Today I’m really excited to be a part of the blog tour for A Breath After Drowning by Alice Blanchard! I’ve got a review coming up, so read on to find out what I thought (and make sure you follow the rest of the tour too)!
Title: A Breath After Drowning
Author: Alice Blanchard
Publisher: Titan Books
[Synopsis]
Child psychiatrist Kate Wolfe’s world comes crashing down when one of her young patients commits suicide, so when a troubled girl is left at the hospital ward, she doubts her ability to help. But the girl knows things about Kate’s past, things she shouldn’t know, forcing Kate to face the murky evidence surrounding her own sister’s murder sixteen years before, bringing Kate face to face with her deepest fear.
[My Review]
Tense, engaging and intriguing, A Breath After Drowning captured my interest from the very first page. It starts out very focused on the characters, who I really liked (allowing me to become more invested in Kate and her life). Though it jumps backwards in time a little, the storyline is mostly focused on the here and now, which makes a nice change from many other books in this genre which tend to constantly flit between timeframes.
I enjoyed reading about Kate’s childhood, looking out for clues of what might have happened to her sister, but I preferred reading about Kate today, with her mental battles and her quest to find out what really happened all those years ago.
The mystery side of the story develops as the narrative continues, and I found myself completely absorbed – I really wanted to know what had happened; there’s something about ‘cold’ cases which, although they took place so long ago, really grab my attention.
Some parts are more dramatic than others, but overall I felt Alice Blanchard did a great job of not straying into the ‘too-ridiculous’ category. Though the story starts out a lot slower, the pace and tension ramps up as the story continues, ending in a conclusion which left me feeling satisfied and wanting to read more by this author!
[Rating: 4/5]
Many thanks to Philippa at Titan Books for providing a copy of this novel on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review, and for inviting me onto the blog tour!
[About the Author]
Alice Blanchard is an award-winning author. Her short story collection The Stuntman’s Daughter won the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction. She has received a PEN Syndicated Fiction Award and a New Letters Literary Award.
Her thriller The Breathtaker was the official selection of NBC’s Today Show Book Club, presented by bestselling author Jacquelyn Mitchard. Her debut novel Darkness Peering was a New York Times’ Notable Book. Her work has been published in 16 countries.
Alice grew up in Connecticut, where she drew inspiration from New England’s thick morning mists and mythic woods. Her father was a well known sculptor and painter. Her mother and sister are poets and her brother is a screenwriter working in Los Angeles. Her husband is a photographer, writer, curator and musician.
I have this book on my tbr really looking forward to reading it
Definitely give it a go, it’s kind of a slow burner but really builds up !