Ellie Marney, Some Shall Break (None Shall Sleep Sequence #2), A&U Children’s, 6th June 2023, 400 pp., $24.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781761068010
Some Shall Break is written by Ellie Marney and is the second book in a current duology, following None Shall Sleep. Emma Lewis and Travis Bell separated after the showdown between Anthony Hoyt and Simon Gutmunsson in St Elizabeth’s Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Three months later, another serial killer appears and seems to be following the patterns of Daniel Huxton, former serial killer, who had kidnapped and planned to kill Emma. Simon, like before, seems to be withholding information from Emma and Travis that would help them solve this crime.
I really enjoyed how the author described Emma’s character and how she can “smell” serial killers and the contrast between Emma and Travis. Travis picked up his skills because his dad was in law enforcement and Emma has had real life experience. The author also writes the characters with similarities like their coping mechanism to sensitive events (for Emma its triggering, not so much for Travis), which is exercising. It’s pretty easy to follow the path (work out the minds of?) the serial killers, but that’s not the main point of the books. This, though it took some excitement away, made the characters more present (as I would just be trying to figure out the murderer), as well as very entertaining when they were puzzling it out and this made me love the book more. Marney is more interested in the dynamics between Emma and Travis, Emma and Simon, and Simon and Travis. These characters let us into a (fabricated?) FBI system from 1960-80s America.
Apart from the obvious murderer identity, Some Shall Break was excellent and was a great read, as Marney focuses more on the connections between the characters, than figuring out the puzzle – though that is how the connection is presented (bonding over serial killers – fun). The only concern for this book was if I would understand any complicated terminology used, but there wasn’t, which made the book easier to read.
I would recommend this book to ages 14 and above, as younger readers may be scared due to the detail depth Ellie Marney goes into regarding crime scenes and serial killer habits.
Reviewed by Grace Gaffney
