Try Not to Breathe

December 14, 2015
The crippling alcoholism of freelance journalist Alex Dale, the heroine of British author Seddon’s impressive first novel, has cost her nearly everything—her husband, a baby, and her job. Her current assignment writing about health issues takes her to the neuro-disability ward at Tunbridge Wells Royal Infirmary, which treats patients in long-term comas. New research shows that some patients, while unable to communicate outwardly, are still able to communicate using brain scans. Alex becomes interested in one patient in particular, Amy Stevenson, who was brutally attacked at age 15, in 1995, and has been in a coma for the 15 years since—trapped inside her body, but unable to tell her story. Alex becomes determined to solve the mystery behind Amy’s attack, convinced that breaking this story will resurrect her journalism career. Told from alternating perspectives and alternating decades, this gripping thriller about family and redemption will keep readers engaged to the very end. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency.