Bring Me Back by B.A. Paris.

12 years ago Finn and Layla stop in a picnic area in France. Finn goes to the toilet block but when he returns to their car, Layla has disappeared. Bring Me Back is a psychological thriller.

I found this book very engaging. It had my head buzzing from the very start. B.A. Paris tells a great story that gets the reader really involved. You don’t just sit back and enjoy the tale because she puts these little lines of text into her script that make you wonder and question what is going on. There are many lies told within this story and you are forced to consider the many omissions made by Finn.

I liked the format of this book. Most of the chapters were from Finn’s point of view but the odd chapter was from Layla’s side. Each chapter was clearly labelled, some from Finn 12 years ago, some from Finn in current time and a few from Layla to rack the tension further up the torture scale.

The current day tension that Finn is exposed to is extreme. You can feel the psychological pressure he is under. Although he tells a number of lies and uses a lot of omissions to cover his tracks, I did feel a strong empathy for Finn. He was suffering from the stress brought into his relationship with Ellen and I had my head buzzing trying to work out the truth about Layla and her disappearance. I liked how this story forced me to think about why Layla disappeared, was she still alive, could it be this or that.

Although Finn is not married, he is sharing a home and in an adult relationship with Ellen. I liked how B,A. Paris explored the dynamics of adults living together - as though they were married - how they relate to each other and use personal space. I liked how love was explored in the context of comparing past partners to a current partner. I liked how the embarrassing question of “do you fancy my sister, if yes then more or less than me?” was handled. I liked how the issue of partner suitability from a man’s point of view was explored. This is not a romantic thought but how men actually think.

I liked the plot of Bring Me Back and the thinking behind it. I liked how the characters all had their part to play in this story. I liked how each of the characters could be the bad guy behind the Russian Dolls, the emails and the psychological warfare. I got a lot from this book and think it would make a great television series.

I found the writing of this book to be very high quality and it gave me just what I wanted from my reading experience. Bring Me Back is a psychological thriller that is at the top of it’s league and it gets the top score of 5 stars from me. Just for the record, I do NOT fancy my wife’s sister!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher St. Martin’s Press for giving me a copy of this book on the understanding that I provide an honest review.