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WORK TITLE: Too Close to Breathe
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://oliviakiernan.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: Irish
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2017063962
Descriptive conventions:
rda
LC classification: PR6111.I43
Personal name heading:
Kiernan, Olivia
Found in: Too close to breathe, 2018: ECIP t.p. (Olivia Kiernan)
Amazon website, viewed October 24, 2017 (Too close to
breathe: about the author, Olivia Kiernan is an Irish
writer living in the UK. She was born and raised in
County Meath near the famed heritage town of Kells and
holds an MA in creative writing awarded by the
University of Sussex. Too Close to Breathe is her first
novel)
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Questions? Contact: ils@loc.gov
PERSONAL
Born in County Meath, Ireland.
EDUCATION:University of Sussex, M.A., (creative writing).
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Irish writer Olivia Kiernan was born in County Meath. Fascinated with Irish myths and legends, she writes short stories and historical novels of suspense, romance, and murder with a supernatural twist. She holds a master’s degree in creative writing and lives in Oxfordshire, England.
Kiernan’s 2013 Dawn Solstice features archeologist Dawn Kennedy investigating the Neolithic Newgrange tomb in Ireland, which is rumored to be connected to reincarnation. During her work, she meets stud farm owner Evan O’Brien and begins a tenuous relationship with him. Soon, she is haunted by a Banshee, a harbinger of death, who seems to be pulling her into the past and is eager for her to die.
In 2018 Kiernan published Too Close to Breathe, a murder mystery set in a Dublin suburb. Detective Frankie Sheehan has recently recovered from a life-threatening injury that occurred in the line of duty. Still suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), she reluctantly takes up a new case, this one involving the apparent suicide of Eleanor Costello. But an autopsy reveals poorly healed bones, old stab wounds, and a recent cut painted over. The police suspect her husband, but he is missing. As Sheehan discovers that Eleanor was involved with the dark web, another body is found, and the killer is leaving mysterious calls for her while the incident that left her gravely injured is not completely resolved.
In an article on the Crimefiles website, Kiernan explained her interest in writing about the dark web, a place on the Internet where users have complete anonymity and engage in criminal activity, but also frequented by people who do not want their personal information shared. Rather than labeling everything on the dark web as bad, Kiernan writes: “It was the idea of this dark and light existing next to one another and along that changeover—the ‘sliding scale’… when it comes to making morally correct decisions. And the more I looked into the dark web, the more I thought about how anonymity affects us.”
Although the book has likable characters, fast pacing, and Dublin locale, “The intersection of the two cases feels too convenient, and Sheehan’s posttrauma troubles offer nothing new,” according to a Publishers Weekly reviewer. However, “Kiernan’s debut offers gruesome crimes, inventive twists, and a well-drawn female detective,” said Booklist reviewer Rebecca Vnuk, who added that the author handles Sheehan’s backstory and the two story lines well. This book is “As much a procedural as a character study of coming to terms with one’s own capacity for perseverance in the face of tragedy,” according to a Kirkus Reviews contributor. In Xpress Reviews, Susan Clifford Braun declared: “Sheehan and her team are likable and credible, and the Dublin setting is very appealing.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, March 15, 2018, Rebecca Vnuk, review of Too Close to Breathe, p. 23.
Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2018, review of Too Close to Breathe.
Publishers Weekly, February 26, 2018, review of Too Close to Breathe, p. 64.
Xpress Reviews, March 9, 2018, Susan Clifford Braun, review of Too Close to Breathe.
ONLINE
Crime Files, https://crimefiles.co.uk/ (March 29, 2018) Olivia Kiernan, “Olivia Kiernan Delves behind the Scenes of the Dark Web in Too Close to Breathe.”
Olivia Kiernan Website, https://oliviakiernan.com/ (July 9, 2018).
Olivia Kiernan is an Irish writer, blogger and novelist. She has an MA in Creative Writing, awarded by the University of Sussex and was born and raised in County Meath, Ireland. Her debut novel, TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE is a crime thriller set in Dublin and published in April 2018.
Agent: Susan Armstrong at Conville & Walsh
Olivia Kiernan delves behind the scenes of the Dark Web in Too Close to Breathe
Posted on March 29, 2018 in Behind the Scenes
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As you sit back into your sofa, thumb flirting with your smartphone screen – like; share; swipe left, right – another network is operating beneath the gleaming white surface of the internet.
