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seraphicpetal 's review for:
Breathe In, Bleed Out
by Brian McAuley
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC! Opinions are totally my own this is just me screaming into the void about books I love (or don’t).
Content warnings: self-harm, addiction, suicide ideation, grief, emotional abuse, medical horror, hallucinations, gore, cult-like manipulation
Breathe In, Bleed Out is a psychological horror-thriller that sinks its axe in early and doesn’t let go. Set against the sun-scorched, isolating backdrop of a desert retreat in Joshua Tree, the story creates an atmosphere that’s both beautiful and brutally unrelenting. McAuley doesn’t flinch from the psychological rot at the heart of human healing, he still leaves space for haunting beauty and small glimmers of hope.
Hannah felt real, spiraling, and hanging on by threads. The details and ambiance were so grounded and vivid, I could feel the grit of the desert air, hear the buzz of heat, and sense the quiet dread in every silence. I often wasn’t sure if I was in her dreams and hallucinations or the waking world, and that’s the magic of it. The transitions were so seamless and immersive that I stopped trying to separate the two and just let the story take over.
The retreat guru? A full-on yoga-branded nightmare! He was equal parts spiritual charlatan and manipulative creep. His calm-bro energy made my skin crawl in all the right horror-thriller ways.
The gore was handled perfectly. It was visceral enough to make you squirm, but never tipping into gratuitous or over-the-top. It served the story, heightening the tension without distracting from the core.
And the ending? It hit me like a runaway mine cart. Really? I had to sit with it, stunned, asking myself what just happened, and why it worked so damn well.
The characters? Messy, maddening, magnetic, and I absolutely loved them for it. Even when I wanted to scream at them, I never stopped caring. A chilling, smart, and deeply human horror-thriller.
Content warnings: self-harm, addiction, suicide ideation, grief, emotional abuse, medical horror, hallucinations, gore, cult-like manipulation
Breathe In, Bleed Out is a psychological horror-thriller that sinks its axe in early and doesn’t let go. Set against the sun-scorched, isolating backdrop of a desert retreat in Joshua Tree, the story creates an atmosphere that’s both beautiful and brutally unrelenting. McAuley doesn’t flinch from the psychological rot at the heart of human healing, he still leaves space for haunting beauty and small glimmers of hope.
Hannah felt real, spiraling, and hanging on by threads. The details and ambiance were so grounded and vivid, I could feel the grit of the desert air, hear the buzz of heat, and sense the quiet dread in every silence. I often wasn’t sure if I was in her dreams and hallucinations or the waking world, and that’s the magic of it. The transitions were so seamless and immersive that I stopped trying to separate the two and just let the story take over.
The retreat guru? A full-on yoga-branded nightmare! He was equal parts spiritual charlatan and manipulative creep. His calm-bro energy made my skin crawl in all the right horror-thriller ways.
The gore was handled perfectly. It was visceral enough to make you squirm, but never tipping into gratuitous or over-the-top. It served the story, heightening the tension without distracting from the core.
And the ending? It hit me like a runaway mine cart. Really? I had to sit with it, stunned, asking myself what just happened, and why it worked so damn well.
The characters? Messy, maddening, magnetic, and I absolutely loved them for it. Even when I wanted to scream at them, I never stopped caring. A chilling, smart, and deeply human horror-thriller.