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Behind Closed Doors - B A Paris

89 replies

DoesAnyoneReadTheseThings · 14/02/2016 15:01

HHas anyone read this? I stayed awake to read it, it was so gripping! I literally didn't put it down! It's 99p on Google play books I think, not sure about elsewhere and I definitely recommend it.

It's about a couple who's friends and family think are perfect, he's a lawyer who helps abused women, she's the perfect cook and homemaker. They're always together....... they're ALWAYS together. It's disturbing and chilling but it's the best book I've read in a while.

Any recommendations for anything based on my love of this are welcome!

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ImperialBlether · 17/02/2016 15:17

I am the only person who didn't like it, then!

It was such an obvious book. There was no depth to any of the characters at all.

So you start with Grace, who has a great job, used to travelling and living independently. She meets Jack and immediately gives up her job and marries him, giving up her home too, and doesn't even know where she's going to live. Who the hell does that? She spends the money from her home on buying furniture etc for the new house. That is not something a smart professional woman would do.

So he keeps her hostage, though they go out to friends' houses for meals. Not once does she go into another room with someone at the party and ask them for help. She goes on holiday with her husband - not once at the airport does she ask a member of staff for help. She's locked in a room all day long, ffs! This isn't mild abuse. Yet this woman, who we're supposed to believe is a strong, professional woman does nothing whatsoever to help herself.

Her friend, Esther, is pretty obviously onto it, but again she does nothing to help until the very end. She could easily get her to come into the kitchen at one of the dinner parties. Jack wouldn't be able to object to that in public.

I think the idea of the novel is good, particularly his intentions for her sister, but the characters are so shallow and the plot so ludicrous with those particular characters, that the whole book was just daft.

Original poster
DoesAnyoneReadTheseThings · 17/02/2016 16:07

Clara I was quite panicky reading it too!

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Original poster
DoesAnyoneReadTheseThings · 17/02/2016 16:10

Imperial, I think the reasons she didn't get help were really understandable, in that situation it's hard especially after the few times she tried to get help and he foiled her plans and the way he kept her with him even at friends houses, she wasn't even allowed to go to the loo! Also I think Esther was a bit worried about making things worse for Grace so that's why she didn't jump in to help. But of course we can't all like the same books and I do see where you're coming from. I did enjoy it though:)

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OhYouLuckyDuck · 17/02/2016 16:20

Imperial she tries to get help at the hotel and he convinces them that she is mentally ill.

ImperialBlether · 17/02/2016 17:19

Yes but she was only with him a few months when he started to act like that. It would take ages to build up to that.

Also, surely he would've been better off bringing her sister to live there and then start to show his true colours?

And of course she was allowed to go to the loo at her friends' houses - all it would have taken was for her to ask to go! You don't get downtrodden like that in a matter of a few months.

I think it would've worked better if she'd been in this country illegally and didn't speak the language or something like that. As it was she was feisty one minute and too scared to mouth 'help' to a security guard at the airport the next.

As I said, I think it was a good idea, but the way it was written made it unbelievable.

OhYouLuckyDuck · 17/02/2016 17:21

Thinking back, the bit where he said that there was no housekeeper would have been a massive red flag wouldn't it? I can't remember now where she was then - on the honeymoon, yes, but I can't remember if he had already started his nasty business at that point.

ImperialBlether · 17/02/2016 17:29

And how come she didn't have any friends? Imagine saying, "Oh I'm marrying this man I know nothing about and I'm selling my house and we're spending the money on furniture!" The friend would've slapped her around the face until she saw sense!

ImperialBlether · 17/02/2016 17:30

It's harder than that to prove someone's mentally ill, though. She had no medication, no doctor's notes, nothing. If a woman says, "He's keeping me here against my will!" and the man says, "She's mad!" the least someone would do would be to consider it carefully and give her the option to go away from him.

Original poster
DoesAnyoneReadTheseThings · 17/02/2016 19:16

He did put medication in her bag at the hotel which the manager saw so he believed she was 'crazy'.

