Breathe In, Bleed Out

By: Brian McAuley

Narrated by: Jeremy Carlisle Parker

It's a Midsommar night's Scream in this blood-soaked thriller set at a remote healing retreat from horror author Brian McAuley.
Hannah has been running from her demons ever since she emerged from a harrowing wilderness trip without her fiancé. No one knows exactly what happened the day Ben died, and Hannah would like to keep it that way... even if his ghost still haunts her with vivid waking nightmares that are ruining her life. So when her friend group gets an exclusive invitation to a restorative spiritual retreat in Joshua Tree, Hannah reluctantly agrees in search of a fresh start.
Despite her skepticism of the strange Guru Pax and his belief in the supernatural world, Hannah soon finds healing through all the yoga, sound baths, and hot springs offered at the tech-free haven. But this peaceful journey of self-discovery quickly descends into a violent fight for self-preservation when a mysterious killer starts picking off retreat attendees in increasingly gruesome ways. As the body count rises and Hannah’s sanity frays, she’ll have to confront her dark past and uncover the true nature of a ruthless monster hellbent on killing her vibe for good.

predictable and generic

This starts off strong but turns into a very predictable and poorly written ending. The reveal could be seen from the get go and the logic behind it doesn't mesh with the rest of the story.

Weak Sauce

This novel is terrible. It’s filled with political/progressive talking points that stops the reader’s suspension of disbelief. Any character not in the author’s political ideology is a poorly written caricature. The main character isn’t likable. In fact, she’s a detestable human being, mean to her friends, and filled with moral superiority and chronological snobbery. The ending is a cop out. The prose is amatuerish, fatty, and vapid. This author could have used a more diligent editor, cutting unnecessary repetitive prose. How did this get published by the way?

Not funny, not enlightening, wordy, vapid. The author’s underlying themes are veil thin and poorly thought through.

On the plus side, the structure is rock solid. This author has definitely read “Save the Cat.” That’s about the only positive thing I can say.

Meh- it was mid

I guess it kept me guessing as to who the killer could be, but other than that it was OK. The narrator sounded like every single word was a struggle for her like she was running out of breath at every word… it was annoying.