6 reviews for Behind Closed Doors
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Behind Closed Doors
by B A Paris
Description:
Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace: he has looks and wealth, she has charm and elegance. You’d like to get to know Grace better. But it’s difficult, because you realize Jack and Grace are never apart. Some might call this true love. Picture this: a dinner party at their perfect home, the conversation and wine flowing. They appear to be in their element while entertaining. And Grace’s friends are eager to reciprocate with lunch the following week. Grace wants to go, but knows she never will. Her friends callso why doesn’t Grace ever answer the phone? And how can she cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim? And why are there bars on one of the bedroom windows? The perfect marriage or the perfect lie?
About The Author
B. A. Paris is from a Franco/Irish background. She was brought up in England and moved to France where she spent some years working as a trader in an international bank before re-training as a teacher and setting up a language school with her husband. They still live in France and have five daughters. This is her first novel.
Skryf Review
“Good Reading”
Naman
Behind the facade of a perfect English marriage, a woman is held prisoner by her dashing husband.Grace thought her life would eventually revolve around the care of her younger sister, Millie, who has Down syndrome, and if she could find a man she loved along the way, all the better. She didn’t expect to be swept off her feet by the charismatic Jack Angel, a chivalrous Prince Charming who dotes on Millie as much as he seems to love Grace. After a whirlwind courtship, Grace and Jack get married, though the affair doesn’t go entirely smoothly, with Millie tumbling down the stairs hours before the ceremony and breaking her leg. It isn’t until the couple is away in Thailand for their honeymoon that Paris begins to dole out the first bites of something sour in the relationship. Turns out that Jack, who, ironically, is an attorney specializing in defending battered women, has a penchant for psychological (and physical) torture. By shifting between the revelatory rather than romantic honeymoon and Grace’s life in the present, when Jack keeps her locked in their beautiful Spring Eaton home, Paris underscores Grace’s seemingly unassailable predicament, especially with Millie soon coming to live with the couple. Yet Paris undercuts her own suspense by allowing Jack to, at great length, recount his coming-to-villainy back story. Grace schemes a way to escape Jack’s clutches and save Millie from the same fate, but the tension sags.An at times tense debut with a clever heroine caught in an overladen plot.
Havisha
i just loved Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris the moment i started reading this i knew it was to good to be true i immediately felt the fear in Graces eyes when Jack was around but i read on & Kapow here it comes.Jack & Grace had it all a perfect marriage Grace was the perfect wife a great cook & Millie Graces sister who has Downs Syndrome everything was perfect on the outside but when Jack finally showed his true colours on their honeymoon Jack gets into Graces head her phone, wallet etc goes missing she goes to the hotel & asks the staff have the seen them around but unbeknownst to Grace her things turn up miraculously.Jack tells Grace about his childhood & upbringing Grace suddenly feels panic she is terrified of him then the unthinkable happens to Grace i wont spoil the ending but young love is NEVER WHAT IT SEEMS!!!!!
Helly
Jack and Grace live in a beautiful home. He makes a lot of money as an attorney and has never lost a case. He’s handsome and he’s well mannered. He also takes very good care of his wife. Jack never leaves Grace’s side. It isn’t possible for anyone to talk to her on her own, because they are inseparable. Are Jack and Grace really such a close couple or is something else going on?Behind Closed Doors is gripping from the start. Grace thinks she’s met the perfect man. Jack is kind, he takes her on fancy dates and he wants to spend time with her sister Millie. He also doesn’t mind that Millie will move in with them as soon as she turns eighteen. Millie has down syndrome. She’s very sweet and means the world to Grace. Jack knows that and certainly uses this information to his advantage. It’s clear straight away that something is terribly wrong…Grace is such a likable person which made me care about her story from the start. She’s loving, she’s gentle and she’s fiercely protective of her sister. Millie is such a happy person, I liked her very much. The story worked really well for me and I got so caught up in it that I forgot everything and everyone around me. Behind Closed Doors is creepy and it’s fabulously constructed with alternations between the past and the present. As they come closer together the story becomes more and more horrible. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time.Behind Closed Doors is absolutely awful and suffocating, but it’s fascinating as well. I read this book in one sitting, because I couldn’t put it down. It’s one of those stories that will stay with you for a very long time. If you’re looking for a good, captivating read, get this book. I’m sure you’re going to love it.
Anupama
There will be those who love this book but I am not one of them. It is a well written psychological novel about the “perfect” couple, Jack and Grace. Jack is a lawyer who represents battered women. Grace stays home and paints in their perfect home and throws complex perfect dinner parties. They are the guardians of Grace’s sister, Millie, who has Downs Syndrome. Almost done with her school, Millie is anxiously waiting to move in with the couple.The story flips between the past and the present. The past describes how the couple met and how their relationship evolved. The present deals with how Grace is trying to cope with the structure of their marriage and preparing for Millie to move in.I don’t want to give too much away but the abuse is horrific. It’s not really physical but the mental and behavior treatment made me sick to my stomach. I have enjoyed books with violence but this, without any real gore, was beyond my ability to cope. I could not believe the evilness of it and I couldn’t shake it. It is awful that it is rattling in my head. I wish there was a new [book:The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency|7061] but there’s not. I will settle for a Hamish Macbeth.I gave it two stars because it is well written and does keep you on the edge of your seat. There was a lot of improbabilities in it but it kept you reading. For me it was awful. If I was not reading it to review I would not have finished it. I would not recommend it to anyone.
Kaushal
Newlyweds Grace and Jack Angel seem to lead a perfect life in British author Paris’s gripping debut, but appearances can be deceiving. In addition to being a handsome, successful attorney, Jack is also a sadistic psychopath, and the couple’s picture-perfect Spring Eaton, England, home doubles as Grace’s prison. Jack forced Grace to quit her job, refuses to allow her unsupervised contact with the outside world, and cruelly punishes her escape attempts. Grace would welcome death were it not for her 17-year-old sister, Millie, who intends to come live with them once she finishes school. Grace’s life may be hell, but Jack has made it clear that Millie’s in for far worse, so Grace must free herself in order to save her sister. Paris reveals the couple’s past and present in alternating chapters, creating suspense regarding both their origin and their fate. Jack’s mustache-twirling monologues occasionally sap the story of tension and believability, but Grace’s terror is contagious, and Millie’s impending peril creates a ticking clock that propels this claustrophobic cat-and-mouse tale toward its grisly, gratifying conclusion.