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marinas_world's review against another edition
4.0
4 1/2 ⭐️
At first this book was really slow for me, I felt like it was just dragging on, but once I got to around the half way mark I couldn’t put the book down! I just had to know what happened next, although I was able to predict a part of the ending, the actual ending it’s self took me off guard, definitely wasn’t the exactly how I was expecting it to end but it was still a fantastic ending!
At first this book was really slow for me, I felt like it was just dragging on, but once I got to around the half way mark I couldn’t put the book down! I just had to know what happened next, although I was able to predict a part of the ending, the actual ending it’s self took me off guard, definitely wasn’t the exactly how I was expecting it to end but it was still a fantastic ending!
theavidreaderandbibliophile's review against another edition
1.0
Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon is supposed to be a novel of suspense. Amy Stevenson was fifteen years old in 1995(this is where the story starts) went she disappeared on her way home from school. She was found a few days later severely beaten. Fifteen years later Amy is still alive (sort of). Amy is in a persistent vegetative state and living on the Bramble Ward at Tunbridge Wells Royal Infirmary. Amy has some brain function, has cycles of asleep and awake, and can breathe on her own. But she has yet to come awake. The police have never found who did this to her. Who did this to Amy?
Alex Dale is a freelance journalist (it is now September of 2010) who was at Tunbridge Wells Royal Infirmary doing research for a story on Dr. Peter Haynes (who is researching if people in vegetative states can communicate). Alex saw Amy on the ward and remembers her story. Alex and Amy are the same age. Alex starts digging into it hoping for a big story. Alex could use a break. Alex has ruined her career and life with alcohol. She refuses to get treatment, however, she cannot work past noon because she has to start drinking. Alex is hoping this story will help her career. Will Alex be able to discover what happened to Amy? Will killer try to stop Alex from writing her story?
Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon was an extreme disappointment. It was a slow paced novel that had no suspense or mystery. The culprit was extremely obvious. I compare this novel to waiting for water to boil. You know how you sit there and wait and wait and wait. That is this novel. It goes on and on and on. There were no surprises or a great twist. Alex is an extremely unlikeable character (she drinks voraciously, acts idiotic, wets her bed). The story is told from different points-of-views which makes it harder to get into the story and it also goes back and forth in time. I give Try Not to Breathe 1 out of 5 stars. I just did not enjoy Try Not to Breathe.
I received a complimentary copy of Try Not to Breathe from First to Read and NetGalley in exchange for an honest evaluation of the novel.
Alex Dale is a freelance journalist (it is now September of 2010) who was at Tunbridge Wells Royal Infirmary doing research for a story on Dr. Peter Haynes (who is researching if people in vegetative states can communicate). Alex saw Amy on the ward and remembers her story. Alex and Amy are the same age. Alex starts digging into it hoping for a big story. Alex could use a break. Alex has ruined her career and life with alcohol. She refuses to get treatment, however, she cannot work past noon because she has to start drinking. Alex is hoping this story will help her career. Will Alex be able to discover what happened to Amy? Will killer try to stop Alex from writing her story?
Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon was an extreme disappointment. It was a slow paced novel that had no suspense or mystery. The culprit was extremely obvious. I compare this novel to waiting for water to boil. You know how you sit there and wait and wait and wait. That is this novel. It goes on and on and on. There were no surprises or a great twist. Alex is an extremely unlikeable character (she drinks voraciously, acts idiotic, wets her bed). The story is told from different points-of-views which makes it harder to get into the story and it also goes back and forth in time. I give Try Not to Breathe 1 out of 5 stars. I just did not enjoy Try Not to Breathe.
I received a complimentary copy of Try Not to Breathe from First to Read and NetGalley in exchange for an honest evaluation of the novel.
katykelly's review against another edition
4.0
Unusual protagonist, good 'whodunnit' element, kept my interest.
A 15-year old girl is beaten into a coma after an attack. Her attacker is never caught. Her boyfriend, stepfather and other suspects were discounted.
Fifteen years later, a journalist by chance comes across her in a hospital while in the middle of another story. Becoming engrossed in the case, she attempts to find out the truth herself.
