Every Breath (Ellie Marney, A&U)

Picking up on the current Sherlock Holmes zeitgeist, Every Breath is the story of two teenagers playing at detective, trying to solve the death of their friend Homeless Dave. Rather than Holmes and Watson we get Mycroft and Watts, best friends drawn to each other because they have both lost everything—Mycroft his parents and Watts her family home in the country. As they are pulled deeper into the mysteries surrounding Dave’s murder, they also discover a growing attraction to each other, so like all good stories about death it’s about love too. Mycroft and Watts are fast-talking, flawed, bright characters. The requisite banter is threaded through with the language of crime procedurals—lividity and rigor mortis and blood spatter patterns—which is charming in its novelty. Ellie Marney’s YA novel explores the isolation and the desperation to escape later teenage years, and is moodily underscored by a cold and gloomy Melbourne. The writing is pacy and engaging but doesn’t shy away from darkness. Reminiscent of Lili Wilkinson’s A Pocketful of Eyes, although slightly grimmer in tone, Every Breath will be enjoyed by readers aged 13 and up. It is the first book of a trilogy.

Cordelia Rice works at Thorpe-Bowker. She is a former bookseller and previously worked at the Centre for Youth Literature

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Category: Reviews