--- product_id: 66175495 title: "The Breakdown: A Novel" price: "€ 24.25" currency: EUR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.at/products/66175495-the-breakdown-a-novel store_origin: AT region: Austria --- # The Breakdown: A Novel **Price:** € 24.25 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Breakdown: A Novel - **How much does it cost?** € 24.25 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.at](https://www.desertcart.at/products/66175495-the-breakdown-a-novel) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Now A Major Motion Picture Blackwater Lane starring Minka Kelly, Dermot Mulroney, and Maggie Grace. THE CHILLING, PROPULSIVE NOVEL FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLING BEHIND CLOSED DOORS . If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust? Cass is having a hard time since the night she saw the car in the woods. It was on the winding rural road, in the middle of a downpour, and a woman was 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, and she probably would have been hurt herself if she’d stopped. Not only that, her husband would be furious if he knew she’d broken her promise not to take that shortcut home. But since then, she’s been forgetting every little thing. Where she left the car; if she took her pills; even the alarm code. The only thing she can’t forget is that woman, the woman she might have saved, and the terrible nagging guilt. And the silent calls she’s receiving, or the feeling that someone’s watching her… Review: Another Super Read from B.A.Paris.... - I got so excited after I opened the mailbox and see a package from St. Martins Press because I just KNOW something wonderful will be inside. Totally unexpected…and wonderful! An advance readers copy of The Breakdown by B. A. Paris! WhooHoo…my plans for the next few hours have changed! I gathered the green tea, fruit, chocolate, coffee, trail mix, comfy socks, favorite pillow and headed for my big leather chair. But now that I have smacked you with readers envy, let’s get to the book! The Breakdown does not disappoint the reader with the psychological thriller and suspense written into the story. I won’t post spoilers, but I knew before I opened the book to have myself prepared. The main character, Cass had been at a party with friends from work on a very rainy evening. It is the end of the school year and Cass has a few weeks of vacation to enjoy before the next teaching session resumes. As she is leaving her husband Matthew calls and tells her he has a migraine and is going to bed. He adamantly warns her not to take the shortcut through the woods home during the storm. He is worried for her safety and she promises to avoid the wooded secluded road. As the storm and traffic on the highway increases Cass impulsively take the shortcut home. It is getting dark, the rain is pounding and the rural road is deserted except for …up ahead she sees a car pulled over to the side. This begins a regrettable and emotionally tortuous event in her life. Psychological suspense, worry, and some bad choices plague Cass during her weeks when she should have been enjoying her life. She has a secret she has not shared with Matthew about herself before they were married. When she wakes up the day after her stormy drive through Blackwater Lane, she discovers a shocking horror and decides to keep another secret. As I read the story I personally felt so badly for Cass as she faces the possibility she may be losing her memory. As a reader I felt she made some poor decisions due to her secrets and fears. This is another ‘must read’ book by author B. A. Paris and once you start reading…you will not want to stop until the end!! Review: Good, not as great as Behind Closed Doors, but still good! - Cass is leaving her end-of-term faculty party during a huge storm and decides to take the Blackwater Lane shortcut that she promised her husband she would not take as it is a lonely and dangerous road, much more so in a storm at night. When she sees a woman stopped on the side of the road, she pulls over, but she is terrified because of the storm raging on and the isolation of the road. When the other woman doesn’t signal to her for help, Cass leaves after a few minutes. The next morning she is horrified to learn the news of the woman’s brutal murder. She feels so much guilt over not stopping, but she cannot tell her husband Matthew because she promised not to go that way. When she realizes that she knew the murdered woman, she is racked with guilt that is accompanied by tremendous anxiety. When her best friend Rachel calls she decides she will tell her over lunch. However, she is so overwrought because she forgot that she was supposed to be buying a group gift for another friend and has no idea what the gift was supposed to be, that she decides not to tell Rachel after all. As she begins to forget more and more things she becomes fearful that she is experiencing Early Onset Dementia like her mother, who was diagnosed at age 44. As her anxiety grows, so does her fear and then she starts receiving phone calls with no one speaking on the other end. Terror floods her mind as she believes that the killer must have seen her that night in the woods and