilled at getting what he wants. This is a twisted story and does have mind games, violence and manipulation throughout so be warned going in. It is a fast cant put down kinda read.

Share/Like this Review?

Chilling and so disturbing that, initially, I was reluctant to continue beyond the first chapter. However, the story grabbed me and then I just couldn't stop myself. It's a tough and stomach-churning subject, even more horrifying because the relationship Grace finds herself in very probably represents so many others in real life. Nonetheless, I'd recommend this one to any reader who enjoys psychological suspense. 4 stars.

Share/Like this Review?

This was a very disturbing novel about a couple who seemed to have the perfect marriage but whose life is really not as it seems. The wife, Grace, had a good life and a good income as a buyer for Harrods in London. But she also has a sister, Millie, with Downs Syndrome who she promises to take care of once Millie turns 18 and leaves the expensive boarding school she attends. So how will Grace be able to cope with this added responsibility? She doesn't feel that a man would be willing to get into a relationship with her given her promise to Millie. Then along comes Jack who seems to love both Grace and Millie. The couple gets married but then the relationship goes very dark. Jack is definitely not what he appeared to be. He turns out to be a monster who feeds on fear and is just waiting for Millie to join the household...

This was really a very intense suspense novel that I read in a couple of sittings. Although I thought that Grace should have been able to get away from Jack earlier in the narrative, overall, I was drawn into the story and thought it was a very well-written and compelling novel. I'll probably be on the lookout for more by Paris.

Share/Like this Review?

WOW, couldn't put this one down!! Psycho thriller that held my attention throughout!

Jack woos Grace and her sister Millie, showing them the attention and affection they both need. Millie has Down syndrome and lives in a special school to help her develop. Grace marries Jack and settles into a luxurious home with him. They appear to be the Perfect Couple. What the outside world doesn't know is that Jack is evil and manipulative. He threatens Grace with harm and torture to Millie, so that keeps Grace in line. The horror she endures is at times unbelievable, but I will only say that she wins in the end.

Share/Like this Review?

A bit of a disappointment. I was looking for a psychological thriller, something with twists and interesting characters. Flawed characters in the lead role. This isn't it.

We know from the start that Grace has married a psychopath, someone who lured her with his charm, then turned the tables on her. Jack enjoys watching others suffer while presenting the image of the perfect husband to the world.

Grace is not able to reach out to others, as she is a captive in her luxury home, confined to a small bedroom with no phone, no way out. She is held captive as much by Jack's threats against her sister Millie as by physical means.

Millie has Down Syndrome. In this novel the author uses the outdated term "Down's Syndrome". Perhaps in Britain the term has not yet changed? Millie also speaks in sentences without articles, as a rule, similar to how some people speak when first learning English. I wasn't able to confirm exactly how children with Down Syndrome normally speak, but what I read suggests that the greater problems are with the production of sounds, a physical limitation, and that these children tend to speak in shorter sentences. Not that they use "Indian-speak" as demonstrated in older western movies.

There are other aspects of Millie's character that seemed off to me as well, although i am not an expert.

Jack is a lawyer in a firm. His job is to represent women who have been battered by their husbands. I know that the legal systems in the US and Britain differ, but not fundamentally. In the US, no private lawyer "represents" the victim; it is the job of the prosecutor to prosecute the accused. When Jack "wins" a case the husband goes to jail, which says to me that he should be a prosecutor, but he isn't. It is details like this, that show that the author didn't do much research, that bother me.

But back to the story. We know from the start that Grace is kept hidden "behind closed doors", and both she and Jack present a united front of a happy marriage. Much of the book is a series of "this happened" then "that happened". Illustrations of how cruel Jack is and how Grace tries to escape. The episodes don't seem to build, although they do show us that Grace is trying to escape.

Things come to a head when Jack plans to have Millie move in and then to torture her. Grace is pressed for time to do something about it. Does she succeed??

The character of Jack is one-dimensional. Yes, he is a good actor, playing the part of the caring law partner and husband, but essentially he enjoys cruelty for its own sake. There is nothing interesting about this, nor is there any basis drawn to explain it. Grace is the plucky victim. She isn't particularly interesting either.

Overall, it works to while away the hours and moves enough that it kept me reading to the end. Others clearly enjoyed it more than I did and I expect and hope that others who read this copy do enjoy it.

Share/Like this Review?

Great read, kept my attention. Wasn't expecting the ending at all!

Share/Like this Review?