#Titanuary ‘A Breath After Drowning’ by Alice Blanchard

About the book…

The stunning new psychological thriller from the award-winning author of Darkness Peering and The Breathtaker.

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.

First published by Titan in 2018, currently available in paperback and ebook formats(on Kindle Unlimited it is free !!!) ‘A Breath After Drowning’ is the first in the Kat Wolfe series by Alice Blanchard.

I sincerely hope that there will be more because, good lord, this was a complete banger of a novel.

It’s the kind that sucks you in and keeps you  involved deeply in the outcome until you put it to one side with a very satisfied sigh.

The insight into the facilities available to those kept within the mental health system, alongside the real life effects of suicide are absolutely nailed, the details are specific, precise and not glossed over.

Kate Wolfe is herself a child survivor of a trauma which fires her progress as a child psychiatrist. It is as if her work and her need to reach out,help and support, as many children as possible is an attempt to fix, or heal, the broken child within herself.

Her relationship with her mentor, her fellow staff and her partner,all of these ring so true and are presented flawlessly as with grounded characters, you are more inclined to follow where they lead and be emotionally invested in an outcome which makes sense.

It’s a twisting, turning mysteery, a game of cat and mouse where life and death are being played for -the highest stake of all is Kate’s sanity as she is dragged deeper into the maelstrom of a historic investigation into child disappearance and murder.

Unable to let this go on both professional and personal grounds, Kate goes to bat for children and justice alike, she is haunted not only by the effects of her childhood but also the drive to do right. She has survived the abduction and murder of her sister and just as the convicted killer is about to be put to death, a whole gamut of information comes to light which pulls the fragile ground out from under Kate’s feet.

Suddenly she is dealing with the aftermath of a patient’s suicide, the re-emergence of her sister’s case in the news and its link to other cases.

What I loved about this book was not knowing which direction it would take next-you felt on pins for Kate as she dives deeper into herself to make sense of the inexplicable-and given the recent focus on death row and executions, the details on the machinations of death in states which still carry out the ultimate penalty, left me shaken. The way it was presented left the reader to make their own mind up about this form of punishment, but there are lots of take aways to think about with regards to potential miscarriages of justice, incontrovertible proof and punishment fitting crimes.

This novel is a cracking series opener which introduces a whole array of characters that have room to grow and develop in future stories, and I will be eagerly checking Alice’s Goodreads page for updates on new releases, and also working through her , frankly awesome sounding, back catalogue of fiction.

About the author…

Alice Blanchard is the award-winning author of “‘Trace Of Evil’” and “‘The Wicked Hour’,” an evocative new mystery series from Minotaur Books.
An IndieNext Pick!
“Powerful.” ― Ann Cleeves
“Gripping.” ― Associated Press

“Trace of Evil” was selected as an Amazon Best Mystery/Thriller for December, an Indie Next Pick, a Loanstars Top Pick and a CrimeReads Magazine “Books You Should Read in December.”

Her standalone mystery, “Darkness Peering,” was a New York Times’ Notable Book, and her thriller “‘The Breathtaker’” was an official selection of NBC’s Today Show Book Club. Her work has been published in 17 countries.

“‘The Stuntman’s Daughter’,” won the Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction. She has received a PEN Award, a New Letters Literary Award and a Centrum Fellowship.

Links-https://aliceblanchard.com/