Terms like ‘engrossing’ and ‘twisty’ are well worn, much hackneyed cliches. They might also be regarded as markers of reliable quality in popular fiction. If that is the case, B.A. Paris is the John Lewis of the page-turner.
In the Prisoner, Paris tells the story of Amelie, an ingenue of the magazine world. One night, she is unceremoniously snatched and held against her will, alongside her reptilian husband, Ned. Amelie assumes, at first, that their kidnappers want an enormous ransom from Ned’s billionaire father. Needless to say, it’s not that simple. Before long, she actually starts to find her captors far less menacing than her own husband.
Paris ensnares her readers with a taut plot characterised by well-timed foreshadowing. Her use of Amelie as a first-person narrator vividly conveys the claustrophobia of the situation.