is now out to get her. The fear, anxiety, and forgetfulness begins to worry Matthew and he insists she go to a doctor. The doctor gives her medicine for anxiety, and, although the pills help, they keep her knocked out most of the time and she can barely function. However, not taking them leads to a breakdown. Will she ever find out who is calling her? And is she really going crazy? Or is someone out to harm her or make her harm herself? Having read and loved B.A. Paris‘ Behind Closed Doors (click the link for that review) I was very excited when this book came out. When it finally made it to the top of my TBR pile, I was eager to get into it. My excitement abated a bit when I did not immediately click with Cass. I liked her, but she just wasn’t a friendly person to me. I listened on, believing that I would come to like her more, and I did a little and I felt somewhat sorry for her. The story is really good, even though I didn’t love Cass and didn’t really like her husband Matthew, either. I did like her friend Rachel, however. I wanted Cass to own up to someone about why she felt so guilty about the murdered woman, just wanted her to tell someone what she saw on the road and why she was afraid the murderer would target her. The story was really good and the twist at the end did shock me a little because I thought I had it figured out, but I had somewhat missed the mark. I really like how it ended and I came to really like Cass when she finally took control of her own destiny and stopped wallowing in self-doubt and self-pity. B.A. Paris has another book, Bring Me Back, coming in June of 2018 and it is one that I will look forward to reading as I truly enjoy her writing style and her twists that keep you a little off-balance. I also hope that Georgia Maguire is the narrator for the next one as she beautifully narrated both Behind Closed Doors and The Breakdown. Her voice is very appealing and she gives the characters an air of dignity that I really like. As recommendations go, if you haven’t read anything by B.A. Paris, I suggest you start with Behind Closed Doors and then read The Breakdown. I liked this one, but I loved the first one and I am looking forward to the next one. Note: These are all stand-alone books, they are not a series. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #28,986 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #798 in Murder Thrillers #1,051 in Psychological Thrillers (Books) #1,730 in Suspense Thrillers | | Customer Reviews | 4.2 out of 5 stars 25,462 Reviews | ## Images ![The Breakdown: A Novel - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91hV4hmRHWL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Another Super Read from B.A.Paris.... *by D***L on May 28, 2017* I got so excited after I opened the mailbox and see a package from St. Martins Press because I just KNOW something wonderful will be inside. Totally unexpected…and wonderful! An advance readers copy of The Breakdown by B. A. Paris! WhooHoo…my plans for the next few hours have changed! I gathered the green tea, fruit, chocolate, coffee, trail mix, comfy socks, favorite pillow and headed for my big leather chair. But now that I have smacked you with readers envy, let’s get to the book! The Breakdown does not disappoint the reader with the psychological thriller and suspense written into the story. I won’t post spoilers, but I knew before I opened the book to have myself prepared. The main character, Cass had been at a party with friends from work on a very rainy evening. It is the end of the school year and Cass has a few weeks of vacation to enjoy before the next teaching session resumes. As she is leaving her husband Matthew calls and tells her he has a migraine and is going to bed. He adamantly warns her not to take the shortcut through the woods home during the storm. He is worried for her safety and she promises to avoid the wooded secluded road. As the storm and traffic on the highway increases Cass impulsively take the shortcut home. It is getting dark, the rain is pounding and the rural road is deserted except for …up ahead she sees a car pulled over to the side. This begins a regrettable and emotionally tortuous event in her life. Psychological suspense, worry, and some bad choices plague Cass during her weeks when she should have been enjoying her life. She has a secret she has not shared with Matthew about herself before they were married. When she wakes up the day after her stormy drive through Blackwater Lane, she discovers a shocking horror and decides to keep another secret. As I read the story I personally felt so badly for Cass as she faces the possibility she may be losing her memory. As a reader I felt she made some poor decisions due to her secrets and fears. This is another ‘must read’ book by author B. A. Paris and once you start reading…you will not want to stop until the end!! