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Try Not to Breathe cover art

Try Not to Breathe

By: Holly Seddon
Narrated by: Jot Davies,Lucy Middleweek,Katy Sobey
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Summary

For fans of Gillian Flynn, Laura Lippman, and Paula Hawkins comes Holly Seddon's arresting fiction debut: an engrossing thriller full of page-turning twists and turns, richly imagined characters, and gripping psychological suspense.

Some secrets never die. They're just locked away.

Alex Dale is lost. Destructive habits have cost her a marriage and a journalism career. All she has left is her routine: a morning run until her body aches, then a few hours of forgettable work before the past grabs hold and drags her down. Every day is treading water, every night is drowning. Until Alex discovers Amy Stevenson. Amy Stevenson, who was just another girl from a nearby town until the day she was found after a merciless assault. Amy Stevenson, who has been in a coma for fifteen years, forgotten by the world. Who, unbeknownst to her doctors, remains locked inside her body, conscious but paralysed, reliving the past.

Soon Alex's routine includes visiting hours at the hospital, then interviews with the original suspects in the attack. But what starts as a reporter's story becomes a personal obsession. How do you solve a crime when the only witness lived, but cannot tell the tale? Unable to tear herself away from uncovering the unspeakable truth, Alex realises she's not just chasing a story she's seeking salvation.

Shifting from present to past and back again, Try Not to Breathe unfolds layer by layer until its heart-stopping conclusion. The result is an utterly immersive, unforgettable debut.

©2016 Holly Seddon (P)2016 Bolinda

What listeners say about Try Not to Breathe

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Don't believe the hype!

I honestly have no idea how this book has so many great reviews. The story was uninteresting, had a predictable ending was and without any real climax to keep the readers hooked. Don't waste 9+ hours listening to this

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26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Don't hold your breath...

Any additional comments?

The culprit was easy to guess and I found it a bit boring, had I been reading instead of listening I would have skipped pages. One of those books I listened to because I'd purchased it - mediocre.

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22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Predictable

Story was predictable, so much so that you know the ending by half way through the book, with nothing exciting happening along the way. The audio was distracting as the voices seemed sing-song and irritating. Disappointing.

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22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointed

First I have to admit to very much disliking the voices used ! The intonation sounded off to me and became increasingly irritating.

As for the story, it did keep my interest but characters felt very received. The main character, who narrates most of it, was very similar to the one in The Girl on the Train. Another young woman whose life has been ruined by alcohol, starts to investigate a mystery and at the same time comes to terms with her alcoholism and the man she has lost as a result of it. This is almost identical.

So too is the structure of having several narrators, at least one of which is unreliable.

Lastly, the mystery, in other words who did it as it were,, I felt was not satisfying. I don't wish to spoil the ending so cannot really comment any more.

Overall, I was rather disappointed in a book that was not very well written and the plot of which seems to have been lifted from elsewhere. Unless I have got it the wrong way round and the girl on the train came first

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22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting and enjoyable!

Any additional comments?

I found this to be a relatively unusual tale. It moved back and forth between two timelines, and was told from chapter to chapter by different characters. I found the first third or so, dragged a little, but it was interesting enough to stick with. After that, I was quite engrossed. The ending tied everything up very well.

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

If you can get over annoying irritating inflections in speech of two readers it's worth listening to.

I almost gave up after a couple of hours simply because of the male narrator's irritatingly inflection in his voice. When he was 'into ' his character this was less obvious , he's actually a good reader with lots of colour and expression , but I won't buy another audible book with him reading. When I first heard the female journalist's voice I thought 'oh no! Same inflection " I figured whoever picked the two readers must like this kind of voice. The voice of the 'girl' was excellent . To me if the voices aren't to my liking I find it hard to enjoy. The story was okay, easy listening , worth reading even with it's fairly abrupt ending . Nothing special but glad I got to end. It's not in the same ball park of Gillian Flynn or Paula Hawkins but perfect to entertain when doing something mundane - long drive , ironing etc...

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

sheer stuborness got me through this bore

listened to the ”trailor” and it sounded good. bought the book and regretted it almost immediatly. boring. predictable and dull.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

exactly what I was looking for!!

perfect cure for my The Girl on the Train withdrawal syptoms. This book has a similar layout in terms of the narrators and a gripping story line.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it , characters were intriguing

Would recommend this book , loved everything about it , couldn't stop listening, well worth a listen

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Mediocre story

Not such a great story. it built up to a bit of an anti climax in the end.

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10 people found this helpful