Bring Me Back by B A Paris

BRING ME BACK

by B A Paris

*my thanks to the publisher for an advance copy of this novel*

I absolutely loved the opening of Bring Me Back - it's one of those books that you're just turning over in your hands, freshly pulled out from the packaging it's arrived in and you flick onto the first page... And then, before you know it, you're half way through and completely engrossed in the story!

Why did I love it so much? First of all it's just a great opening scenario. Finn's driving back from holiday, late at night, and has to pull over in a small, very basic service area to use the facilities. There are a couple of lorries pulled over but it's quiet, and he parks further away from the other cars. Leaving his girlfriend, Layla, who is half asleep in the car, he hurries to the loo but when he gets back - only minutes later - she's gone.

I love a novel with a 'what if?' question. I love a novel that opens with a scene I can see myself in, with a character making a decision I might make, or a thought that might have fleetingly passed through my own mind at some point. And then I love how the author makes that split decision change the character's entire life forever.

But this book opens with more than just 'what if?', it opens with the promise of a story full of tension, intrigue and suspense. From the start, we are let into Finn's secret - not everything is as it seems. Worse than that, we can't even trust our protagonist. Following the opening recount of the night his girlfriend went missing at the service station, he ends the prologue with:

That was the statement I gave to the police, sitting in the police station somewhere off the A1 in France. It was the truth. But not quite the whole truth.

I know. Aren't you itching to turn the page? I was, I did, I couldn't stop.

Narrated by Finn, the story then forwards to twelve years after Layla's disappearance where Finn is now in a relationship with Ellen. Paris wastes no time in creating more intrigue. Firstly Finn receives a call to say that an old neighbour has reported a sighting of Layla and then, on his way home from work, Finn finds an object that reminds him of Layla. Coincidence? Fluke? Or is Layla still alive? Should he tell Ellen - the woman he has decided to marry - that there's been another sighting? Well, she is her sister after all..... Yes, if you weren't hooked from the first page, then you will definitely be hooked by the end of the first chapter! 

Paris weaves a fantastic story of twists, turns, cliffhangers and revelations with expert delivery and expert timing. She leads you down the garden path, back up again and then off down the path again as you try to spot the clues and fit the different truths you are being told together, desperately trying to work out what happened to Layla. The story becomes more entwined, more emotional, more tense with each new discovery that Layla may indeed be alive and with each further moment when Finn decides not to quite tell 'the whole truth'. 

The chapters are narrated alternately by Finn and Layla. Layla's chapters are in italics which somehow felt a little more menacing and secretive. There is more of a sense of anonymity to her sections and somehow they seem more sinister. I liked the alternate voices and I liked hearing from the two main characters, building a picture of the other through what each of them said and trying to work out who was playing a more dangerous game. I loved having to work out who to trust and who to believe. Both characters felt so authentic, both created empathy and sympathy and both were very well crafted. The depth of feeling they had for each other was evident from the way they interacted and I enjoyed learning more about the complex relationship they had. The novel focusses just on Ellen, Finn and Layla and so there is an intensity to the novel, but the claustrophobic nature of their relationship adds another layer of threat and menace. The reader struggles to decide where their sympathies should lie.

I always enjoy a story with a motif or repeated image so the use of the Russian dolls really appealed to me. I found their appearance and significance eerie and highly effective. They turn up like crumbs trying to nudge Finn in the right direction but there is something very clever about choosing such an innocent, childlike, pretty object to create tension. As the story develops, their meaning becomes more disturbing. It's a great device, used to maximum effect by Paris.

Bring Me Back is about what happens when you leave out a detail, omit something that seems small to start with. Or when you're not honest about your past. Finn doesn't set out with a really huge, blatant lie but something smaller, a little whiter. But all lies are dangerous, all lies are threatening and all lies can become menacing. And if you've told a lie, then you have to wonder who else has told lies - or accept that other people might not being as honest with you just as you are not honest with them. This story is about people who think they can control something yet they can't. It's also about the past and about not telling the truth about who you are. It's about the complex relationships within families, between siblings and in partnerships. It's about violence, anger and resentment; identity, loss, grief, revenge and love.

Bring Me Back is an impeccably paced novel with characters that the reader enjoys developing empathy for while at the same time feeling cautious about them. These are characters where we see their flaws, are mindful of their weaknesses and then having to rethink everything as Paris suddenly lets something slip which spins the whole story around again. I enjoyed being misled, tricked, surprised and completely caught up in this exciting and eerie tale. I enjoyed the short chapters which were always complete with cliff hanger endings. It is very well written, engaging and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is everything you could want from a first class psychological thriller. I am defintiley adding Paris to my list of go to authors for a griping, twisty and suspenseful read, with characters placed in situations I might find myself but who are then launched into something completely unsettling and dangerous. Bring Me Back is clever, chilling and compulsively page turning. 

Bring Me Back will be published by HQ in March 2018.