Description from Amazon UK

How do you survive the unthinkable?

Passengers boarding the 10.35 train from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston are bound for work, reunions, holidays and new starts, with no idea that the journey is about to change their lives for ever…

Holly has just landed her dream job and Jeff is heading for his first ever work interview. Onboard customer service assistant Naz dreams of better things as he collects rubbish from the passengers. And among the others travelling are Nick with his young family; pensioner Meg setting off on a walking holiday with her dog; Caroline, run ragged by the competing demands of her stroppy teenagers and her demented mother; and Rhona, unhappy at work and desperate to get home. And in the middle of the carriage sits Saheel, carrying a deadly rucksack . . .

And in the aftermath, amidst the destruction and desolation, new bonds are formed, new friendships made… and we find hope in the most unlikely of places and among the most unlikely people.

The Silence Between Breaths is a book I’ve been meaning to read for ages, so I am really pleased that at long last I have read it. It’s on my 20 Books of Summer list and has been for several years and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. This is one of those books that is difficult to write about without giving away spoilers. You know early on both from the description on Amazon and from the back cover that one of the passengers, Saheel, has a ‘deadly secret’ ie a bomb, in his rucksack. So, the tension is there from the beginning of the book and I was wondering when he was going to the let off the bomb and what would happen to the passengers.

Chapter 1 introduces the main characters with little snippets about each of them. They are Jeff, who nearly missed the train, sitting next to Holly, who is going to London for training for her new job as an Event-Management assistant; Caroline who is worried about her mum who has dementia; Naz who wants to own his own restaurant; elderly Meg and Diana with their dog, Boss, going on a walking holiday; Nick, Lisa and their young children Eddie and Evie, going to a wedding; Rhona travelling with her boss Felicity and colleague, Agata, worried about her little daughter Maisie at home; and Saheel trying not draw attention to himself. One other person is Kulsoom, Saheel’s younger sister at home, who plays a big part in the story.

The next chapters, 3,4, and 5 give more information about each character, as the train makes its way to London. The tension builds and I became increasingly anxious about all of them as they became real people to me. I knew what was going to happen and I was willing something to happen to stop it. The remaining chapters, 6 to 10 complete the story, telling the harrowing and heart breaking consequences of Saheel’s actions. I just couldn’t stop reading even though it was so hard to read. The characterisation is superb, so that I cared about each person, the setting is so well described in such detail that it all happened before my eyes and the drama and tension grew as the events played out. One of the standout books that I’ve read this year.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Constable (22 Sept. 2016)
• File size ‏ : ‎ 3360 KB
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 291 pages
• Source: I bought my copy
• My rating: 5*