A reflection, maybe. A shadow on the surface of a puddle. A parallel universe spanning the virtual ground beneath our feet. The Dark Web.
I first heard about the dark web a few months before I began writing Too Close to Breathe. The very idea of it seemed both creepy yet completely unsurprising. In virtual life as well as real, beside the mundane, the dark hand of crime is at work. I felt naïve. Coddled. Of course! I thought. Of course there would be another population operating the spare networks and intranets that make up the other 95% of the world wide web. And then, because curiosity and the cat and all that, I couldn’t help lean in, put my hand into the darkness to see what might be on the other side.
The dark web can be accessed via a programme called Tor (The Onion Router). Anyone can do it; you just log on and take a look around. But I wouldn’t recommend it. Because you don’t know who might be looking back. And I mean that literally. Through your web cam. Oh you didn’t turn it on, you say, but someone did.
Here, IP addresses are encrypted using a complex looping system that makes them impossible to trace. And so dark web users, if they know what they’re doing, enjoy complete anonymity. Because of this, the dark web is a shifting world of criminal activity. Weapons, drugs, people trafficking, hacking, child porn – and, it’s rumoured, killings – can all be bought and sold there.
This feels far removed from our daily goings on. No regular person, not our friends nor our colleagues, would access the dark web. Would they? They’re not buying weapons or selling drugs in the dark sewers of the intranets. Right?
In 2013, the FBI finally succeeded in shutting down the dark web’s Amazon-like black market, Silk Road – a site where you could peruse and order various products, from books to heroin. After the founder was charged, he maintained his goal in setting up Silk Road was to give ‘. . . people the freedom to make their own choices.’ This is certainly an interesting perspective when considered from a privacy point of view (even more so, in light of the recent question of certain social media platforms harvesting information from users). As such, I noticed more people viewing the dark web as a useful alternative, one that would help protect their information.
So when I started my research for Too Close to Breathe, it wasn’t necessarily those criminals we can put into a box and label ‘bad’ that interested me. It was the idea of this dark and light existing next to one another and along that changeover – the ‘sliding scale’, as DCS Frankie Sheehan calls it – when it comes to making morally correct decisions.
And the more I looked into the dark web, the more I thought about how anonymity affects us.
It’s easy to convince yourself that what you put up on the internet reflects the real you. You post about your ‘wonderful’ life while slopped on the sofa eating Jammie Dodgers. And that’s okay. No harm. But what about when it gets a bit nasty? We watch people throw barbs at others on social media. We see people who would never say anything negative to someone’s face in the real world morph into aggressors from the safety of their keyboard. To send off an abusive message costs the abuser, in an emotional sense, nothing. It’s an unreal world with little real-world consequence. Yet, even if we’re not taking part, looking at it every day may heighten the bar of our own tolerance. Until eventually, perhaps, it feels like the real rules of morality no longer apply . . .
The Dark Web, for me, was the big daddy of this idea. It has no consequence to the user because no one knows who that user is. Here the smallest of bad urges can grow unchecked, in an environment that doesn’t judge.
In Too Close to Breathe, we see Frankie access the dark web to explore a site called Black Widow. The site has many different branches, including a chatroom. In this, more extreme users can exchange death-related fantasies, while others simply use it to seek comfort from other users. In fact, there have been some positive stories emerging from the dark web, about how victims of cyber-bullying, domestic abuse and stalking have used it to reach out to other victims, safe from the worry their abusers will find out.
And in Too Close to Breathe we witness medical student Amy Keegan reach out for reassurance. But on this occasion help is not listening. Instead, it is a dark presence that creeps into her life.
And that’s the trouble with the dark web. Sites are thrown up, money is exchanged or promises made, and then the sites disappear to reform elsewhere under a different name. It is a very uncertain place. Nothing is solid or accountable or traceable. The perfect playground for evil. The perfect place for a killer who likes to play dead.
Author interview: Olivia Kiernan
March 20, 2018 ~ SamanthaWho
It has been quite some time since my last author interview and I’m thrilled to welcome Olivia Kiernan, author of TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE, to the blog. This dark, deceiving thriller is Kiernan’s debut and kept me wondering until the very end!