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good, not as great as Behind Closed Doors, but still good! *by A***. on December 19, 2017* Cass is leaving her end-of-term faculty party during a huge storm and decides to take the Blackwater Lane shortcut that she promised her husband she would not take as it is a lonely and dangerous road, much more so in a storm at night. When she sees a woman stopped on the side of the road, she pulls over, but she is terrified because of the storm raging on and the isolation of the road. When the other woman doesn’t signal to her for help, Cass leaves after a few minutes. The next morning she is horrified to learn the news of the woman’s brutal murder. She feels so much guilt over not stopping, but she cannot tell her husband Matthew because she promised not to go that way. When she realizes that she knew the murdered woman, she is racked with guilt that is accompanied by tremendous anxiety. When her best friend Rachel calls she decides she will tell her over lunch. However, she is so overwrought because she forgot that she was supposed to be buying a group gift for another friend and has no idea what the gift was supposed to be, that she decides not to tell Rachel after all. As she begins to forget more and more things she becomes fearful that she is experiencing Early Onset Dementia like her mother, who was diagnosed at age 44. As her anxiety grows, so does her fear and then she starts receiving phone calls with no one speaking on the other end. Terror floods her mind as she believes that the killer must have seen her that night in the woods and is now out to get her. The fear, anxiety, and forgetfulness begins to worry Matthew and he insists she go to a doctor. The doctor gives her medicine for anxiety, and, although the pills help, they keep her knocked out most of the time and she can barely function. However, not taking them leads to a breakdown. Will she ever find out who is calling her? And is she really going crazy? Or is someone out to harm her or make her harm herself? Having read and loved B.A. Paris‘ Behind Closed Doors (click the link for that review) I was very excited when this book came out. When it finally made it to the top of my TBR pile, I was eager to get into it. My excitement abated a bit when I did not immediately click with Cass. I liked her, but she just wasn’t a friendly person to me. I listened on, believing that I would come to like her more, and I did a little and I felt somewhat sorry for her. The story is really good, even though I didn’t love Cass and didn’t really like her husband Matthew, either. I did like her friend Rachel, however. I wanted Cass to own up to someone about why she felt so guilty about the murdered woman, just wanted her to tell someone what she saw on the road and why she was afraid the murderer would target her. The story was really good and the twist at the end did shock me a little because I thought I had it figured out, but I had somewhat missed the mark. I really like how it ended and I came to really like Cass when she finally took control of her own destiny and stopped wallowing in self-doubt and self-pity. B.A. Paris has another book, Bring Me Back, coming in June of 2018 and it is one that I will look forward to reading as I truly enjoy her writing style and her twists that keep you a little off-balance. I also hope that Georgia Maguire is the narrator for the next one as she beautifully narrated both Behind Closed Doors and The Breakdown. Her voice is very appealing and she gives the characters an air of dignity that I really like. As recommendations go, if you haven’t read anything by B.A. Paris, I suggest you start with Behind Closed Doors and then read The Breakdown. I liked this one, but I loved the first one and I am looking forward to the next one. Note: These are all stand-alone books, they are not a series. ### ⭐⭐⭐ Three’s company *by G***M on July 24, 2024* The book is more of a 3.5 star. It begins with a bang but ends up not being as I hoped. The story is about a woman Cass who is Married to Matthew and has a best friend named Rachel. Cass takes a shortcut home one stormy night through woods and comes across a parked car where a woman is inside. She can’t make out the woman’s features and deliberates if she should get out in the pouring rain to see if she needs help but the woman gives no signal of distress. She hems and haws debating what’s the right course of action but ends up leaving as it’s dark, storming and she’s afraid. She means to call the police to let them know a woman may be stranded in the woods but gets distracted by a text message and then goes into a long memory about her mother’s last days. Her husband and best friend are clearly trying to set her up but it isn’t clear why. It’s easy to get they are having an affair, all the signs are there but our FMC is blind to red flags. In the end she finds out why and what happened to the woman in the car. This story droned on and I felt so sorry and frustrated for Cass. She wasn’t too bright. She was extremely naive for a woman of 34 years old. If this story had more of an ending, an epilogue to let readers see how Cass turned her life around, what happened to the other main characters when they find out that Cass found out everything, it would’ve been more satisfying. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.at/products/66175495-the-breakdown-a-novel](https://www.desertcart.at/products/66175495-the-breakdown-a-novel) --- *Product available on Desertcart Austria* *Store origin: AT* *Last updated: 2026-06-04*