Too Close To Breathe by Olivia Kiernan @LivKiernan @riverrunbooks #TooCloseToBreathe

TOO SOON TO SEE

Polished. Professional. Perfect. Dead. Respected scientist Dr Eleanor Costello is found hanged in her immaculate home: the scene the very picture of a suicide.

TOO LATE TO HIDE

DCS Frankie Sheehan is handed the case, and almost immediately spots foul play. Sheehan, a trained profiler, is seeking a murderer with a talent for death.

TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE

As Frankie strives to paint a picture of the killer, and their victim, she starts to sense they are part of a larger, darker canvas, on which the lines between the two blur.

Olivia Kiernan's debut is a bold, brilliant thriller that will keep you guessing and leave you breathless.

Too Close To Breathe by Olivia Kiernan was published by riverrun on 5 April and is the first in a new series featuring Frankie Sheehan. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review.

It's a very brave debut author who introduces a very flawed lead character to her readers. This book reads like the second in the series as we discover that Frankie Sheehan has just returned to work as a Detective after being injured in a previous incident. The author doesn't tell us what happened previously, but the case hangs over Sheehan's head, with the Court case looming and her occasional flashbacks; it's very clever. Sometimes a little confusing, but the premise is intriguing, and if there was ever a hook to keep a reader engaged with a series, this is it.

So, back to the plot of Too Close To Breathe; when respected microbiologist Dr Eleanor Costello is found hanged, it appears to be a cut and dried, whilst tragic, case of suicide. However Sheehan is not so sure; there's something not quite right about this and sure enough, her profiling skills prove her right and this becomes a murder case.

Olivia Kiernan doesn't hold back. Her readers are thrust into the darkest, seediest side of life throughout this intense and quite complex investigation. The Dark Web and BDSM playing a major part in the plot, and exposing to the reader, and to Sheehan and her team, people and events that could scar a person for life.

Too Close To Breathe is not an easy read at all, however it is a gripping and compulsive book, and I was lucky enough to read this whilst on holiday, so it rarely left my side until I turned the final page.

There's evidence of extensive research within the story, and the characters are carefully crafted. I think that Sheehan will have to grow on me, I need to know more about her, and I'm really looking forward to book two in the series.

Olivia Kiernan is an Irish writer living in the UK and author of crime thriller, TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE. 

She was born and raised in County Meath, near the famed heritage town of Kells and holds an MA in Creative Writing awarded by the University of Sussex.


Find out more at www.oliviakiernan.com
Follow her on Twitter @LivKiernan
Find her Author page on Facebook