Day: March 18, 2022

In The Break by Daniel Hurst, one woman’s desire for a little time away from her family turns into a psych thriller of a nightmare.

Karen is a typical harried mom: always busy, always running errands, never a chance to breathe or rest. And she never misses an opportunity to tell people about how busy she is.

Although I will say that I completely and totally agree with her perspective on family vacations. She nails that one correctly.

However, her constant mention of her busy schedule makes her a prime target for a scam artist. Or is there a deeper, darker reason for Karen to be targeted?

You won’t find the answer to that here. It’s a spoiler-free zone, after all. I will just say that when something seems too good to be true, it probably deserves closer scrutiny.

There are a lot of good moments in the book. Even though I figured out the culprit early on (it seems very obvious) I was interested enough to keep reading to see how far they would go.

And boy, do they go far.

The characters are not very deep, but I don’t feel like The Break is that kind of a book. It is more about the action and plot than fully-fleshed-out characters.

There are also some parts that are uneven or repetitive. Karen tends to go on and on about how busy she is. We get it. And towards the end, she gets quite preachy about “happy families” and looking within oneself to find happiness.

That doesn’t exactly fit with how much complaining she does throughout the book. However, events late in the story could have bearing on how her attitude changes.

Again, that’s all I’m going to say about that.

The author does a good job of keeping the action moving, however, making The Break a quick read (I read it in one sitting). I definitely recommend it for a take-your-brain-out psych thriller.

And check out these other psych thrillers from Daniel Hurst: The Passenger, The New Friends

Author Bio 

Daniel Hurst writes psychological thrillers and loves to tell tales about unusual things happening to normal people. He has written all his life, making the progression from handing scribbled stories to his parents as a boy to writing full length novels in his thirties. He lives in the North West of England and when he isn’t writing, he is usually watching a game of football in a pub where his wife can’t find him.