Cass seems to have it all—a loving husband, a job she enjoys, a secure financial position, and good friends. One night in the middle of a huge rainstorm, she takes a shortcut home through the woods (in her car, not with her picnic basket), even though she promised her husband she would avoid that route. When she's nearly home she comes upon a car on the side of the road, in the midst of the storm, and she sees a woman sitting in the car.

Then imagine hearing that the person you left all alone on the side of the road was murdered. If you had stopped, would that person still be alive? I loved her first book (“Behind Closed Doors”) so had high expectations for this one. The story is truly suspenseful. During a severe storm Cass comes across a car parked at the side of the road. She stops and waits for some indication that the female driver needs assistance. None comes so Cass drives on to her home. The next morning Cass learns from her husband that her friend Jane had been murdered. She is devastated when she learns that it had been her friend Jane’s car on the side of the road.The following day, news comes in that the same woman was brutally murdered the night before which sets off guilt, fear and paranoia and after subsequent events leaves her questioning her own sanity. She begins to lose control of her life and fears that she will be the next victim of the murderer. This book grabs you at the start. Is there anyone who hasn't been deathly afraid driving through a pounding rainstorm, hands gripping the wheel? And it's totally understandable that Cass doesn't stop when she comes across a car stopped along the side of the road, given the location, worries that it could be trap and the miserable weather. But the guilt compounds the next morning when she learns the woman in the car was later murdered. She keeps quiet, not telling either her husband or friends about what she did (or rather didn't do) for various reasons. And on top of the guilt is the worry about her faltering memory. Her mom died of early onset Alzheimer's at an age just 10 years above Cass’s own. You’ll be unable to rest until you’ve followed the twists and turns to an ending you didn’t forsee’ Daily Express

Nope. I just don’t buy it. There are lots of things that just weren’t believable to me. They are spoilers, though, so I’ll hide them. THE BREAKDOWN brings readers along for the ride as one woman begins to lose her memory—and her mind. Cass is having a hard time since the night she saw the car in the woods, on the winding rural road, in the middle of a downpour, with the woman sitting inside?the woman who was killed. She's been trying to put the crime out of her mind; what could she have done, really? It's a dangerous road to be on in the middle of a storm. Her husband would be furious if he knew she'd broken her promise not to take that shortcut home. And she probably would only have been hurt herself if she'd stopped. This one has everything you look for in a great psychological thriller! Though I had this one figured out early on, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment at all! Highly recommend!

But, I decided to take a more cautionary approach, concerned that the book might suffer from the dreaded ‘second book hangover’. I was really excited to read this one. I had loved Paris’s first book, Behind Closed Doors. How does it work that I loved one of her books but basically hated the other? I hear of reviewers loving both or hating both, but I don’t seem to have many others in my one-love, one-hate club. I tend to be really hard on thrillers, so I can totally see why others fell so hard for this one. I still have Behind Closed Doors on my to-read list, and I have little doubt that The Breakdown will be seen on beaches, airplanes, and e-readers once it is released this summer, and deservedly so. As a fierce storm rages, Cass fights to maintain control of her car as she makes her way home on a dark and winding road. Straining to see through the pounding rain, she passes a car pulled over to the side, and catches sight of a woman's face. Desperate to get home and out of the storm, Cass drives on, vowing to call the police to alert them of a possible breakdown of a vehicle by the side of the road. Upon arriving home, Cass fails to make that call. She forgets. Next day, the news is full of the murder of the woman in her car. After a few short chapters, I started becoming irritated with the main character's stressing over her guilt. The first half of the book was so repetitive, it became boring, and I was considering not finishing it. The only character I found likable throughout the book was the deceased.

I felt like some of the things in this novel were just NOT believable (like Behind Closed Doors). I feel like the author could have done some AMAZING things with this storyline but it just fell flat for me. I was expecting more and it wasn't there unfortunately. It didn't have the ever dropping mouth twist that it could of had nor the WOW factor in a psychological thriller. I do feel I liked it a little better then Behind Closed Doors but again just kinda meh. I would give this a 2ish.... Like B.A's first novel... the characters just got on my DAMN nerves. I was super annoyed overall by Cass.... and it made me sometimes want to stop reading the novel.It’s hard to believe that the old appliances and the murder weapon would be hidden in the shed. Hello. Everyone knows you don’t leave incriminating evidence around. Her mind feels like it's going to break....everything is spiraling out of control. She's in a constant state of anxiety. The phone calls are amplifying all of her fears. Plus all of the things she's forgetting makes things worse. With everything going on Cass is desperate to know.... I think we have all heard those stories about stopping to help a stranger whose car has broken down. It’s the perfect setup for serial killers looking for their next victim, and has been the opening for countless eerie ghost stories. As badly as you might feel for the person, would you risk your life on a dark, lonely highway in the middle of a storm, with no cell service?

Consumed by terrifying thoughts, Cass is blanketed in paranoia. She begins to hear unaccustomed sounds within her house, misplacement of items, phantom phone calls, and the dreaded presence of someone watching her. Her greatest fear seems to be coming true. Her mother was diagnosed at the young age of forty-four with early on-set dementia. Is this what awaits Cass or something far more menacing? Occasionally I find it really hard to get into a book that requires me to suspend disbelief, but I found with "Behind Closed Doors" and this book that I was able to do that easily. The authors writing style and the suspenseful plot allowed me to let go of reality and really enjoy what I was reading. Her sophomore novel, The Breakdown was immediately added to my TBR after I completed her debut, Behind Closed Doors. The Breakdown'was, most of all, an addictive read. From the moment I started it, I couldn’t put it down. With each and every chapter I was more confused and more enthralled with everything. The fact that the story was fast-paced made me devour this thrilling read in one sitting. Cass’s story was filled with suspense from the first chapter, so yeah, the book definitely starts with a bang. I liked how the suspense aspect was blended with the psychological one. The suspense was fantastically done and I loved how it grew with each and every chapter. It held me at the edge of my seat as the story unfolded and the fact that our heroine wasn’t a reliable narrator made me love this story even more.

What to Read Next

Oh, so many things. I didn’t buy that Cass could “feel” there was someone in her house. Nor could I buy that she remembered leaving a cup on a counter. Who remembers where exactly they put their cup?