Book Review (Canon): Every Breath

Every Breath

Written by Ellie Marney in 2013

The Raccoon: Rachel Watts, a teenager struggling to adjust to life in the city after her family’s farm is foreclosed, is roped into a murder investigation by the eccentric boy next door.

UNMASKED: Every Breath kicks down the door from the first paragraph, a promise from the author that her novel is a cut above the rest.  Marney brilliantly delivers on this pledge through the last page.  Arriving in many forms--interrogations, puzzles, arguments, actual life-or-death situations--the action remains constant throughout the novel, making Every Breath impossible to put down.

The book’s tagline reads, “What if Sherlock Holmes was the boy next door?”  Thinking I was dealing with a stereotypical teenage romance, in which the love interest is stupidly perfect, I almost refused to buy Every Breath.  Thankfully, I could not have been more wrong.  While Rachel does develop feelings for James Mycroft, the subject of the aforementioned tagline, she must also confront how deeply flawed and reckless he is.  Not a single character in the book is exempt from his/her humanity; all are broken and need one another more than they are able to admit.

Marney’s harsh depiction of reality elevates the audience’s experience of reading Every Breath to living Every Breath, during every breath.  The reader may not always agree with Rachel or Mycroft’s choices; paradoxically, this discordance and my questioning of the characters helped me to truly relate to all of them at various points in the novel.

Strengths:

• Along with reading the entire book twice, I regularly revisit certain favorite scenes, each time feeling the same sparks as I had when I first encountered them.
• The central mystery is incredibly unique and slightly humorous.

• While the teenage characters may make it difficult for adults to appreciate Every Breath, I am unable to find anything wrong with this book.

Rating: 20/20 murals

Ideal Setting: Read this after any kind of rejection.  You are capable, although through questionable means, of achieving almost anything you are truly determined to accomplish.