Tuesday, June 5, 2012

One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf

One Breath AwayOne Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4 Stars for this fast paced, emotional thriller by Heather Gudenkauf! I found One Breath Away to be a daring novel, one that I was hesitant to read, yet curiosity took over. I really wanted to know what direction Ms. Gudenkauf would take this story, and decided to give it a shot. I am really glad I did! It is one of those gut-wrenching, can’t put down, must read in one-sitting kind of plots!

One Breath Away opens with a revelation that something has gone terribly wrong in the small schoolhouse in Iowa. We immediately meet Augie and her mother. Then Gudenkauf goes back in time to the beginning of the startling events. Piece by piece, the horrible situation falls into place. Even though the story was hard to read at times due the content, it was enjoyable to meet the characters, especially Mrs. Oliver, and seeing how they reacted and dealt with the nightmare. The author did an excellent job of developing them without overdoing it.

Ms. Gudenkauf paces her novel well, switching from various perspectives, keeping the viewpoints in real-time, and this reader constantly glued to the pages. One thing that did bother me about One Breath Away was that I easily figured who the gunman was. I would have prefered to have not known. Not sure if that was the author’s intention or not, however the clues were pretty big for me:-)

The publisher has picked the right time to release One Breath Away, as it is best read in one sitting. And what better time for that than summer?:-) Definitely recommend!

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