Try Not to Breathe

The publisher provided me with the opportunity to read this in exchange for providing feedback. (via NetGalley)

This morning before work, I found myself with an over hour to kill and a book in my work bag that I couldn't read. (I somehow managed to request number nine in a series.. not a good starting place!) I remembered that I had been approved for Try Not To Breathe and decided to start that.

I kind of regret starting it before having to go in. I found myself absorbed in the book and had made it approximately a quarter of the way through before having to go in. I found myself reading it on and off the rest of the day whenever an opportunity presented itself. The more I read, the harder it was to stop.

I found it to be well written and filled with enough intrigue to get and keep me hooked. I also liked that it alternated point of view and that it included Amy. Also can't say I was expecting how it ended!

“Some secrets never die. They're just locked away.”

In this debut novel Alex Dale is a young journalist trying to hold her life together. Consumed by her alcoholism she has destroyed her family and career and is drifting from day to day in a haze, freelancing here and there, trying to remain functional and barely holding on. While writing an article about a doctor who is using brain scans to detect consciousness in coma patients she comes across a young woman who was brutally attacked as a teen decades ago and has shown signs of being somewhat aware of her surroundings. Alex remembers this girl, Amy Stevenson, and the case, being the same age as Amy when the attack occurred, and feels a connection to her. She decides to look deeper into Amy's case to tell her story and, at the same time, face down the addiction that threatens to end her life.

Despite being told from multiple points of view and moving around in time from 1995 (the date of Amy's attack) through to the present day, this book wasn't in the least bit hard to follow. I generally enjoy books that are able to successfully show the motivations of multiple characters and Seddon pulled it off here quite nicely. The glimpses into the neurological ward and patients seemed well-researched despite Seddon's admission that she took some creative liberties with Amy's condition and treatment.

I thought I had guessed Amy's attacker and, while close, didn't quite hit the mark. I always find that a nice surprise, though in this case I was a bit put-off when the attacker was revealed. The actual perpetrator and the motivation behind the attack wasn't really touched on until almost the end, creating a frustrating inability for the reader to follow along with the mystery. As a result, the book would have to be classified more as a “suspense/thriller” than a mystery. The character development was so good, however, that I would have been okay with whatever ending Seddon settled upon. The plot was paced well, descriptive, and while the motivations were a bit unclear for the behavior of some characters, it was overall so believable that I was fully immersed in this story. I can't wait to see what Seddon does next.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)