Try Not To Breathe
Holly Seddon
Some secrets never die. They're just locked away.
Alex Dale is lost. Destructive habits have cost her a marriage and a journalism career. All she has left is her routine: a morning run until her body aches, then a few hours of forgettable work before the past grabs hold and drags her down. Every day is treading water, every night is drowning. Until Alex discovers Amy Stevenson. Amy Stevenson, who was just another girl from a nearby town until the day she was found after a merciless assault. Amy Stevenson, who has been in a coma for fifteen years, forgotten by the world. Who, unbeknownst to her doctors, remains locked inside her body, conscious but paralyzed, reliving the past.
Soon Alex's routine includes visiting hours at the hospital, then interviews with the original suspects in the attack. But what starts as a reporter's story becomes a personal obsession. How do you solve a crime when the only witness lived, but cannot tell the tale? Unable to tear herself away from uncovering the unspeakable truth, Alex realizes she's not just chasing a story—she's seeking salvation.
Shifting from present to past and back again, Try Not to Breathe unfolds layer by layer until its heart-stopping conclusion. The result is an utterly immersive, unforgettable debut.(from Netgalley)
Alex Dale is lost. Destructive habits have cost her a marriage and a journalism career. All she has left is her routine: a morning run until her body aches, then a few hours of forgettable work before the past grabs hold and drags her down. Every day is treading water, every night is drowning. Until Alex discovers Amy Stevenson. Amy Stevenson, who was just another girl from a nearby town until the day she was found after a merciless assault. Amy Stevenson, who has been in a coma for fifteen years, forgotten by the world. Who, unbeknownst to her doctors, remains locked inside her body, conscious but paralyzed, reliving the past.
Soon Alex's routine includes visiting hours at the hospital, then interviews with the original suspects in the attack. But what starts as a reporter's story becomes a personal obsession. How do you solve a crime when the only witness lived, but cannot tell the tale? Unable to tear herself away from uncovering the unspeakable truth, Alex realizes she's not just chasing a story—she's seeking salvation.
Shifting from present to past and back again, Try Not to Breathe unfolds layer by layer until its heart-stopping conclusion. The result is an utterly immersive, unforgettable debut.(from Netgalley)
My Thoughts
Alex Dale is a freelance journalist. She has a drinking problem, her marriage has failed and she is desperately trying one more time to get it together. She decides to write a health care related article on people who are in a vegetative state. She hears that there is ground breaking research in the possibility of being able to communicate with some of the patients. She encounters Amy Stevenson, a young woman who had been assaulted fifteen years earlier. The attack left her with serious injuries and she appears to be non-cognizant. For some reason, Alex forms a bond with Amy and decides to try to solve the mystery of who attacked her, something the police were never able to do. Where will her research take her?
I was surprised to see that this was a debut novel. It was very well written. It starts out slowly as we get to know the main characters. The pace starts to pick up as Alex slowly put the pieces together of what happened to Amy fifteen years ago. I found the book hard to put down, had great suspense and interesting characters.
Bravo Ms. Seddon!
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