The book focuses on a police investigation – how did you conduct research for this?
I think as someone who is interested in crime, crime fiction and the mode of crime, I find myself watching many true crime programmes, documentaries and listening to podcasts on crime analysis. Over time the routine of how police might approach a crime scene does sink in, so initially I didn’t actively do a lot of research. I tried to approach the book through the main character, DCS Frankie Sheehan, and follow what I felt a detective of her experience would do with the finance, time and knowledge available to her. It’s probably relevant that I’ve studied in science for many years, so the more technical aspects of the autopsy were a little easier for me to write.
Once I had the first draft down, I spoke to two members of the gardaí, one sergeant and one detective and a member of the police force here in the UK to ensure that police procedure was as accurate as I could make it. I do remember phoning a forensic data clinic to query what sort of information could be gleaned from a waterlogged phone. I began the conversation by saying I was a writer and wanted to know whether police would be able to retrieve information from a mobile phone that had significant water damage. Throughout the conversation, the guy on the other end kept referring to the phone as mine. I must have sounded very shifty indeed. No matter how many times I said I was researching for a book and that this was a fictional world I was exploring, he overlooked it. I’m sure he thought I’d committed some heinous crime and I wanted reassurance that the police wouldn’t be able to access my records. He was so convinced I was that person who phoned up to ‘ask for a friend’ that he gave me a price breakdown, including VAT on what the process would cost.
Why did you choose to write from the perspective of Detective Frankie?
Frankie is a tough cookie but also someone of great integrity who has always seen herself firmly in the role of protector. At the beginning of the novel, we see her struggling in a new role, that of victim. Her approach to her work changes, her perspective altered, she now looks through the veil of this recent experience. And she struggles with this added vulnerability. To her, at the start of the novel, it feels like a confrontation against her self-image. I felt this was the best way to explore the themes of victim and predator in the novel, who we think or who we expect to fit those roles, as Frankie herself is dealing with this same conflict.
What do you hope readers take away from your story?
Mostly, I want readers to have a cracking good crime thriller read. And maybe come away with their interest piqued in some of the themes the novel explores: the art of Chagall, for instance, the colourful history of Prussian Blue, or the shady recesses of the Dark Web. If the novel draws some questions on victimology, I would hope it to be around the theme of control.
Who are your favorite authors?
There are always too many to list and that list grows every year. I love Tana French’s novels for her character detail and absorbing plots. I really enjoyed Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places and Sharp Objects and am waiting, not so patiently, for her next novel. I love the work of Sebastian Barry, Anne Enright and Cormac McCarthy for the elegance of their prose. I could go on.
What are you working on next?
My next novel is titled, The Killer In Me and takes up with DCS Frankie Sheehan in Dublin. Murder convict, Sean Hennessy is released from prison to return to the seaside community of Clontarf in Dublin. Hennessy has always professed his innocence. But within months of his release, two bodies appear in Frankie’s hometown. As the investigation continues and the threat closes in around the small community, Sheehan is forced to confront her own darkness to discover exactly what it takes to become a killer.
Thank you to Olivia Kiernan for stopping by and answering a few questions! TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE is available on April 3, 2018.
About the author
Olivia Kiernan was born and raised in County Meath, and has an MA in creative writing from the University of Sussex. She currently lives in Oxfordshire in England.
Her previous work includes short stories and the romantic novel Dawn Solstice (2013), in which an archaeologist from London is sent to Ireland to work at a neolithic tomb at Newgrange, where she is drawn to the owner of a local stud farm.
Too Close to Breathe
Rebecca Vnuk
Booklist. 114.14 (Mar. 15, 2018): p23.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Too Close to Breathe.
By Olivia Kiernan.
Apr. 2018. 304p. Dutton, $26 (9781524742614).
