I've read all of Mr. Houghton's books, and must say he's among my favorite authors. Why? Because all the boxes on my "must have" list are always checked. Intricate, intelligent plot? Check. Evocative characters? Check. Believable, logical dialogue? Check. Satisfying ending? Check. What are you waiting for? Go read it!

I loved the detail and well developed characters. The story does make you realize how a high school prank can affect an entire army of people. I did see the end coming but did not want to put the book down!

This book was right up my street. I was engrossed from the very start an couldn’t put it down. I could never predict what was going to happen or what way the plot was going which is a good thing as it keeps you wanting more. Having said that the ending was a bit of a let down. I was really expecting a great ending with plot twists I hadn’t even thought of not your average plot ending that you have read before. It had the potential to be great. On another note loved this authors style of writing an I would definitely read more from this author. Still a good read but just a let down when it came to the ending...

A gripping and intense read. I was very excited to start this one since the blurb had fascinated me.

It was an easy book to read, the characters were interesting and I wanted to know more about them, the more the story went on.
I would recommend this book to my friends!

A well written book and one that I enjoyed very much. One thing I particularly appreciated was that it shows the detectives using modern technology; too often, crime novels seem to be stuck decades in the past when it comes to showing photos to witnesses and things like that. So it felt very realistic and up to date. I did find some of the fight scenes a bit repetitive, and I saw the 'twist' coming from miles away. Nevertheless, I would definitely read another book in the same series.

With a multitude of twists and turns DON'T EVEN BREATHE by Keith Houghton is a thriller with unrelenting action that will keep you reading long into the night.

Main character, Maggie Novak is a believable character and is perfectly relatable. She may be an elite homicide detective, or "deathtective," as she calls herself, but she is also a person with a past. Maggie knows she has done terrible things and she wishes she could go back and change them, but knows she can't.

Maggie has a man in her life, but she keeps it casual. He is a cute, surfer-type whose day job is working in the mental health field. He has a dog and I love that the dog's name is Spartacus.

When Maggie's worst high school memory is brought to light, she has to not only find a murderer, but must also face up to the things she did back then.

This story proves that high school may be long over, but often those memories affect the rest of a person's life.

I rate DON'T EVEN BREATHE as 4 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and am thrilled to have found a writer whose work I was unfamiliar with until now. I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of his novels.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book.

Don’t Even Breathe is a pacy, addictive thriller with an intriguing mystery at the heart of it that draws you in immediately.

The prologue in which a murder is planned was enough to engage my reading senses then the author backs that up with a tense and beautifully plotted novel with little twists and turns leading you to a heart stopping finale.

Maggie is a great character and there is a well formed supporting cast with enough misdirection to keep you guessing. Past and present collide and you are hooked in first page to last.

A great crime read. I would not be disappointed if this were to be a series.

Recommended.

A suspenseful mystery full of twists. The characters are well developed. The plot is intriguing. Just when you think you have it solved, you're wrong. This is a good start to a new series. I can't wait to see how things develop.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

While the story wasn't anything I haven't read before and follows pretty much the same MO as most mystery, suspense etc books, there was still something tickling good about this book. The best part of the book is the characters that Keith Houghton has created. His lead character, Maggie is intense but he balances here out with two other characters.
The premise of the book is familiar to me, a hard homicide detective (Maggie) is called to investigate remains of a young woman. They identify it as a counsler but Maggie is positive its someone from her past who she thought was dead nearly 20 years ago.
Her hunt for the truth reminds her of a HS trick and she's off an running on a case that she is took close too and is personal for her.

Again, it follows the same format as most mysteries, with the obvious person being the twist, but the characters are interesting to read. Even though you can guess the ending, its still a very entertaining read!

This book was brilliant from beginning to end! Lots of twists and turns. I am sure there will be another book to follow this one, certainly hope so.

Homicide detective Maggie Novak has caught a murder case, a woman whose body has been badly burned and whom has been identified as Dana Cullen, school counselor. But Maggie notices something on the body, something that makes her believe that the body may actually belong to her old friend from school, Rita, who supposedly burned to death twenty years before. Could Rita have actually been alive all that time? And if so, why is she dead now, in a manner identical to the one that was supposed to have killed her two decades earlier? Houghton captures all the weird and wonderful things we love to hate and hate to love about the Sunshine State, along with a gruesome murder and decades old murder mystery

I really enjoyed this, Maggie is a great character, determined to find the killer of her childhood friend despite it making her face her past. Finding her friend who she thought had died 20 years previously makes her question everything she has been through. I really didn't expect the twist at the end!!

Very good suspense book with a few good twists. Ending was a definite surprise. At times some of the book had to be skimmed because of all the typical police who did what but it didn’t take away from the story Good characters and plot. Would definitely recommend. Thank you netgalley for letting me give an honest review of this book.

When it comes to murder-mystery crime novels, Don't Even Breathe by Keith Houghton is up there as one of the good ones.

This is a genre I'm always very wary of reading; when written well, murder mysteries can be haunting and grip at your mind. But, unfortunately, this genre is also stock piled with books that just aren't good. Every murder mystery I've ever read at some point in time falls into into the same-old same-old cliches... and this book is no exception to that.

Yes, I have admitted this novel does have its cliches,

Like the classic "I don't have time for a personal life, I'm all tunnel vision work-only" detective, the "The best friend was the killer the whole time???!" trope, the epilogue/first chapter is the killer's thoughts, and the SUPER classic investigation-forces-detective-to-confront-her-past plot line.

And yes, these cliches definitely weigh down this novel

But, I will give the author credit still. For one, I was thoroughly entertained reading it, and as soon as Maggie found the "Leave me alone" note I definitely couldn't put the book down.

Maggie, the lead detective in the story, is definitely very....intense. But, her character is well balanced out with Nic and Loomis's light personalities that give the comedic relief.

One thing I loved about this book was the diversity. The cast wasn't cookie-cutter; it featured characters with vitiligo, characters born in South Africa, characters raised in New York streets, and all different sets of personalities: goth, preppy, intense, light, funny. The diverse set of characters brought so much life into this story, so many different backgrounds and specialties, I loved it.

Overall, I would recommend this story. As far as cliches, I have never read a murder mystery that didn't fall into them; and Keith definitely makes it up with fantastic characters and chair gripping fight scenes.