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    One Breath Away
    One Breath Away
    One Breath Away
    Audiobook (abridged)4 hours

    One Breath Away

    Written by Heather Gudenkauf

    Narrated by Susan Ericksen

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    About this audiobook

    In her most emotionally charged novel to date, New York Times bestselling author Heather Gudenkauf explores the unspoken events that shape a community, the ties between parents and their children and how the fragile normalcy of our everyday life is so easily shattered.

    In the midst of a sudden spring snowstorm, an unknown man armed with a gun walks into an elementary school classroom. Outside the school, the town of Broken Branch watches and waits.

    Officer Meg Barrett holds the responsibility for the town’s children in her hands. Will Thwaite, reluctantly entrusted with the care of his two grandchildren by the daughter who left home years earlier, stands by helplessly and wonders if he has failed his child again. Trapped in her classroom, Evelyn Oliver watches for an opportunity to rescue the children in her care. And thirteen-year-old Augie Baker, already struggling with the aftermath of a terrible accident that has brought her to Broken Branch, will risk her own safety to protect her little brother.

    As tension mounts with each passing minute, the hidden fears and grudges of the small town are revealed as the people of Broken Branch race to uncover the identity of the stranger who holds their children hostage.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJun 26, 2012
    ISBN9781469201870
    Author

    Heather Gudenkauf

    Heather Gudenkauf is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Weight of Silence and Not a Sound. Heather lives in Iowa with her family.

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    Reviews for One Breath Away

    4/5

    261 ratings28 reviews

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    • 2/5
      Left a lot unresolved. Seemed like there were sub stories not necessarily needed
    • 3/5
      I thought this book was ok. It was worth listening to but not her best work.
    • 3/5
      A gunman enters a school in the small town of Broken Branch and no one knows who he is or what he wants. The story is told from the point of view of many different characters: a teacher and student inside the school, a police officer and grandparent outside the school, and a hostage's mother who is states away. At times the stories get a bit confusing - all of the townspeople are characters, and sometimes it's hard to remember who's who. The suspense, however, is incredibly well done. The story comes together piece by piece, and even though you may figure out who the gunman is a few pages for the big reveal, it's still a nice surprise.
    • 4/5
      In this book we meet Holly, a woman who grew up in small town Iowa but flew from there as fast as she could to get away from her parents and life on the farm. She is currently recovering from serious burns in the hospital and has sent her children back to the childhood home she swore she would never again enter. While there tragedy strikes as an armed man enters the school with an unknown agenda. In this day and age of school shootings it is every parent's nightmare and it is compounded for Holly as she cannot leave the hospital in Arizona to go to Iowa.The story plays out in bits and pieces from five separate points of view; Holly's, her daughter's, a police officers, a teacher's and Holly's father's. As each chapter moves forward we learn a bit about each character, a bit about the town and little drops of information about the crazy man with the gun.The character studies are quite interesting as each voice is completely unique and Ms. Gudenkauf keeps to different ways of expressing her characters upsets, back stories and emotions. It's a balancing act to be sure and one that is handled very well. As the book races towards its conclusion each voice remains distinct.Some questions are left unanswered at the end but the conclusion is satisfying and unexpected.I don't read many thrillers but I would certainly pick up another book by the author.
    • 2/5
      The part about having nonstop hiccups was interesting, and that's all that was interesting. It would make a great magazine length article but whoever told the author that a book length version was gonna be great was wrong... Seriously wrong. Audiobook note : ok narrator, kinda sleepy.
    • 5/5
      Wow, wow, wow! This book was very gripping! I loved the way the main characters had their own points of view as chapters. The whole plot was amazing. I can not think of one bad thing to say about this book. I'm definitely going to give Heather Gudenkauf's other books a read now as I believe she is a brilliant writer. This book is so emotional, and I would've never guessed the gunman's identity at the end. What a shocker!
    • 4/5
      Heather Heather Heather! You did another awesome job with your newest book. I absolutely loved the story and the way it was written.

      The story is about a gunmen that goes into a school. Who is he? Why did he choose the classroom that he chose?

