The cover was the first thing that caught my attention. The color combination, the different prints the cover shows, and of course the back text made me very interested in reading this thriller. And it was so worth it. This is one of the books, where the original (Behind Closed Doors) and the German edition were published within a few months from each other. And after I´ve read it, I didn´t wonder anymore why the timeframe between publishing the original and the edition I´ve read had been that close. This is a great debut thriller!
Saving Grace-Bis Dein Tod Uns Scheidet*
by B. A. ParisOriginal Title Behind Closed Doors
Publisher Blanvalet on November 21, 2016
Genre Thriller
Pages 349
Format Softcover
Source Publisher
✶✶✶✶½
Grace and Jack Angel are the perfect couple. The 33-year-old is warm-hearted, caring, and beautiful. Jack looks good, is charming and fights as a well-respected lawyer for the rights of mistreated women. But should one ever trust perfection? Why, for example, can Grace eat so much at dinner parties and never puts on any weight? And why surrounds a high fence the beautiful house of the two? But if you want to ask Grace about that, you realize that she is never alone. Because Jack is always – really always – at her side …
Story
Grace is in heaven. Jack is the man of her dreams. Charming, handsome, successful, kind and he seems to love her younger sister, too. In fact, he does everything to make her life happy and easy. Until the first dark clouds arise. Her sister has an accident on her wedding day and Grace has to choose for the first time between her and Jack. Her decision is the first of many wrong decisions. Within no time she has to learn, that Jack isn´t the man she thought he´d be. And a fight about life, feelings, and survival begins.
Style
Right from the beginning, you can feel the danger that comes through every sentence, every word, and every movement the figures do. You can´t really grab it, but it is there. The atmosphere is threatening, and the story has a certain mood. This thriller is told from Grace´s perspective and lets you dive deep into a relationship where evil rules. The book is parted into two lines of action. One plays in the present and shows how Grace´s marriage really is, the other in the past, where you get to know from chapter to chapter who everything started. In the end, the perspective switches and you can sense that something bad had happened but you are seeing only what happens in the present. That gives you a really interesting view and lets you feel how the protagonist feels at that particular moment.
B. A. Paris has a very intense writing style. Her tone is very calm, very silent and her words are to the point. She doesn´t need to write long sentences or give you many details. You know almost by instinct what she is talking about and what she wants you to see.
Characters
Jack is pure evil. Oh yes, he does look like a god and he, for sure, knows how to use his charm to get what he wants the way he wants it. But behind his perfect façade lies a man you don´t even want to meet in your worst nightmares. And when Grace finally sees who he really is and when she learns the story that is behind all of it, she is as shocked as the reader. The author brings the character of Jack to paper with a sensitive instinct for details, with the right amount of danger and threat to make very clear: Beauty is not always what she seems to be at first sight.
Grace is a smart, strong, and very beautiful woman. She is perfect in Jack´s eyes. But she has one Ass inside her sleeve that Jack didn´t see coming.
Conclusion
Afterward, I felt kind of anxious. This book wasn’t at all what I had expected. Sure, when reading a new author, you always hope that there will be something different. Especially when you read an author in a genre you usually read a lot. But B. A. Paris managed to surprise me in a positive way. This won´t be the last book I´ve read by her, that is for sure. Read!
Happy reading
*This book was kindly provided to me by Blanvalet in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Thank you. Therefore you see the cover of the German edition is shown first in this review. This on the right side is the UK/US/CDN cover.
B.A. Paris
B.A. Paris grew up in England but has spent most of her adult life in France. She has worked both in finance and as a teacher and has five daughters. Behind Closed Doors is her first novel.
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