Dublin Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan has returned from leave--she was nearly killed in a murder investigation gone wrong--and her first case back is a doozy. It looks easy on the surface: suicide by hanging, a depressed female academic. But as Frankie gets deeper into the case--she has a great head for fine detail--signs emerge that point to murder. It doesn't help that the victim's husband is missing. When a second body is found, it looks like Frankie is on the right track, but the demons she's battling are tripping her up. Her PTSD from the previous case starts to get in the way, and the related pending court case isn't helping. Kiernan's debut offers gruesome crimes, inventive twists, and a well-drawn female detective. It's an interesting choice, introducing a character with a lot of backstory, and Kiernan handles it well, balancing both story lines with aplomb. Readers will enjoy finding out about Frankie's past at the same time they are meeting her in the present, and they will be waiting for more. --Rebecca Vnuk
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Vnuk, Rebecca. "Too Close to Breathe." Booklist, 15 Mar. 2018, p. 23. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A533094450/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f292ea5f. Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A533094450
Too Close to Breathe
Publishers Weekly. 265.9 (Feb. 26, 2018): p64.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Too Close to Breathe
Olivia Kiernan. Dutton, $26 (304p) ISBN 978-1-524-74261-4
Det. Chief Supt. Frankie Sheehan, the heroine of Irish author Kiernan 's solid debut, has recovered sufficiently from being gravely wounded in the line of duty to investigate the apparent suicide of Eleanor Costello at her Dublin home, but a closer look at the body shows it's a clever murder. Digging into Eleanor's life and searching for her missing husband uncovers plenty of secrets--and indicates she wasn't as straitlaced as she appeared. When the body of another woman turns up, Sheehan quickly discovers that the two are connected through Eleanor's husband, and a snuff video of the last victim leads the police into some sinister places on the dark web. Meanwhile, the case that left Sheehan injured and still a bit shaky is coming up for trial, but she suddenly isn't so sure the authorities have charged the right person after all. The intersection of the two cases feels too convenient, and Sheehan's post-trauma troubles offer nothing new. Still, likable characters, strong pacing, and the appealing Dublin locale bode well for any sequel. Agent: Susan Armstrong, C&W Agency (U.K.). (Apr.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Too Close to Breathe." Publishers Weekly, 26 Feb. 2018, p. 64. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530637410/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=c4f81cd0. Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A530637410
Kiernan, Olivia: TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE
Kirkus Reviews. (Feb. 1, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Kiernan, Olivia TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE Dutton (Adult Fiction) $26.00 4, 3 ISBN: 978-1-5247-4261-4
A Dublin detective fresh off a case that nearly killed her delves into what looks like a suicide but soon blossoms into a web of murder.
Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan bears the scars of the nearly dead after facing off with a killer who's now on trial for murder. For her first case back after a leave of absence, she and her team in the Bureau for Serious Crime confront the death of Eleanor Costello, a microbiologist and part-time university lecturer found hanging in her home. Irregularities mount, from clues that point from suicide to murder to the mysterious disappearance of Costello's husband, Peter. In Kiernan's accomplished debut, Sheehan bristles with the tenacity of a copper with something to prove, especially as a woman in power trying to keep the demons from her last case at bay. Soon there's a second body, and while the connections to Costello are at first tenuous, Sheehan and her team creep into the tangles of the darknet, thanks to websites tied to the victims, and find a disturbing community obsessed with experiencing death. But even as the police close in on a suspect, their net comes up empty--or, in one case, full of yet another body--and it seems like the killer may slip through their fingers. It's only when Sheehan makes a startling connection between a prior case and the current string of murders that things begin to fall into place.
