BOOK REVIEW: Try Not To Breathe by Holly Seddon

When a book is compared to another bestseller that I have enjoyed, my alarm bells start ringing immediately. I’m sceptical about the chances of it reaching the same heights. I’m reluctant to read it because I don’t want the same story in different packaging. And I prepare myself for what I believe is inevitable disappointment. So when I picked up Try Not To Breathe by Holly Seddon and saw that it had been compared to Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on The Train, I sighed but thought I’ll give it a go. And boy am I glad I did. With the first chapter, my reservations were swept aside as I got my first glimpse of this intense psychological thriller and it’s complex characters. A freelance journalist called Alex is writing a piece on a specialised hospital ward dealing with unconscious patients with limited brain activity. There she comes across Amy who was left for dead after a brutal attack during her teenage years. Her attacker was never found. Being the same age as Amy and having grown up in the same place with the same people, Alex feels compelled to delve further into her story and vows to track down the person responsible for this terrible crime. As well as dealing with her own personal demons, Alex is forced to dig into the lives of those closest to Amy and upturns quite a few secrets along the way. Try Not To Breathe is everything I look for in a thriller. It’s gripping, it’s fast-paced and it’s dark. It also had me sitting up to all hours of the morning reading it. The story is told through a number of perspectives. This multifaceted narrative is of course reminiscent to The Girl On The Train but it works very well in this instance and adds an extra, emotional dimension to the plot. Alex, the main protagonist, is incredibly flawed and again reminded me of Rachel in The Girl On The Train, however she is slightly more likable. As I reached the conclusion of the novel, I was willing her on and the ending is both sinister and satisfying. If you hadn’t guessed, I would definitely recommend this novel and thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, I wish I had restricted myself to a couple of chapters a night, just to make it last longer! Also, based on this debut novel, we are very much looking forward to Seddon's next idea.