Olivia Kiernan’s tautly written debut novel immerses readers in a chilling murder case…and the tantalizing, enigmatic victim at the center of it all.In a quiet Dublin suburb, within her pristine home, Eleanor Costello is found hanging from a rope.Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan would be more than happy to declare it a suicide. Four months earlier, Frankie’s pursuit of a killer … Frankie’s pursuit of a killer almost ended her life and she isn’t keen on investigating another homicide. But the autopsy reveals poorly healed bones and old stab wounds, absent from medical records. A new cut is carefully, deliberately covered in paint. Eleanor’s husband, Peter, is unreachable, missing. A search of the couple’s home reveals only two signs of personality: a much-loved book on art and a laptop with access to the Dark Web.
With the suspect pool growing, the carefully crafted profile of the victim crumbling with each new lead, and mysterious calls to Frankie’s phone implying that the killer is closer than anyone would like, all Frankie knows is that Eleanor guarded her secrets as closely in life as she does in death.
As the investigation grows more challenging, Frankie can’t help but feel that something doesn’t fit. And when another woman is found murdered, the same paint on her corpse, Frankie knows that unraveling Eleanor’s life is the only way to find the murderer before he claims another victim…or finishes the fate Frankie only just managed to escape.
Engrossing, complex, and atmospheric, Olivia Kiernan’s debut novel will leave you breathless.
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In TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE, author Olivia Kiernan knows how to keep readers on tenterhooks—to the very last page! Up close and personal, she takes you within a hairsbreadth of pure, unadulterated evil. If you like suspense, I highly recommend this book!
Well written, tightly plotted crime novel with carefully conceived characters, emotional depth and more twists than imaginable. Cannot wait to read Olivia Kieran’s second book, and the upcoming third.
This writer truly puts you in the scene. The description of people and places this well is the sign of a gifted writer. Story was multi-dimensional, which kept the story flowing and the pages turning. A good read.
I enjoyed that I was kept guessing until the very end. Loved that the city was another character in the book.
Excellent, I’ve already purchased the 2nd
This is a gritty, haunting thriller set in Dublin. Many plot twists keep the reader interested. The lead DI Frankie Sheehan is a brilliant but damaged person after a previous near-death experience. The murder victims are prime characters even after death. Great set of detectives.
The suspects were just gross, the subject matter sickening.
WOW… This is a debut book by Olivia Kiernan. DCS Frankie Sheehan has a lot going on. She is working on solving a string of crimes while also dealing with a crime that happen against her. There is no doubt the crime against her left her with many issues to deal with but working is helping her get on with her life. I like that a Frankie didn’t let her issues keep her out of living life. I actually think that because of what happen it helps her keep prospective of the crimes, sees things other have or could have missed, and work harder to solve a crime that others have written off as unsolvable.
I was enthralled from the beginning and by the halfway point of the story I thought I had the case solved. Yea, well I wasn’t even close. I love being wrong while reading. The hints led me one way while I should have gone the other way. While there were some hints that I knew were taking me the wrong direction since what fun would it be to give it all away at the beginning of the story I couldn’t help but follow them.
I am a synopsis and cover person. For me to want to read a book the cover has to grab my attention. The cover of Too Close to Breathe did just that. I look at the cover and saw a mystery, a thriller, and a dark story that I couldn’t wait to pick up. Then when I read the synopsis and Olivia Kiernan was compared to such amazing authors as Tana French and Gillian Flynn I knew that I would not be able to pass on this book.
Too Close to Breathe is dark, gritty, and at times, deeply disturbing. The story takes us on a chilling journey through the world of BDSM, abuse, self-harm, and the dark web. The hunt for the killer did draw me in and kept me reading to see how it would all play out, but the drawback for me was a lack of connection with Frankie. She’s just returning to work and still dealing with an attack during a previous case. We do get bits of pieces of that case throughout the book, so I can understand and empathize with her, but for whatever reason, there was that lack of connection that kept me from getting fully immersed in the story. The author does have talent and I’ll be interested to see her growth as the series progresses.
Too Close to Breathe (Frankie Sheehan #1) by author Olivia Kiernan is a suspense thriller with twists. DCS Frankie Sheehan is a trained profiler and she is called to the home of a respected scientist and professor and sees her hanging as if she had died in a final act of suicide. The beautiful Dr Eleanor Costello had a good life, had made plans and did not seem to be the type to have committed suicide. As Frankie examines Eleanor’s hands, she sees wounds and signs that the professor had tried to hold the rope from her throat. Also, there is a thin line of blue along a previously healed scar on her wrist. So, where is the husband, Dr. Peter Costello? The mystery deepens when the laptop in the Costello’s home has a history of visiting sites on the Dark Web. Murder, dark games, and lies, all play a part to keep DCS Frankie Sheehan busy looking for the correct answers. Did Eleanor want to die or was it a game with a very dark result.
Prussian blue which is used to treat radioactive cesium or thallium or non-radioactive thallium poisoning is discovered as a common factor as more deaths are discovered. I will always remember this story when I see the color Prussian Blue