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Original poster
DoesAnyoneReadTheseThings · 17/02/2016 19:17

Also when her parents moved out of the country and they got married she signed parental control so they could both make decisions for the sister so if she tried anything and he killed her he's then responsible for the sister.

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TheMasterMurderedMargarita · 17/02/2016 19:23

I thought it was OK but read something very similar..Rachel Abbotts Only the Innocent.
It was a bit predictable and although you do see how she becomes so brainwashed it was a bit quick.
Will look at the other suggestions always up for a new read!

ImperialBlether · 17/02/2016 19:24

Yes, she signed parental control when she wasn't married to him. Not sure that could happen. The manager in the hotel wouldn't just look at medication (which could be anything) and believe someone was mad. I thought that was really weak.

TheMasterMurderedMargarita · 17/02/2016 19:32

Ah yes and the home doctors visit. Surely he would've followed that up somehow and not just taken the word of Jack?

OhYouLuckyDuck · 17/02/2016 19:37

Imperial in this country yes, but in Thailand? Maybe it's different there?
Agreed re the friends and selling the house.

We're overthinking this now aren't we?!

ImperialBlether · 17/02/2016 19:39

Re overthinking, I'm not sure! I think this sort of book only works if you absolutely identify with the heroine. You have to think "Oh god, that's what I'd do" and in this book I just didn't feel that.

OhYouLuckyDuck · 17/02/2016 21:00

That's what made it work for me, I could really identify with her. Maybe the difference is that I could identify with her doing nothing.

LunaLovebad · 17/02/2016 21:34

I wanted to love this book but I didn't. I found it implausible, full of cliches and very contrived. It was like the author had read up on the Relationships section on here and wrote down everything she needed to include in a domestic abuse situation and then shoehorned those scenarios into the story. I thought it was a good idea for a story but not very well executed. "What Have I Done" by Amanda Prowse was much better, it just all seemed plausible and realistic whereas this one didn't.

everydayinMK · 18/02/2016 10:06

I did wonder at one point if the girl with the mental impairment was just the alter-ego of the abused wife? Like a split personality kind of thing? Because she just seemed to disappear towards the end of the story for me. I also wondered how on earth you'd be able to get away with killing someone when there would surely be traces of sleeping tablets everywhere and locked doors and DNA and your passport would show when you left the country and they'd be able to date the length of time the tablets had been in his gut? All those things made it seem a bit of a weak ending.

ImperialBlether · 18/02/2016 12:42

Nobody seemed to question why he had a room full of pictures of tortured women which didn't have a door handle on the inside. It's not exactly normal, is it? And she flung a few pairs of knickers around to make it look like she slept in the main bedroom. Hmmm. I don't think you'd have to be Poirot to figure it out.

Also as someone said, what are these tablets that you can buy over the counter, which you can't taste in a glass of whisky and which can be kept in the toe of a shoe and which make a big bloke comatose? The first thing the police would look for would be the packages - not there.

Feenie · 18/02/2016 23:19

I read this tonight in one sitting. At one point I got so fed up at how far fetched it all was that I went to read all the reviews on Amazon. I did want to know what happened, so I read until the end, and I was gripped, but still think the whole concept was beyond belief really. 'What Have I Done' as others have mentioned was much more believable.

There's a guy on Amazon touting is own book in reply to every one star review of this book, it's quite funny stalkery.

Feenie · 18/02/2016 23:31

Lots of good books in your link,OP - How to Be a Good Wife is the best I think.

Feenie · 18/02/2016 23:31

Ooh, and The Poison Tree

Original poster
DoesAnyoneReadTheseThings · 19/02/2016 01:01

You're all making me think about it too much now I'm "lalala"-ing ;)

I've got both of those Feenie, I can't wait to read them!

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Feenie · 19/02/2016 11:19

I've downloaded The Kind Worth Killing from your list Smile

Sallystyle · 19/02/2016 13:04

Nobody seemed to question why he had a room full of pictures of tortured women which didn't have a door handle on the inside.

No one else saw them, did they?

It was all pretty implausible sure, but I enjoyed it for what it was.