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The Breakdown
B.A. Paris
2014 · Thriller
How it reads
The Breakdown is thriller (psychological thriller, specifically), and its dominant mood is tense. The suspense is the kind you feel in your shoulders. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.
It's set in a suburban setting, in the present day, told in the first person by a single narrator. Its central concerns are secrets, identity and family. In weight it's light and escapist — easy to fall into.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. It's a short book. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something tense
- you want a book that pulls you through
- you want an escape
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy or heartwarming
- you want dense, lingering prose
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- thriller
- Author gender
- female
- Author experience
- early career
- Setting: place
- suburban
- Setting: time
- contemporary
- Mood / feeling
- tense
- Pace
- fast paced
- Tone / weight
- light and escapist
- Length
- short
- Narrative style
- first person, one narrator
- Publication era
- modern classic
- Popularity
- well known
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Ending style
- resolved and happy
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
- Dawn GirlLeslie WolfeShares: thriller, tense mood, light and escapist tone, psychological thriller
The Locked DoorFreida McFaddenShares: thriller, tense mood, light and escapist tone, psychological thriller
Count My LiesSophie StavaShares: thriller, tense mood, light and escapist tone, psychological thriller
Don't Let Her StayNicola SandersShares: thriller, tense mood, light and escapist tone, fast paced
Lies We BuryElle MarrShares: thriller, tense mood, light and escapist tone, psychological thriller- The Girl from the SeaShalini BolandShares: thriller, tense mood, light and escapist tone, fast paced
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