      You will find the answer to these questions and more by the end of the book. Each chapter features a character telling the story of what is happening at the same moment in time. I just love this style of writing that Gudenkauf uses. Just as the chapter is coming to an end and you are about to learn something huge we switch characters. OOOOOOOOHHHHHH, it works so well in keeping you in suspense and on the edge of your seat.

      Great book, great story telling and I highly recommend this to all.

      A heartfelt thank you to Net Galley and Mira Publishing for an "advanced readers copy". This book will be released on June 19, 2012
    • 4/5
      I loved the structure and the pace of this book. It was difficult to put it down.
    • 3/5
      I continued reading this book because I was interested enough to see how it ended however I didn't really feel the suspense or the sense of relief that you hope to in a book about children being held hostage. I think this was partly due to the overwhelming number of characters introduced as well as the way the event was drawn out so much. In terms of action not a lot actually happened in the book and despite lots of information about the many characters few of them I could feel I could relate to. That said I did sympathize with Will's character and admired the teachers resilience. Overall it was an ok read.
    • 3/5
      Whilst I enjoyed this book it didn't have the action and suspense I was expecting. Instead there was a lot of back story which slowed the story down. The book unfolded through the eyes of five main characters, which I enjoyed, but what annoyed me was the fact that some were told in first person while others were in the third person. I would have preferred them being all one or the other. "One Breath Away" certainly wasn't a thriller, but an okay read for an extremely hot weekend, although I must say I found the ending lacking.
    • 2/5
      Not nearly as good as her other two books. The subject matter is sensationalism and the characters are poorly drawn. You don't hear enough of any one character's story to make you care about the situation they are in and by the end, you are just happy to know the identity of the mysterious gunman so you can move on to something else.
    • 2/5
      After reading the blurb I was excited about reading this book, but once I got into it I wasn't so impressed. Each chapter is told from a different characters perspective- I HATE THIS!!The story is jumbled all around with no clear idea on where the story is going. In the end it wasn't as good as what the blurb made it out to be.
    • 3/5

      This was told by different people per chapter. We heard from Mrs. Oliver, Will, Meg, Holly and Augi.

      A stranger comes into a school and a lockdown takes place, this is the story told by a student, a teacher, an officer, a mom and a grandpa.

      I felt there was too much in this story that didn't need to be told. A few too many characters, that had no real purpose but to make you go who are they related to?

      This was one not as good as the first one I read by her.

