Tuesday 3 April 2018

Too Close To Breathe by Olivia Kiernan - Blog Tour Review


Today Life Of A Nerdish Mum is honoured to be a part of the blog tour for the debut novel by Olivia Kiernan, Too Close To Breathe. 

Too Close To Breathe

TOO SOON TO SEE

Polished. Professional. Perfect. Dead. Respected scientist Dr Eleanor Costello is found hanging 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.

My Review

You would never know that Too Close To Breathe is a debut novel, the writing and story telling is absolutely top and thoroughly enjoyable. The author does take a risk in how they develop the main character, DCS Frankie Sheehan, as when I first started reading I had to double check I hadn't missed a previous book or prequel explaining what had actually happened to her before this case and what she is recovering from. However once I was happy that I hadn't missed anything, it worked really well how the story of what happened is eked out alongside the main story. 

Too Close To breathe is quite dark and gritty and covers some of the seedier sides of crime including the Dark Web. It's also quite graphic in it's descriptions, particularly of the autopsies, which I haven't seen for a while but it was a nice touch, though may be too much for someone with a weaker stomach! The story is fast paced and it kept me guessing right until the end which I really liked (though was secretly frustrated because I loved "solving" the crimes myself first!)

Overall an incredibly strong debut and I am looking forward to continuing with the series when the next book comes out and learning more about DCS Sheehan. I would also like to see more of Dublin playing a part in the future stories too as it's such a distinctive place.

I gave this book 4 stars. 

About The Author


Olivia Kiernan is the author of TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE, a crime thriller where DCS Frankie Sheehan investigates the murder of Dr Eleanor Costello. At first glance the murder appears uncomplicated but soon spills out onto a dark canvas of fear, lies and murder.

Olivia Kiernan grew up in the Irish countryside, a background which left her with a great appreciation of storytelling. Being almost sensible she shelved aspirations of becoming a writer and embarked on a career in science, spending six years in university studying anatomy and physiology before receiving a BSc in Chiropractic in 2003. She worked in this vein for over a decade, always writing in the evenings after work and completing an MA in Creative Writing through part-time study in 2012.
In 2015, she began writing TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE as part of National Novel Writing Month, polishing off half the first draft by the end of the month-long writing marathon. After hiding the manuscript on her hard drive for close to a year, revisiting it from time to time to add a scene or remove one, she sent it out to agents. Within a month she had signed with a literary agent and in 2017 a dream was realised when TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE sold.

TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE will be released on 5th April 2018 in the UK, and the 3rd of April in the US.

Don't Forget To Check Out The Rest Of The Tour



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