As much a procedural as a character study of coming to terms with one's own capacity for perseverance in the face of tragedy, this will hopefully not be the last time readers encounter Kiernan's tough heroine.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Kiernan, Olivia: TOO CLOSE TO BREATHE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A525461662/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=94abfba0. Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A525461662
Irish blogger's debut to Dutton
Rachel Deahl
Publishers Weekly. 264.17 (Apr. 24, 2017): p12.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Author and blogger Olivia Kiernan closed a North American rights deal for herdebut novel, Too Close to Breathe, with Stephanie Kelly at Dutton. The thriller, which the publisher compared to work by Tana French and the TV show The Killing, follows a Dublin detective, Frank Sheehan, whose seemingly straightforward suicide case morphs into a complex homicide. The second book in the deal. The Killer in Me, will feature the same detective. The two-book deal was negotiated by Zee Sandler at ICM Partners on behalf of Sue Armstrong at C&W Agency. The books have also sold in a handful of foreign deals to publishers in the U.K., Germany, France and Russia. Kiernan, who is Irish and lives in the U.K., has an M.A. in creative writing from the University of Sussex.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Deahl, Rachel. "Irish blogger's debut to Dutton." Publishers Weekly, 24 Apr. 2017, p. 12. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A491250742/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=09d64a4b. Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A491250742
Kiernan, Olivia. Too Close To Breathe
Susan Clifford Braun
Xpress Reviews. (Mar. 9, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviews/xpress/884170-289/xpress_reviews-first_look_at_new.html.csp
Full Text:
Kiernan, Olivia. Too Close To Breathe. Dutton. Apr. 2018. 304p. ISBN 9781524742614. $26; ebk. ISBN 9781524742621. MYS
[DEBUT] Fresh from a traumatic on-the-job injury, DCS Frankie Sheehan heads to the scene of Prof. Eleanor Costello's death in a quiet Dublin suburb. Was it a suicide? Murder? The autopsy reveals old stab wounds and peculiar blue paint. Costello's husband is mysteriously absent, and her PhD assistant is particularly evasive. Research revealing possible links to a sadistic site within the deep web indicates that Eleanor has guarded her life very carefully. What was that blue paint and why has it turned up on yet another corpse? Frankie's recent experience as a victim makes her wary, but the connections among these murders are hard to ignore. Is husband Peter a victim or a suspect? Kiernan's debut thriller is a fast and bumpy ride!
Verdict This solid Irish procedural is clearly set up for a series. Frankie Sheehan and her team are likable and credible, and the Dublin setting is very appealing. An enjoyable follow-up for readers of Tana French. [See Prepub Alert, 10/22/17.]--Susan Clifford Braun, Bainbridge Island, WA
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Braun, Susan Clifford. "Kiernan, Olivia. Too Close To Breathe." Xpress Reviews, 9 Mar. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A532075574/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e8aff664. Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A532075574
Olivia Kiernan’s Debut Novel, Too Close to Breathe, Is Breathtaking
Posted on April 5, 2018 by Charlene Giannetti in Reading Around
Frankie Sheehan is damaged goods. A brutal knife attack left her with scars, both physically and emotionally. Four months later, she’s back on the job as a detective chief superintendent for the Dublin police force. While she’s determined to stay focused on the new case – a woman found hanging from a beam in her living room – she’s also aware that the trial for the man who nearly ended her life is coming up.
Too Close to Breathe is Olivia Kiernan’s first novel and we are already waiting for her next one. She’s created an intriguing cast of characters, beginning with Frankie, a hard-driving police officer who has been confronted in the most brutal way possible with her own mortality. The men around her – specifically Detective Baz Harwood – are also struggling with their emotions, unsure whether they should treat Frankie the way they always have, or don kid gloves.
The current case will need all of Frankie’s skills. Eleanor Costello’s death is originally ruled a suicide, but further investigation reveals she was murdered. The most obvious suspect, her husband Peter, is missing. And when it’s discovered that Eleanor, along with some of her colleagues at the University College Dublin, have been experimenting with coming as close to death as possible without actually dying, the investigation ventures into dangerous corners of the dark web. There’s also the significance of blue paint found in Eleanor’s mouth. When that paint turns up on other victims, a link is established. Is there a serial killer at work?
The bleak Dublin landscape becomes another character in Too Close To Breathe, exacerbating the novel’s sinister feeling. But the story depends on a fascinating central player and Frankie Sheehan is certainly that person. Although we learn some of her backstory in this book, my guess is that Kiernan has only just begun to flesh out what demons may lurk in Frankie’s past. We can’t wait to find out.
Too Close To Breathe
Olivia Kiernan
Review: Too Close to Breathe by Olivia Kiernan
By Janet Webb
Too Close to Breathe
Olivia Kiernan
April 3, 2018
Olivia Kiernan’s tautly written debut novel, Too Close to Breathe, immerses readers in a chilling murder case—and the tantalizing, enigmatic victim at the center of it all.
Olivia Kiernan’s debut novel seamlessly juggles three concentric groups of characters. First, the victim: microbiologist and lecturer Eleanor Costello, who “is found hanging from a rope” inside her painfully tidy suburban Dublin home. The number of victims rises, enlarging this first circle. Eleanor’s neighbors, acquaintances, and university co-workers comprise the second group. Lastly, there are the investigators, led by Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan. Sheehan is at the center of Too Close to Breathe—investigating Costello’s death tests her relationships with her colleagues even as she deals with ghosts from her Dublin childhood.
