Try Not to Breathe

Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon
Published by Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine Books on February 23rd 2016
Genres: Thriller, Mystery
Pages: 368
Format: eBook

For fans of Lianne Moriarty, Paula Hawkins, and Tana French, an arresting debut novel of psychological suspense: a young journalist struggles to keep the demons of her alcoholism at bay as she finds her purpose again in tackling the mystery of a shocking headline-making crime, still unsolved after fifteen years.
Amy Stevenson was the biggest news story of 1995. Only fifteen years old, Amy disappeared walking home from school one day and was found in a coma three days later. Her attacker was never identified and her angelic face was plastered across every paper and nightly news segment.
Fifteen years later, Amy lies in the hospital, surrounded by 90’s Britpop posters, forgotten by the world until reporter Alex Dale stumbles across her while researching a routine story on vegetative patients.
Remembering Amy’s story like it was yesterday, she feels compelled to solve the long-cold case.
The only problem is, Alex is just as lost as Amy—her alcoholism has cost her everything including her marriage and her professional reputation.
In the hopes that finding Amy’s attacker will be her own salvation as well, Alex embarks on a dangerous investigation, suspecting someone close to Amy.
Told in the present by an increasingly fragile Alex and in dream-like flashbacks by Amy as she floats in a fog of memories, dreams, and music from 1995, Try Not to Breathe unfolds layer by layer to a breathtaking conclusion.

**Special thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for supplying my copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**

Try Not to Breathe is the debut novel by Holly Seddon. It’s always so interesting to me to read a good debut. To me, it sounds like the official announcement of a good writer. I heard a lot of praising for Try Not to Breathe and I was intrigued to read it.

In 1995, a fifteen years old teenager, Amy Stevenson, is terribly assaulted. Fifteen years later, a young freelancing journalist, Alex Dale, is interviewing a doctor about his latest work related to communicating with unconscious patients. Alex has her own struggles in life. Alex’s addiction to Alcohol has costed her her marriage, her career and also her health. As she visits the doctor in hospital to interview him, she discovers Amy as one of the unconscious patients. Being same age, she remembers Amy’s case back in 1995. Amy’s case has been an unsolved mystery ever since then. Alex is so interested to solve this mystery. She hopes writing an article about this case can help her put her life back together and restore her career. As Alex tries to contact every person who knew Amy before, more secrets start coming up to the surface.

Try Not to Breathe is a very suspenseful read. The more you read, the more secrets there are. I couldn’t put the book once I started reading. I was dying to get to the bottom of it. Holly kept going backward and forward in time which kept me on the edge of my seat. Also the alternating narration style was more than wonderful, every character giving you a part of the mystery at a time.

I do appreciate good mystery books, and this is for sure one of them. It’s a fast-paced thriller that can grip you right from the start till the end.