The Break

A Novel

By: Katie Sise

Narrated by: Samara Naeymi, Sarah Naughton

Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Can she trust the people she loves? Can she trust herself? A new mother is pushed to the edge in a provocative thriller by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Open House.

After the traumatic birth of her daughter at a New York City hospital, Rowan O’Sullivan returns home to her apartment with her perfect newborn, Lila. At her side are her husband, Gabe, and June, a part-time babysitter hired to help Rowan in any way she can.

But in this time of joy, Rowan can’t shake the feeling that something isn’t right. She feels dread. She’s breaking.

Rowan’s growing instability leads her to accuse June of unspeakable things. And when June disappears just days later, Rowan becomes a suspect. The neighbors heard the screaming. But only Rowan knows what really happened. If her mind can be trusted. Since Lila’s birth, her memory has been both unreliable and frightening.

To uncover what happened to June and protect her new baby, Rowan must try to untangle the deep recesses of her mind and face the dark things she’s so desperate to keep buried. When she does, no one is prepared for where the truth leads.

©2022 Katie Sise (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Narrators Samara Naeymi and Sarah Naughton are opposite but inseparable sides to this compelling coin. Rowan’s fractured, frenzied thoughts contrast disturbingly with June’s upbeat innocence, and both narrators perfectly portray the emotions of their parallel narratives. This audio will appeal to listeners seeking psychological suspense rife with tension and twists, and a turbulent tale of motherhood, memory loss, and murder. Recommended for fans of Gilly Macmillan, B.A. Paris, and Tarryn Fisher.”—Library Journal

“With this white-knuckle journey, Sise shows her mastery of suspense.”—Publishers Weekly

One of the narrators destroyed it

Whoever narrates June drives me INSANE. It’s so hard to listen to the cadence of her voice. Every sentence ends like a question. It’s awful. I can’t imagine how Audible let’s stuff like that go . The story was good but with that narrator it’s like nails on a chalkboard to listen to so be sure to read the book and avoid the audio version if you actually want to enjoy it.

The break

It was a great read! Loved the story. Not the normal story line! I will read or listen to more of her novels.

Excellent book and a good ending!

I really enjoyed this book. When I started it I thought I might be 25 years too old as it was very much around a new mom storyline and my own children are mid 20s. I found myself getting more and more into it and thoroughly enjoyed it. I highly recommend it. Easy listening and well narrated.
I was gifted the book by the author but I like listening in my car, so I downloaded too.

Loved the Twists

Definitely twists coming from multiple directions which made guessing who did it was impossible. A few seemingly unrelated storylines came together impressively with an amazing ending!

Narration was excellent!!

Superb!

I definitely loved it! This is one of my favorites this year and thriller lovers should give it a try!

I found the plot twists unexpected and mainly all the topics dealt were so relatable as well as the MC!

It has been seriously a great discovery! Thanks @amazonkindle @audible

Lots of twists

As soon as you think you know where the story is going, there is a twist. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.

Just when you think you know, you don’t.

This is the kind of twisty domestic thriller where just when you think you have the plot figured out, you don’t. Every guess that you make will not be the right one. Only until the very end do you realize what’s going on, and it leaves you with a satisfying ending.

A solid story but nothing thrilling.

The narration was great- the story was okay. If you read a lot of thrillers/suspense you may find this one doesn’t have a lot of either.

Tolerable (2.5 stars)

SPOILER ALERT! Here we go again with post-partum psychosis (here conveniently a form of dissociative trauma). This has become so trite and tiresome... please stop. The perp was pretty obvious, so no surprise to me. The action at the end, well someone has to die or it wouldn't qualify as a Thriller, would it. Narration was average (3 stars).

Loved this!

I really enjoyed this book. Usually I’m able to guess the end pretty early on, but this one kept me guessing until the end. The end tied everything together very nicely as well.