    • 3/5
      a little too Jodi Picoult for me.
    • 5/5
      This is the suspenseful account of an emergency at a school in a rural community in the USA. Through short, punchy chapters, the story is told from the point of view of various characters: teachers and pupils being held hostage by a gunman, and those waiting for news outside. It is well written and very readable, the sort of thing you pick up and cannot put down. I was pretty sure I had guessed the identity of the guy with the gun, but the author had fooled me totally.
    • 2/5
      I was so excited when this book became available through PBS that as soon as I received it, I read it. I had read the other two books by this author and remember enjoying them. I was sadly disappointed in this book. Having worked through a school tragedy myself, I found the reaction of the characters unrealistic and sometimes downright silly. I thought that the book started off slowly and never really picked up pace. There was so much background information about the characters that took away from the premise of the story - it seemed to backfire and essentially kept me from connecting with any of the characters. With that said, there were some underlying storylines that I thought were left unfinished that having been addressed thoroughly would have added excitement to the story. It was very predictable - even determining who the gunman was was an easy task. I'm sorry to say that I wouldn't recommend this book.
    • 3/5
      A brief, vaguely interesting story of a hostage situation at a small town school. Told by many perspectives, the narration seemed overly simple.
    • 2/5
      Although I think the premise behind the book is good, I had a hard time going back and forth from the different perspectives of all the charactors. It held my interest especially with all the school shootings, but maybe limit how many people are telling the story. It does keep you guessing as I did not figure out who the shooter was until it was revealed.
    • 5/5
      I ordered this book and when it arrived, I was unable to read the story of a school lock-down because of the Sandy Hook killings. Finally, I took it on and I'm glad I did. Heather Gudenkauf is a new author to me and I will read all of her books now. Told by several children and adults, the story avoids being gruesome by letting the reader see the lock-down from several angles and provides a nice character study. Not a downer at all, I highly recommend One Breath Away.
    • 4/5
      A story about a gunman who enters a school and holds the children and teacher hostage, This book was a page turner.
    • 5/5
      Debated on reading this with the world being what it is but she really roped me in and made me care. Recommended this to my school teacher daughter. A must read.
    • 4/5
      "One Breath Away" by Heather Gudenkauf is about a gunman who enters an elementary school in a small town and holds the kids hostage. The story is narrated through the teacher in the classroom, Evelyn Oliver, the cop whose daughter goes to that school, Meg, the grandfather who recently put his two kids in the school, and his 13 year old granddaughter. On top of it all, they are unable to get outside help due to a snowstorm.I liked the story. It was interesting to see how people were reacting to the situation: the teacher who wants to protect her students at any cost, the cop whose daughter would have been in that classroom if she hadn't decided to let her go see her dad a day early, the grandfather who promised to protect his grandchildren while their mother is recovering from a serious accident, and the 13 year old who has an attitude but is willing to do what is needed to protect her younger brother.
    • 5/5
      Don't start unless you want to do nothing but reading til you finish. I am only half way through. I took a quick break and will go right back. This is a good book.
    • 5/5
      ***Spoiler Alert***I seriously had several thoughts about who "it" was. Once again Gudenkauf kept me guessing right up until the end. At the part in the story where the gun goes off I totally thought that Verna was doing the shooting and shooting who she thought was Ray. Oh my, I was way off on several of my guesses. Several times I was thinking, "wait, don't switch characters, I have to know what happens!". Once again Ms. Gudenkauf's superb writing had me on the edge of my seat throughout the story. I loved Mrs. Oliver and she is a character I won't soon forget. Bravo Ms. Gudenkauf. I believe this may just be my favorite yet! If you promise to keep writing, I promise to keep reading!!
    • 5/5
      In this third book by Heather Gudenkauf, the reader is hooked from the first page. Gudenkauf has a way with her writing that grabs the reader and the book just has to be devoured! This is the story of five main characters and their perspectives when a lone gunman holds hostages in a third grade classroom in a small town in Iowa. It is also the story of a community dealing with a terrifying situation. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery. I also recommend this author as a MUST READ whenever she has a book on the market.
    • 5/5
      This tense thriller by Heather Gudenkauf is terrifyingly real. For any parent or grandparent it is a fear that is always lurking somewhere in the subconscious: what if a madman with a gun enters my child’s school? Life changing moments sometimes are only one breath away. Told from the point of view of five characters, the reader is able to put together a comprehensive understanding of the situation. As in "These Things Hidden," the novel begins seemingly in the middle of the story, and details are disclosed as more of the story unfolds. With well developed characters and good use of description, the author conveys her message with a minimum of words. Before you start this novel, be sure you have enough time to finish it, because once you begin, you won’t want to stop reading until it’s over.
    • 4/5
      One Breath Away is a suspenseful story about a gunman holding hostages in a rural K-12 school.This story is not focused on the perpetrator. It is much more about the effect of the incident on the victims and bystanders. It's told from several characters' points of view: a teacher, a student, a grandparent, and a police officer. The gunman's identity is a mystery to be revealed, and a few of the characters fear that it could be someone close to them. This is one of those books that you can't put down until you know how it ends.Disclosure: Free galley from netgalley.com
    • 5/5
      I've read and enjoyed both of Heather Gudenkauf's previous books, and so I was really looking forward to One Breath Away. I wasn't disappointed. The story takes place over the course of one day in Broken Branch, Iowa, where a gunman has entered the school and taken a class of children and their teacher hostage. The chapters are very short and each one is told from the point of view of different characters. This is a very effective way of keeping the tension going and enables the reader to see it from all angles.The nice short chapters means it's a very easy book to read and it's fast-moving. The author writes very well in the vein of Diane Chamberlain and Jodi Picoult, so if you like their books then you will enjoy this one.