Alex herself has a past, and issues, but Amy's situation strikes a nerve. Both Alex and Amy narrate, Amy from her coma and as a schoolgirl, Alex as she investigates. The back and forth works well to build a picture of both women, the crime, the coma state, and Alex's own problems.
I wasn't sure why Alex needed to have the troubles she does, but it did add to the tension as you see her own life falling apart slowly, destructively, compared to Amy's own sudden and innocent trapping in her own mind.
It is quite tense, and is hard to guess just who is the bad guy. I enjoyed Amy's comatose narration, nicely sealing her as a teenager stuck in the 90s when actually she's a 30-something woman.
Quite a novel approach, and I was gripped to the audiobook, wanting to finish and find out the solution.
Multi-narrators on the audiobook, which helped distinguish the speakers, all well chosen.
A 15-year old girl is beaten into a coma after an attack. Her attacker is never caught. Her boyfriend, stepfather and other suspects were discounted.
Fifteen years later, a journalist by chance comes across her in a hospital while in the middle of another story. Becoming engrossed in the case, she attempts to find out the truth herself.
Alex herself has a past, and issues, but Amy's situation strikes a nerve. Both Alex and Amy narrate, Amy from her coma and as a schoolgirl, Alex as she investigates. The back and forth works well to build a picture of both women, the crime, the coma state, and Alex's own problems.
I wasn't sure why Alex needed to have the troubles she does, but it did add to the tension as you see her own life falling apart slowly, destructively, compared to Amy's own sudden and innocent trapping in her own mind.
It is quite tense, and is hard to guess just who is the bad guy. I enjoyed Amy's comatose narration, nicely sealing her as a teenager stuck in the 90s when actually she's a 30-something woman.
Quite a novel approach, and I was gripped to the audiobook, wanting to finish and find out the solution.
Multi-narrators on the audiobook, which helped distinguish the speakers, all well chosen.
lurker_stalker's review against another edition
4.0
While this wasn't a perfect book, I absolutely enjoyed it and was engaged from beginning to end.
I just wrote a much more detailed review for my site and my brain seems to be cramping up looking for what to say here but I think fans of dark suspense and mysteries would enjoy Try Not to Breathe.
Like I said, it's not perfect - there are some aspects that don't ring true, there's a POV that seems unnecessary, the thrilling climax wasn't very thrilling, but, all in all, I liked it a lot and if a sequel comes to be, I'll definitely pick it up. For a debut novel, I think it was pretty damn well done and shows a lot of promise for future offerings.
I received an ARC from NetGalley (yay for checking one off my long list of NG books to be read and reviewed!) in exchange for an honest review.
I just wrote a much more detailed review for my site and my brain seems to be cramping up looking for what to say here but I think fans of dark suspense and mysteries would enjoy Try Not to Breathe.
Like I said, it's not perfect - there are some aspects that don't ring true, there's a POV that seems unnecessary, the thrilling climax wasn't very thrilling, but, all in all, I liked it a lot and if a sequel comes to be, I'll definitely pick it up. For a debut novel, I think it was pretty damn well done and shows a lot of promise for future offerings.
I received an ARC from NetGalley (yay for checking one off my long list of NG books to be read and reviewed!) in exchange for an honest review.
mstapel's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting tale with a twist ending. This author was able to create a throng of intriguing characters that were all devastated by one event. The ripple event created by the attack of a young woman in the mid nineties is chillingly realistic. Try Not to Breathe was able to surprise me at the end, which is always appreciated! The concept behind the story was very interesting and an edge of science that is easily forgotten in the comings and goings of the day to day unless you are directly affected. Great story!
colleengeedrumm's review against another edition
3.0
Thanks to the awesome GR giveaways, I got to read this new book for an honest review. The premise is amazing - a recovering alcoholic journalist becomes entrenched in an unfortunate girl's tragedy that leaves her in a coma. While investigating the mystery, and solving it, we'd find some redemption. I believe the author took some liberties with how a coma patient could possibly communicate with the world outside, and I do hope the research continues to make progress with these sad cases. I also do not get how the title of the book ties in with the story, but overall, a nice job. Of course I did not suspect the protagonist, but never do. :-)
Putting one leg in front of the other, then the other leg in front of that. If she could do it once then she could do it for half an hour.
