abbycruzan 's review for:

Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley
4.0

3.5 stars!

This book pleasantly surprised me! I am a big fan of thrillers but wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about a book that’s also categorized as horror. I went into it with an open mind, and I’m glad I did—I had a hard time putting this book down. I finished it within 24 hours!

The characters were annoying (lol), which made it hard for me to connect with them—but I think that actually worked well with the book’s slasher-esque vibe. Because of that disconnect, I didn’t find myself rooting for anyone in particular to escape the villain. Still, the story was well-written with extremely good pacing.

There were moments when I thought this book was strictly a thriller, then I became convinced it was leaning more toward the occult. I couldn’t guess how the book was going to end—which is my favorite type of thriller. I want to be bamboozled!

The conclusion felt a little anticlimactic to me, but that didn’t change how happy I felt about the book overall.

I would definitely recommend this to my horror-loving friends. But if you’re someone who can’t handle gore, you might want to skip this one. There isn’t a ton, but if you're sensitive to it, please be aware—there were times when I physically cringed while reading because the writing felt so graphic.

Anyway, I really liked this book and am glad I picked it up. I’ll be looking forward to reading more by this author!

Thank you to NetGalley, Brian McAuley, and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC of this book.