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egbarnes19 's review for:

Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley
4.5
adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Loveable characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

4.5 stars! A funny, fast-paced slasher that feels perfect for the summertime. For whatever reason, I am not a huge slasher movie girl, but I eat them up in book form. I'm so glad that this delivered on everything I hoped it would be. I will definitely be checking out Brian McAuley's previous works and anything else he writes in the future.

One of my favorite things about this was the funny, tongue-in-cheek writing style. I don't often describe the books the books I read as funny, but I found myself smiling to myself at things the (unlikeable, caricature-like) characters would say to each other or the at the way a death scene would be written. This reminded me a lot of The Last Word by Taylor Adams and Guillotine by Delilah S. Dawson in that way, two of my all-time favorite thrillers.

The author's note at the end is what really solidified this book as a 4.5 (rather than a 4) for me. It was really neat to learn about McAuley's long history with horror movies and the ways he included (and adapted) hallmarks of the genre in this work. A definite recommend from me.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.