It’s been some time since Hannah lost her fiance in a tragic accident in the wilderness. She’s retreated from her friends, thrown herself into her work, and is completely reliant on pills and numbing herself from the horrific hallucinations she’s dealing with. But when she screws up at work, and her best friend refuses to hear ‘no’, Hannah finds herself headed into the desert for an exclusive multi-day spiritual retreat with her group of friends. But things are off from the moment the group arrive to this isolated retreat, and as a mysterious killer starts picking off everyone one by one, Hannah feels her sanity slipping, and her life is in serious danger.

Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley hits shelves September 2nd.

This feels like all of those fantastic slasher flicks from my youth like I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream, and Urban Legend, but mixed with modern day aesthetics and themes. It’s a great cast to follow in the story, a group of friends from college who have grown in separate directions. None are perfect, but all are lovable in a way. Hannah, our lead, is a broken and complex individual who is dealing with her own mountain of problems, but is so determined to heal herself at this retreat and come out better on the other side. You’re really rooting for her and become very attached.

And much like in those beloved slasher films, no one in this story is safe, and some deaths are more heartbreaking that others. But the deaths in this story are a tone of fun to read. McAuley really brought some inventive and bloody kills to the table.

There’s a lot of twists and turns in this story, and as Hannah’s sanity slips, she becomes more and more of an unreliable narrator, and you too start becoming paranoid and channeling Randy from Scream, EVERYBODY’S A SUSPECT! The ultimate twist reveal of who the killer really is caught me off guard, but I loved it, and it has one of my favourite lines in the book; “Sorry to interrupt, but this is the second time today that someone’s mansplained their evil plan to me.” Another favourite of mine is when one character is being murdered, and pleads; “Please, I’m an empath.”

Overall, this was just a really fun time. It’s gore soaked, it’s fast paced, it’s clever, and it has a cast of characters you can love. Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley will be on shelves September 2nd and I highly recommend grabbing a copy. A massive thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.