Today, I’m delighted to be sharing my blog tour stop for Some Shall Break by Ellie Marney. Thank you so much to TBR and Beyond Tours for inviting me onto this tour and you can check out the other stops here.
After a harrowingly close contact with juvenile sociopath Simon Gutmunsson, junior FBI consultants Emma Lewis and Travis Bell went their separate ways: Emma rejected her Quantico offer and Travis stayed to train within a new unit of the FBI Behavioral Science division. But the unit’s latest case is feeling eerily familiar and Kristin Gutmunsson—Simon Gutmunsson’s eccentric twin—reaches out to Travis to send a warning: Emma is in peril.
When Travis and Kristin turn up evidence that points back to Daniel Huxton, the serial killer that Emma had escaped, things become more complicated. With a copycat on the loose, Emma returns to Quantico and is thrown back into her past traumas. Compelled to prevent more tragedy—even if it means putting herself in danger—Emma turns to Simon for help once again. But Simon is keeping secrets that could impact their entire investigation. Will the team be able to stop the Huxton copycat before time runs out for his next victims?
TW: murder, death, gore, violence, rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, drugging, sexism, racism, trauma
My Thoughts:
Some Shall Break was a compulsively readable, loaded gun of a book.
I absolutely loved None Shall Sleep by Ellie Marney, thinking it was a gem in the YA thriller world. It had excellent plotting, great twists and these endlessly compelling characters at its centre. So when I heard that a sequel was coming & returned to all of these brilliant, complex and flawed characters, I knew I had to pick it up.
The pacing was immaculate here, never fully allowing you to draw breath while reading. Every page was soaked in blood and the type of tension that feels like a weight pressing down on your chest. You are reeled in with a shocking and tragic opening, which serves to set the scene for the chaos about to unfold. This is a very dark book at times, so please be mindful of the trigger warnings for the content discussed.
This is a case that is deeply tied to Emma’s past and therefore there is a lot of exploration of trauma, flashbacks and continued survival. Marney cleverly uses this for some excellent character development, as we get a keener sense of the way these interpersonal relationships are developing. I have to say the relationship between Simon and Kristin was one of the most fascinating dynamics in the book and I was always keeping an eye on background movements for those two.
The shadow looming over it all is that of Simon Gutmunsson, the twisted genius and serial killer. He is a constant threat, several steps ahead of everyone through manipulation and his own devious chess game unfolding. Marney makes no bones of just how vicious he is, including one sequence that is just chilling.
Some Shall Break is the perfect sequel: upping the stakes in every way and leaving us on a tantalising hook for another book.
About The Author:
Ellie Marney is a NYT bestselling author of crime fiction. Her most recent book is Some Shall Break, the sequel to the Aurealis-winning None Shall Sleep, and her other titles include The Killing Code, the Every series – starting with Every Breath – and the companion novel No Limits, White Night, and the Circus Hearts series, starting with Circus Hearts 1.
Ellie’s books are published in eleven countries and have been optioned for television. She’s spent a lifetime researching in mortuaries, talking to autopsy specialists, and asking former spies how to make explosives from household items, and now she lives quite sedately in south-eastern Australia with her family.
Find Ellie’s newsletter sign-ups at her website, and catch her @elliemarney on socials or @elliemarneyauthor on Tiktok.
A Short Book Lover 
i am SO excited to read this book! great review!
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Thank you and it’s an excellent book!
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