Blog Tour: The Silence Between Breaths by Cath Staincliffe


Today is my stop on the Blog Tour of The Silence Between Breaths, Cath Staincliffe's latest book. Cath is an award winning novelist, radio playwright and creator of ITV’s hit series Blue Murder. Her books have been shortlisted for the CWA’s Best First Novel award and for the Dagger in the Library and she won the Short Story Dagger in 2012. In 2014 her novel Letters To My Daughter’s Killer was shortlisted for the ITV3 Crime Thriller Book Club. Cath is also the author of the Scott and Bailey novels based on the popular ITV series.
Title: The Silence Between Breaths
Author: Cath Staincliffe
Published: September 22nd 2016 by Constable

Blurb: Eight people, one deadly secret.

Passengers boarding the 10:35 train from Manchester, Piccadilly to London, Euston are bound for work, assignations, reunions, holidays or new starts, with no idea that their journey is about to be brutally curtailed. 

Holly has just landed her dream job, which should make life a lot easier than it has been, and Jeff is heading for his first ever work interview after months of unemployment. They end up sitting next to each other. On board customer service assistant Naz dreams of better things as he collects rubbish from the passengers. And among the others travelling are Nick with his young family who are driving him crazy; pensioner Meg and her partner setting off on a walking holiday and facing an uncertain future; Caroline, run ragged by the competing demands of her stroppy teenage children and her demented mother; and Rhona, unhappy at work and desperate to get home to her small daughter. And in the middle of the carriage sits Saheel, carrying a deadly rucksack...


Review: This is the first book I have read by Cath Staincliffe and I am completely in awe with her tense and compelling writing. Once I started reading The Silence Between Breaths, I just couldn't put it down. She presented us with 8 characters and in a few pages, she managed to tell us their own stories. When we met them, they had nothing in common but that was about to change. I felt like I really got to know these characters, their dreams and their fears and I couldn't help but care for them, at least for most of them as some of the characters were impossible to like. 

I actually hadn't read the blurb before reading the book so I had no idea what was going to happen (something that is hinted in the blurb). Once I realised what was actually happening, I kept reading with bated breath. I think it had been a while since a book had made me feel so tense. I could really feel what all the characters were feeling.

This is a really difficult story to read. I had to stop and breath more than once while reading it. But it's definitely a story worth reading. I found it really interesting to read about these characters and how being at the wrong place at the wrong moment changed their lives forever. This will be a book difficult to forget, especially when you think about how this could happen to anyone. I am curious now to discover more stories by Cath Staincliffe. 


Rating: 5 stars

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*


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8 comentaris

  1. Sometimes we need a change of pace and genre in our reading don't we Alba. Love that you were tense (shows how engaged with the story you were).

    BTW, your pen was posted off today. Thank you for your support :) x
    #TalkoftheTown

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    1. Thanks Shaz, I can't wait to have the pen! Thanks so much! And it's true, sometimes a change in genre is what we need to feel engaged again! :)

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  2. Sounds like you enjoyed this book but I'm not sure it's one I'd want to read - a bit too much like real life :-/
    #TalkoftheTown

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    1. P.S. Congrats on the pen. I have one too and it's lovely :-)

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    2. Thanks Suzanna! It's definitely a hard story to read. I had to stop a couple of times to really disconnect from it. Alba x

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  3. This does sound like an intense read. I couldn't read thrillers all the time, but sometimes I quite like to curl up with one and forget all about the things happening around me. Thank you for linking up to #TalkoftheTown! xx

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  5. This sounds really interesting Alba! I'm definitely putting it on my to read pile :)

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