A resolutely dark, moody, and blunt tone is set from the beginning, occasionally leavened with ironic humor. Kieran opens with a reflection on Costello’s suicide.
There hadn’t been a suicide note. The victim remains resolutely tight-lipped, stone-cold silent; the best and worst witness of her end. A note would allow mourners to hold on to something. Assert blame. Be angry at what’s written. Tear the fucking thing up if they wanted. Without it, there is nothing.
But is there nothing? Perhaps a red flag is raised when there isn’t a suicide note. Could a murderer have staged a suicide so no one would suspect? Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan is back on the job after a long medical leave of absence. Her backstory to understanding her modus operandi, but there’s no information dump—it’s parsimoniously dripped into the ongoing story. Sheehan watches a “narrow-faced pathologist” perform an autopsy on the body. Her boss, Assistant Commissioner Jack Clancy, is also in the room: “Whitehall. Dublin city’s state-of-the-art supermortuary.”
It’s not easy to come back. Nothing’s the same. Frankie’s crew is different. Why is that?
“We had to move some stuff around, Frankie. Your team, intimidated as they are, turn out to be as loyal as beaten dogs, but we don’t have another detective at your level to work with you.”
“I prefer to work alone,” I reply.
Frankie doesn’t even get why she’s watching an autopsy, which she labels “fluff” to Jack Clancy. Isn’t she at a higher pay grade than watching an autopsy of a suicide?
“The coroner had an uneasy feeling about this one,” he answers. He raises an eyebrow at the phrase “uneasy feeling.” “The commissioner is twitchy.”
“Twitchy?”
He doesn’t answer.
“About me?”
Silence. There is a tang of bile at the back of my tongue.
“Fuck ‘em.”
Frankie talks tough, but the autopsy takes it out of her. The commissioner was right to feel twitchy. After she leaves the building, she heads down a side road to her car: “A good way down the driveway, breath seized in my chest, hands clinging to the case file like a lifeline, I stop, bend double, and throw up in a gutter.”
Solving Costello’s murder is Frankie’s “lifeline.” The autopsy uncovers long-ago broken bones, but the edges of a recent cut reveal an unusual material—a “specific shade of blue.” It’s Prussian blue, a shade of paint used for centuries, but significantly for the detectives, it’s poisonous, a known toxin. A thorough search of Costello’s house and, more particularly, her computer also hits the jackpot—someone accessed the Dark Web from it.
Frankie is firmly in command and determined to go where the evidence leads, even to the extent of infiltrating the Dark Web. A clearly upset member of her staff comes to her and asks her to look at an encrypted video on his computer.
“It’s come from a Dark Web user.” I say. “You’ve attended all our briefings, Inspector?”
“Yes.”
“Well, then, pay fucking attention. You played it?”
“I wanted to wait, Chief. It looks like … like it might be a snuff movie.”
A coldness runs across the back of my neck. “If so, Inspector, we’re about to witness our biggest piece of evidence. So hold onto your stomach and hit play.”
That’s good advice for readers of Too Close to Breathe. Olivia Kiernan’s debut novel in the Frankie Sheehan series is absorbing, occasionally stomach-curdling, and altogether fascinating. Throw in Dublin—where Frankie grew up—and the criminal attack she’s still recovering from, and therein lies a fascinating mélange with Kiernan skillfully interweaving the personal and the professional.
Too Close to Breathe
Olivia Kiernan
Buy This Book
Fans of police procedurals such as The Killing, The Fall, and most especially Prime Suspect will find a lot to love in Olivia Kiernan’s Too Close to Breathe. A tale of a cat and mouse game between an embattled Detective Chief Superintendent and a clever, psychotic killer it is exactly the kind of novel I can picture being made into a program like those listed above.
Four months earlier, she nearly died. Answering a call of suspected foul play, Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan found herself in a life and death struggle in a darkened room as a madman with a knife attempted to murder her. Luck and her backup arriving on the scene moments after the altercation are all that saved her.
