Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley
Poison Pen Press (September 2, 2025)
Reviewed by Haley Newlin
Brian McAuley’s slasher novel Breathe In, Bleed Out is an absolute scream and an instant classic.
In this fast-paced and shocking horror novel, Hannah, a woman haunted by the ghosts of grief, and her friends are invited to a secluded healing retreat in the desert. With constant nightmares and a drug dependency, Hannah thinks this trip could be just what she needs: a chance to heal.
She speaks her intention to the spirits, “release.”
Upon arrival, the retreat hosts, Kimi and Pax, confiscate all electronics. Dinner is made entirely of raw meat and vegetables, and from there, every experience, every disappearance, strikes a nerve with Hannah. Something isn’t right. And it isn’t only Pax’s decor and philosophies crafted with borrowed images, stories, and designs from various cultures. There’s Pax’s assistant, Kimi, too, a native woman who passes whispered warnings.
“He sees everything.”
Then, of course, there’s the pickax-wielding coal miner with a wicked folk rhyme:
In the dark of Dead Man’s Due,
Waylon Barlow waits for you.
He’ll hack you up without a trace, pick your bones, and steal your face.
How very Freddy Krueger, Crooked Man, The Babadook; and who doesn’t love a villainous entity with an ominous rhyme?
Breathe In, Bleed Out was made for horror fans, especially those who respect the rules of the genre as much as someone like Scream‘s Randy Meeks (played by Jamie Kennedy) with an encyclopedic expertise of how to survive a slasher movie.
McAuley’s voice reminded me of Randy and an additional Scream legacy character, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell). Like Prescott, Hannah is witty, authentic, and fierce. The author’s style shines bloody and brilliant through her trauma and resiliency.
I also appreciated the satire of L.A.’s fitness and health culture, where everyone is looking for the next transcendence and new awakening. It was an excellent setup for the “all that glitters is not gold” healing retreat setting, complete with hot springs, saunas, and a yoga studio.
One of the best parts of this novel is its whodunnit-style mystery, where McAuley cleverly misdirects readers with every gory discovery. The constant need for answers hooks readers and traps them in a murderous funhouse of horror that doesn’t let up until every body hits the floor.
I recommend Breathe In, Bleed Out to fans of Scream, and horror books like Chuck Tingle’s Bury Your Gays and Rest Stop by Nat Cassidy.
