Behind Closed Doors – B A Paris

Define the expression ‘Behind Closed Doors’, think of this before you even turn the cover and start reading this debut novel from B A Paris.

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the closed doors you walk past in your life? Even the ones that you are allowed a glimpse through for a while, they close behind you and you have no idea then what happens, do you?

Do you really want to know what happens……..

Grace and Jack, a newly married couple. A perfect couple, a perfect house, a perfect host and hostess. A perfect life?

Everyone seems to envy them, they all want a life that resembles Grace and Jack.

But everyone does not know what goes on between Grace and Jack behind those closed doors.

Now we have the opportunity to find out.

Behind that door is a prison, a prisoner, an inmate, an addict, a fighter, a carer, a survivor.

I felt claustrophobic as I read on, I wanted to throw the doors open and shout for help, but I couldn’t because I had to know what happens.

This novel captured me so quickly and cleverly by the author that if I had had the ability to get into the pages of this book, I would have not seen it right through to the end. I know I would have intervened.

Breathtaking and thrilling, I had to keep reading and work through the twists and turns until the bitter end for Grace and Jack. It was not what I expected.

If you like thrillers, then you will like this debut novel.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this book. Behind Closed Doors is published on 11 February 2016.

And now something from the author herself – 

PERFECT MARRIAGES

We’re always told that there is no such thing as a perfect marriage. That every couple has their ups and downs… yet we never seem to really believe it. Mainly because there are all those annoying couples out there who really do seem to live in wedded bliss 24/7 365 days a year – or, at least, strive to convey the image that they do, like Jack and Grace in Behind Closed Doors. Last year I went to a 25^th Wedding Anniversary party and during his speech, the couple’s son said that in all their years of marriage, his parents had never once argued. I waited for the couple in question to deny it, to laugh, to say that their son had exaggerated – to come to our rescue, for God’s sake, because I’m sure I wasn’t the only one hoping it was a joke!  But they didn’t, and after, as we looked uncomfortably around at each other, I know I wasn’t the only one feeling guilty that our children would never be able to say the same thing about us. We knocked back our wine; we were sure that the couple, at some point during their twenty-five year marriage, must have argued about something – which programme to watch, or whose turn it was to walk the dog. It was fact that they had managed to do so without their children hearing which was so gallingly admirable.  It made us feel less than good about ourselves – until someone said that maybe, for their son, an argument constituted a massive slanging match, complete with broken crockery and slammed doors, followed by a week-long silence. At which point we all gave a huge sigh of relief and poured ourselves another glass of wine!

The thing is, we are all guilty of looking over the garden fence and eyeing up the grass on the other side, wondering if it is in a healthier state than ours. Sometimes, if we think that it is, rather than making us up our game and cherish what we have, we give up, and neglect ours even more, as if there’s no point making an effort when, whatever we do, ours will never be as good as theirs. On the other hand, if we see that it’s not, that we have the healthier relationship, we realise how lucky we are and nurture it even more. But the truth is, we never really know what happens on the other side of the fence, behind those closed doors. Instead of looking over the fence, we should really be keeping our eyes fixed firmly on our side and cherishing the grass that we have – bald patches and all! – just a little bit more.