Now she’s back at work, shakier than she will ever let anyone know. When Frankie is handed a case of a woman found hanging in the bedroom of her pristine Dublin home, she is more than eager to go through the motions and declare it a simple case of suicide. Unfortunately, the facts quickly reveal that isn’t the case. Bruising on the fingers show the victim obviously tried to stop the event but her hand was found dangling at her side; the nature of hanging would have ensured the hand had stayed within the loop it had tried to loosen. The autopsy results are a catalog of horror, filled with poorly healed bones and old stab wounds. There is a mysterious paint covering one of the cuts. All of this points to second party involvement and the victim’s missing husband looks like the likely culprit.
But the investigation proves harder than first glance would have one expect. The body count is growing, the suspect pool is widening, and the victim is proving to be a ‘riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma’ as Winston Churchill would have said. It’s a race against the clock to stop the terror gripping Dublin and it looks like the killer may just have time on their side.
Originating in the early part of the Twentieth Century, the hardboiled detective is a familiar character to fans of crime fiction. Recent iterations have replaced the relationship-challenged, murky-moralled, world-weary, street-savvy male of yore with a relationship-challenged, murky-moralled, world-weary, street-savvy female. The change hasn’t exactly been noticeable unless you’re a die-hard misogynist. If you’ve seen any of the shows I’ve listed above or read any books that feature a hardboiled detective character, male or female, you’ve met Frankie. She doesn’t waver from the mold.
The people who surround her tend to be straight from central casting as well. Her supervisor, Jack Clancy, is a curmudgeon who acts as a buffer between her and ‘the system’, ensuring that her genius is given the leeway it needs to get the job done. And of course, there is the beloved sidekick, Detective Baz Harwood; more than just a colleague, he’s a true friend. There is also Steve, the tech guru who will come up with just the right piece of evidence at just the right time and Helen, the only other female on her team whom Frankie is trying to raise to be just like her.
The story follows expected paths as well, as everyone talks over ‘startling’ new evidence and doggedly chases down each dead-end lead. Suspects and victims alike behave according to the pattern. If you are acquainted with the genre at all, the whole thing will feel comfortably familiar.
This is, according to the publisher’s blurb, a début novel and that will show on occasion in the language. A few lines, such as “On our yellow brick road the tin man doesn’t want a stinking fucking heart; he wants an AK-47.” managed to pull me out of the text while my brain tried to process the image the author was trying to create. However, the prose is mostly smooth and is written in a manner that balances well with the story. I did feel the identity of the killer came a bit out of left field, but this is less a mystery book than it is a suspense novel. We aren’t building a scenario where reader and detective figure out the puzzle but are taking a walk through a fun house where each corner is laden with new surprises.
My one quibble, which did not affect the grade but that I feel is worth mentioning, is the way the book is marketed. It is labeled as a psychological thriller. Readers might pick it up expecting a Gone Girl or something as chilling as Lisa Gardener’s Right Behind You, or a novel like those Fiona Barton writes. It is none of those things. It’s a noir detective tale, with a creepy atmosphere and a look at the darker side of humanity.
Too Close to Breathe is an ideal book for fans of that genre and it will meet a good number of your expectations. I’ll add that while the author might be considered to be painting by numbers, she does so with enough sophistication and talent that the work she produces is above average. That said, it is too predictable to reach DIK territory, so I have graded it accordingly.
Too Close to Breathe by Olivia Kiernan
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Review published on April 14, 2018.
Too Close to Breathe is a book I was eager to read and I wasn’t disappointed by it. It did take me a little getting into and I think it’s because it felt a bit like I had missed something about Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan’s past. It obviously was something major and was shaping the current story. However, it was drip-fed to me as I read on and I realised that it was actually a really good way of giving me information, not only about Frankie, but about the case she was working on before.
Before what, you may ask. Well, before Dr Eleanor Costello is found hanged at her home and before Frankie starts to wonder if it really is suicide or whether there’s more to it.
This is a very well-written story, a cat and mouse game between Frankie and a killer. She’s one of those people who throw themselves into every situation with little regard for her own safety, which makes for a very exciting read, even if I did want to shout at my book and tell her not to do something so rash. She’s a very intuitive cop, working on her instincts and what they tell her about a person or a case. Whilst her team support her well, she seems to me to be someone who works better alone as she’s a bit of a maverick, and apart from fellow police officer, Baz, and her boss, Clancy, the rest of the team are more background characters. I guess they could be brought more to the forefront of future novels, as I believe this is the first in a series to feature DCS Frankie Sheehan.
