Check Out Dying Breath (Psychic Killer #1) Created By Wendy Corsi Staub Ready In EPub

me start off by saying that I did very much enjoy this book but I knocked a star off because of some formatting choices that I think they thought would enhance the reading experience but I felt took away from it.


There were multiple perspective shifts in each chapter but rarely were they delineated in any understandable way, Perhaps it was meant to keep the readers on our toes but mostly it was just frustrating,

I enjoyed the fact that it wasnt a classic detective thriller story and that the majority of the book was centered around Cam.
I think the author did a fair job of creating realistic characters that stay true to what most people in their situations would think and feel.
I appreciated how authentic each of their voices sounded,

I am looking forward to the next book, This was a different mystery, Not the standard one where the detective is the protagonist, I live local to where it takes place so that was fun, but the one thing that annoyed me is that the characters and author kept on saying "Long Beach Island" all the time.
When someone is really from here or at least a summer vacationer, they call it LBI or the Island, Silly, but it bothered me, Enjoyable

The story started out slow and had so many things going on that it was hard to keep up with at first.
Then things started to become a little clearer, Tension, suspense, forgiveness, new beginnings, There were some unanswered questions that I hope get resolved in the next book regarding Kathy, Ava, and Heath, but I dont think thats going to happen.
Ok so its not exactly a life changing read, But man!!! The escapism rating is high, the husband annoyed me endlessly but then I am bias, Cam is a bit whiney, but its all it needs to be to keep you obsessed with finishing it.
Leaving that door open to the second novel, which I am going to find right now! I didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did.
I'm skeptical of the whole 'psychic' concept when it comes to a murder mystery, but it played out amazingly, I can't even tell you how many times I truly thought I knew who the murderer was, only to be completely taken aback at who it truly ended up being! The way every characters true colors come to light over the course of the story was amazing, the characters secrets and motives seemed to constantly shift to make you think that they were the killer.
It was truly a mystery in my brain and I loved being surprised! Now, I need to know if there is a sequel to this because I NEED to know.
. WHO killed Ava This is my first WCStaub book, I really struggled with the present tense writing style, I never felt like the characters had any dimension to them, They were just flat on the pages, Without being able to connect to the characters, I found myself skimming many pages too much filler, especially towards the middle of the book.

The story itself was good, I just would have enjoyed it much more without the present tense writing and pointless filler.

I'm planning to read thend book in this series bc the psychic elements intrigue me and also bc I'm hoping I'm going to love the next book.
Here's to hoping :
A SEASIDE RETREAT,
It's summer on the Jersey Shore, Children play on the beach, Husbands are all working in the city amp the surf echoes in the night, Here, in this perfect place, a serial has no worries in the world except choosing the next victim,

HAS JUST BECOME, . .
Cam Hastings has come to Long Beach Island with her teenage daughter and the hope that maybe she can save her failed marriage.
Cam has never stopped loving her husband Mike nor has she been able to outrun her flaws and demons a vanished mother, a lost sister, amp the ugly visions she has of missing children.


A KILLER'S FAVORITE PLAYGROUND
Now, Cam is about to step over the edge, For once, she will act on one of her visions and then face the consequences, For a killer has just struck again amp for Cam, amp the people she loves most, fear has come home for good.
I had trouble putting this book down! Be warned there are some disturbing elements,

If you like Laura Lippman or Mary Jane Clark's books, you will probably like this one, One of Staub's better mysteries, Cam Hasting figured she and her husband, Mike, would weather whatever came at them, But her disturbing visionsvisions that came truewere more than she could stand, Her only choice, so it seemed, was to self medicate and for years, the booze flowed freely, The marriage eventually drowned in alcohol, Mike moved out, andyearold Tess was left to deal with the broken home with all its negative ramifications, But the couple never stopped being in love,

Horrifically enough, the vision that disturbs Cam Hasting most is one in which she glimpses her own daughter dying.
Newly pregnant with Mike's baby, the one they made before he moved out, Cam determines not to drink, even attending AA meetings with a mysterious sponsor.


I loved the author's writing style, I was hooked from the beginning, and the fact that I finished the book while doing my morning walk is proof that I got through it quickly and remained interested throughout.
I felt that some things were a bit too predictable though, and that's where the three star rating comes in, Granted, there are still plenty of surprises, but I figured out enough of it too early for me to be able to unload a fivestar rave on you.
The thing is, this is part of the new Audible expanded library where you can download certain books without expending one of your precious credits.
If I'd actually had to cough up a credit for this, I'd have been mildly disgruntled,

