Behind Closed Doors

May 9, 2016
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. Agent: Camilla Wray, Darley Anderson Agency (U.K.).

June 1, 2016
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.

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Starred review from June 1, 2016
The marriage of Grace Harrington and Jack Angel seemed perfect, except for what went on behind closed doors. They met in a park, when Grace took Millie, her 17-year-old Down's syndromeafflicted sister, who was like a daughter to her, for an outing. When music from a band inspired Millie to stand up and dance alone, Jack got up to take Millie's hand and dance with her, charming Grace in the process. So when Jacka movie-star-handsome London lawyer who had never lost a case on behalf of battered wivesproposed marriage, Grace accepted with delight, especially since he pledged to bring Millie to live with them once her institutional schooling ended the following year. But Grace's rapture ended on her wedding night. On their honeymoon trip to Thailand, Jack made clear his psychopathic plans, using Grace's deep love for Millie as leverage in concocting a scheme that seemed as foolproof as it was depraved to achieve his desired satisfaction. Debut-novelist Paris adroitly toggles between the recent past and the present in building the suspense of Grace's increasingly unbearable situation, as time becomes critical and her possible solutions narrow. This is one readers won't be able to put down.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Published earlier in the U.K., this has gotten rave reviews and topped the best-seller list, with movie rights sold. Expect similar success on this side of the Atlantic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

October 3, 2016
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 home in Spring Eaton, England, doubles as Grace’s prison. She makes the postnuptial discovery that he’s a controlling, sadistic misogynist who murdered his mother and has disturbing plans for Grace and her younger sister, Milly. In delineating the ways in which Jack creates a physical and psychological prison for Grace, Paris pushes credibility one step over the line. But with reader Maguire’s help in making listeners feel every torturous moment of Grace’s hellish married life and her almost feverish plan to gain freedom for herself and her sister, credibility is trumped by emotion. Along with Grace’s helplessness, Maguire provides the voice of sweet innocence for Millie, as well as the convincingly soft-spoken, kindly Jack and the equally credible but icy cold, domineering, and psychotic post-wedding version. A St. Martin’s hardcover.