So I don’t read a lot of thrillers, but I got sucked into the buzz about Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris, and put a hold on it at the library. Then when it came in I grabbed it and promptly started and finished it.
Spoiler-free summary:
Grace and Jack are married and have a beautiful house in the suburbs. They are always together. They throw dinner parties with complicated menus that come out perfectly, and seem deliriously happy together. They are soon to welcome Grace’s sister Millie, who has Downs Syndrome, to live in their home with them, and Jack is over the moon about it.
Is that the whole story, or is there something perhaps more sinister going on?
I had a very hard time putting Behind Closed Doors down. I read it very quickly, which is unlike me, because once I got sucked into the story, I had to know how it ended. That doesn’t mean I liked the book, though. It is victim porn, which you can’t turn away from despite the horror of what is going on. It’s also incredibly stressful. I read this at night before bed and then had trouble calming down enough to sleep.
If you like heart-pounding books with seriously disturbed characters, then Behind Closed Doors may be for you. I was too disturbed by what was going on to enjoy it on any level. It’s not gory or violent, but upsetting on many other levels. Reading it was also further confirmation that I am really not the thriller type.
I was happy to move on from this one.