Emily SuttonSmith's narration is excellent at,X. Her diction is clear and solid, and she doesn't do some kind of overthetop narration that involves weirdly exaggerated voices, You won't get listener fatigue from her, and in fact, her narration added to my enjoyment of the book, Really good mystery, but they spelled Matawan wrong, Don't often read this kind of book, If it gets too gross I may not finish it, Decent storyline. Kept me interested the whole way through, The audiobook was a little confusing though because the speaker didnt give ample pauses in between POV changes, So annoying. I also wish the writer went a little more in depth on the characters of Mike and Cam, Their personalities didnt have enough dimension, Eh I mean it was an okay book but it kinda dragged on for a very very long time, Then you only get likeminutes of the killer and to me it just didn't make any sense, Then the ending felt super rushed after spending the whole book lolly gagging, I struggled with this book a little, At first, I wasn't sure if I liked the main character, Then the author added more characters and their viewpoints, Then she added even more characters and really crowded the storyline, She also segued between viewpoints without any indication it has changed and it did confuse me a little, especially when she literally left one conversation with one character in a totally different storyline to another character in a different storyline.
It was a bit jarring, I'm not sure if this was the way the author wanted to build suspense but for me, it didn't work,
Once I got to know the characters I did enjoy the story, I appreciate a book that can keep me guessing, I thought i had the entire story figured out, right up until the very end, I was so wrong and I loved that i was caught off guard,

I liked Cam's character, Having visions , staying sober and being a good mom were all likeable, interesting traits, The dialogue flowed easily, making for an easy read,

I have only read a couole of other WCS books, and i cant wait to read more, If I had to nitpick, i wish the chapters were a little shorter, I found a couple of chapters dragged on and could have been broken down into shorter segments, Its been a long while since Ive read anything by Ms Staub, I guess so many other books came my way that needed to be read.
Ms Staub is a fantastic author and Im so glad I found my way back to her, This book was another nail biter, especially the ending, Very well written, with an ending I truly never saw coming, Physic visions or premonitions are something I do believe in, and am fascinated by, With this being the topic, my eyes were literally glued to the pages,
I know this is an older book, but kudos to you, Ms Staub, for another fantastic story, Don't read late at night, you wont be able to sleep!
Don't read if it bothers you to have bad things happen to kids!
Creepy, intense book.
Love the fact that I did not figure out who the killer was before the big reveal,
I really enjoyed this one!!
The characters were interesting and well developed,
It was easy to get caught up in the psychic visions and feel the terror that Cam must have felt just knowing there were kids in danger and in pain.
There were lots of possible suspects and none jumped out as the one to me, The puzzle of who did it was concealed until the end,
I was hoping for a captivating thriller, I get it that before anything actually happens the author wants to introduce the characters and give us a little bit of background but when after overhours of listening to thehour audiobook nothing even remotely caught my attention I decided not to waste the remaininghours of my life and use them for something else instead.
Extremely slow moving action and events that could have been summarized in much less detail, This is the second book I read from the author and most likely my last, The good thing about this book is that it is decently written, and that's about it, The bad things are nearly everything else


, The characters are annoying/unlikable and have little to no developement whatsoever, I do not mind an annoying character, as long as they are called out on their BS eventually, but this is not the case in the book.
The worst offender is the protagonist who is dense as a brick, has the spine of a wet paper tissue and gives off major "pick me/not like other girls" vibes, so much indeed that I had to double check when was this published.
Now, the "not like other girls" protag is also is problem in the second book, in a different way, All the characters, even the side characters with little to no personality are assholes, and instead of being called out on their behaviour, the author praises their actions and thoughts, as if she genuinely believes these are decent people.
The only good one is Tess, she behaves as a normal teenager and is quite smart, except for the last two chapters where her mother's dumb genes decide to make her an idiot.


. Too many characters! I couldn't care less about half the characters in this book, and I cared very little about the mains as well.
However, I felt a new character was introduced every few chapters for no reason only to dissapear in the next chapter.
It doesn't help at all that each new character is a carbon copy of the last one with a different background, and all of them have the whitest names

in the history of white names.


. It is so slow one can skip entire chapters and not even notice, Besides having to hear every bloody thought of the most annoying entitled people ever, you have to hear the same thoughts over and over again.
Seriously, I feel like I was reading the same chapter again, people think the same things over and over again, does the author think the reader is dumb and needs constant repetition This book could've been/the lenght.
The pacing is so slow and the interesting parts are few and far in between,

. Cellphones are used until it is inconvinient to the plot, Because if the issue is solved with a call/text, then the author will avoid remember the existance of cellphones until it is relevant to the plot again.


. Consequences What are those Every asshole keeps assholing without facing consequences, Not even the killer faces consequences,

. Ending was anticlimatic and mediocre, At the few chapters most of the characters have a sudden personality change, i, e. overprotective mother starts chatting to husband about stupid shite while daughter is missing, Self proclaimed loner has a friendship boner for the protag she knew forseconds, Defensless skinny kid nearly escapes killer because reasons, Killer that is so "smart" as to have committed numerous murders without being caught or suspected, was so careful as to "take care of loose ends" and seldom revealing their motives throughout the book, becomes a Scoobydo level monologuing villain.


. Mental health, cancer, alcoholism, neglect, lose, trauma and child abuse are treated as either plot devices or excuses for characters to be shitty and never address their issues.
I. e. : protag can beat alcoholism in two seconds because: "my alcoholism has a 'motive', unlike those lowlife disgusting addicts from AA I keep judging without knowing because I am sooooo special and different".


In short: don't recommend this book nor the author, .