Welcome to my review of The Breakdown By Arianne Richmonde. I am delighted to be featured on the blog tour hosted by Bookouture for this excellent read. I think you will love this captivating new release full of suspense and intrigue, which came out on 11th April 2022.
My family keep telling me I’m safe. But why don’t I believe them?
I stand at the very edge of the cliff face, looking at the roaring ocean below my feet. I’m in no danger, in fact my husband and his sister talk just feet away from me, watching my every move. They’re worried I’m losing my mind, and I sense their nerves as they watch me looking down on the jagged rocks below.
Behind them sits our summer house. Apparently it’s my favourite place in the world, not that I can remember. Since the car accident, I’ve struggled to recall a lot of important things in my life, like giving birth to my daughter, Violet, just days after the crash. Or my supposedly perfect marriage…
As I stare at the huge expanse of blue below, I have a flashback to the day of the crash—an argument, my husband’s face red with anger. Why is it so different to what everyone else is telling me about my life? Beads of sweat gather on my neck.
If my memory is true, my life and my children’s lives are in danger. What really happened the day of the accident? And is there anyone I can trust?
An absolutely gripping psychological thriller for fans of Gone Girl, The Wife Between Us and Mark Edwards’s Here to Stay. The Breakdown will have you hooked!
Arianne Richmonde is s the USA TODAY bestselling author of the psychological thrillers, THE WIFE’S HOUSE and THE NEWLYWEDS (published by Bookouture, Hachette UK). Her Pearl series has sold more than half a million copies worldwide. Her stories are always character-driven and full of unexpected twists and turns.
When not writing about the passions and fragilities of human nature, she loves to spend time with her husband and their animals, including a femme fatale Husky with one blue eye and one golden eye. Arianne’s a chocaholic and sometimes sneaks off to sunny, exotic locations, all in the name of research.
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While heavily pregnant, Celeste was in a horrific car accident with her four-year-old daughter Lizzie. After the safe delivery of baby Violet, she is back home with the rest of her family, loving husband Max and six-year-old son Liam. With the care of her full-time nurse, a psychotherapist and new au pair, Jayne from London, they are all well cared for, but Celeste doesn’t remember much. Then, just Four days later, little Lizzie goes missing.
The plot, while intriguing, is a little unbelievable. The likelihood of all these things happening so close together is incredibly low, but it’s fiction. Anything can happen!
The story s told from several perspectives, mainly by Celeste, Jayne and Detective Adele Alba, who investigates Lizzie’s disappearance. Arianne Richmonde keeps you on your toes as she throws you through so many secrets spread across the wide cast of characters that you need to focus on to keep up. There are many trigger warnings to this, but they all pull together to tell an incredible story that I just couldn’t put down.
The breakdown has many well-drawn characters, but I think my favourite was Detective Adele Alba. She is nobody’s fool; while astute and fully aware that there are many secrets at play, she works hard to find out who has lied to cover their tracks. Her methodical and open-minded investigation commands your attention.
I don’t want to say too much about the characters for fear of spoilers. Still, you will think you have worked it all out only to be thrown into a spin with a new revelation, chewed up and spat back out again, wondering if you missed something.
I loved this book, my first foray into an Arianne Richmonde book but definitely not my last!
| Title | The Breakdown |
| Author | Arianne Richmonde |
| Series | N/A |
| Format | eARC |
| Page Count | 359 Pages |
| Genre | Psychological Thriller |
| Publisher | Bookouture |
| Release Date | 11th April 2022 |
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