On jogs and races she ran slowly and steadily, competing against no one but the desire to stop.
Why was this girl making these bad decisions? How could she have just disappeared in full daylight? No, Alexandra, you mark my words, she went off with someone.
She'd imagined a mutual connection that was entirely one-sided. As she'd passed out the night before, she'd even allowed herself to imagine dome kind of reconciliation. Memories of her nocturnal naïveté made her cringe deeply.
It's a stupid trap that everyone falls into, isn't it? Bringing old relationships into new ones.
(During pregnancy, appts, classes, ultrasounds on the calendar) He'd never missed a single meeting with his son or daughter.
Perhaps she'd gone so far on the hangover wheel that shed made it back to "feeling all right." Perhaps she was still drunk.
She sat up slowly, expecting her brain to slide against her skull at any second, but the headache didn't come.
I think my secret might be a bit of a case.
She used to call them "the little duckling", the youngest two trailing behind Simon, with their sticky-out tummies and wide eyes.
When had her world become so narrow? She missed her own friends and having other people's worlds orbiting and overlapping with hers.
Alex wondered if these were the chairs he had grown taller in, in which he'd learned to use a knife and fork.
To just feel drums in my chest and guitars down my back and to know every single word like a friend. And I felt a. It more like myself, and a bit more ready to "find" the rest of myself.
Putting one leg in front of the other, then the other leg in front of that. If she could do it once then she could do it for half an hour.
On jogs and races she ran slowly and steadily, competing against no one but the desire to stop.
Why was this girl making these bad decisions? How could she have just disappeared in full daylight? No, Alexandra, you mark my words, she went off with someone.
She'd imagined a mutual connection that was entirely one-sided. As she'd passed out the night before, she'd even allowed herself to imagine dome kind of reconciliation. Memories of her nocturnal naïveté made her cringe deeply.
It's a stupid trap that everyone falls into, isn't it? Bringing old relationships into new ones.
(During pregnancy, appts, classes, ultrasounds on the calendar) He'd never missed a single meeting with his son or daughter.
Perhaps she'd gone so far on the hangover wheel that shed made it back to "feeling all right." Perhaps she was still drunk.
She sat up slowly, expecting her brain to slide against her skull at any second, but the headache didn't come.
I think my secret might be a bit of a case.
She used to call them "the little duckling", the youngest two trailing behind Simon, with their sticky-out tummies and wide eyes.
When had her world become so narrow? She missed her own friends and having other people's worlds orbiting and overlapping with hers.
Alex wondered if these were the chairs he had grown taller in, in which he'd learned to use a knife and fork.
To just feel drums in my chest and guitars down my back and to know every single word like a friend. And I felt a. It more like myself, and a bit more ready to "find" the rest of myself.
tami80469's review against another edition
2.0
I liked this book‘s idea (even though I‘m pretty much fed up by now with female alcoholics as the main characters) but the execution...meh. I enjoyed the writing style but the characters were extremely shallow and unlikeable. I also kept waiting for a twist but...it didn‘t come. Had it figured out quite soon.
Also, what was up with „...flirted with the same boys. And as Alex begins to investigate the attack, she opens the door to the same danger that has left Amy in a coma...“? Granted, that was probably the publishing house‘s PR but had nothing whatsoever to do with the story.
So, sorry to say that my first book of 2021 was a disappointment.
Also, what was up with „...flirted with the same boys. And as Alex begins to investigate the attack, she opens the door to the same danger that has left Amy in a coma...“? Granted, that was probably the publishing house‘s PR but had nothing whatsoever to do with the story.
So, sorry to say that my first book of 2021 was a disappointment.
rmarcin's review against another edition
4.0
Amy is hurt and hospitalized, and finds an unexpected friend in Alex, a journalist. Alex decides to write a story about Amy, and who hurt her. While researching the story, Alex finds out about Amy and about herself. An interesting story about brain injury, the patient's abilities, and perseverance. I enjoyed this book, although I had figured out who the culprit was early on in the book. There were enough tricks to keep you guessing, though.