Too Close to Breathe is quite a thrilling read, fast-paced in some ways and in others more of a slow reveal. One of the things I particularly enjoyed was the dark web element to the story, something which is current and relevant. In fact, dark is a word I would use to describe the whole book. It’s very edgy, well-plotted and an excellent debut crime thriller.
Nicola Smith, Short Book and Scribes, 4/4
Review: Too Close to Breathe (Frankie Sheehan #1) by Olivia Kiernan
Lately I’ve been trying to branch out and read more thrillers, especially more modern thrillers. They are usually quick reads for me and I sometimes get stuck in the ‘past’ reading a bunch of historical mysteries that I think it’s 1880 rather than 2018 so, breaking things up is a good thing for me.
This one came up and it’s from an author that I have never heard of but I saw that the book was set in Dublin which I thought made the book sound different and interesting. I have also seen it compared to IN THE WOODS, I’ve not read IN THE WOODS yet, but I’ve heard great things about it and I was excited to see read something that was similar but yet uniquely it’s own and maybe a little more off the radar.
In a quiet Dublin suburb, within her pristine home, Eleanor Costello is found hanging from a rope.
Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan would be more than happy to declare it a suicide. Four months ago, Frankie’s pursuit of a killer almost ended her life and she isn’t keen on investigating another homicide. But the autopsy reveals poorly healed bones and old stab wounds, absent from medical records. A new cut is carefully, deliberately covered in paint. Eleanor’s husband, Peter, is unreachable, missing. A search of the couple’s home reveals only two signs of personality: a much-loved book on art and a laptop with access to the Dark Web.
With the suspect pool growing, the carefully crafted profile of the victim crumbling with each new lead, and mysterious calls to Frankie’s phone implying that the killer is closer than anyone would like, all Frankie knows is that Eleanor guarded her secrets as closely in life as she does in death.
As the investigation grows more challenging, Frankie can’t help but feel that something doesn’t fit. And when another woman is found murdered, the same paint on her corpse, Frankie knows that unraveling Eleanor’s life is the only way to find the murderer before he claims another victim . . . or finishes the fate Frankie only just managed to escape (summary from Goodreads).
I was surprised that this was the author’s debut novel. I knew it was the first in a new series but I guess I didn’t realize it was her first novel all together. I had never heard of her but that’s not surprises since thrillers are a little new to my review genre so I just thought this was a new series, but after reading the book I was impressed by this new author’s ability to tell a twisty tale. She writes like an old pro with all kinds of interesting plot dynamics and interesting threads to hold the reader’s interest.
This had a lot of police procedural elements and it was clear that either Kiernan had a background in police work or she spent a TON of time researching everything so that she could get it right. It was seamless and felt natural so however she came about her knowledge was impressive.
The main character clearly has some deep issues with PTSD which makes her a fascinating protagonist. Frankie clearly has some things that she needs to work through but getting to do that with her as a reader keeps things interesting and adds depth to her character.
The plot itself had a lot to hold my interest. There is some graphic content in this book and some deeply disturbing elements but I think fans of the genre will enjoy how well put together this thriller is. It has an interesting lead character, a complex plot that is rich in details and darkness, but the police procedurals elements made the book for me.
I haven’t really read a lot go books within the subgenera of police procedurals so for me this book stood out because of that, however I have read a few other reviews from people who are big fans of that subgenera and they said this book didn’t bring anything new to the genre of police procedurals. So it sounds like fans of the subgenera will likely find this book just ok, but for me I found it excellent! I loved the darkness of the plot, the complexity of Frankie, and the details of the procedural. I did wish though that Dublin had been featured more in this book and that she would have capitalized on the setting and culture more.
Challenge/Book Summary:
Book: Too Close to Breathe: A Novel (Frankie Sheehan #1) by Olivia Kiernan
Kindle Edition, 304 pages
Published April 3rd 2018 by Dutton
ASIN B075CBT63D
Review copy provided by: Publisher/Author in exchange for an honest review.