Breathe: A Ghost Story (Paperback)

Selected as one of 160 'books for boys' recommended by the Department for Education and Skills. Coverage in THE TIMES.

Scary, disturbing and intense...a thoroughbred among haunted house tales...McNish knows how to keep the reader dangling, ensuring you'll be hard-pressed to put this down once you've started. An excellent, if unsettling experience, not recommended for sensitive types. (Jayne Nelson SFX )

'An intense supernatural novel that haunts the reader. Jack is able to sense the dead and after moving into a new house, a dangerous spirit is eager to contact him. Breathe is not for the faint-hearted.' (FUNDAY TIMES ONLINE )

'A genuinely spooky ghost story that leaves you breathless' (FIRST NEWS )

'A terrifyingly well written and disturbing story... Despite all the horror the ending is a moving testament to the transforming power of love.' (UNDERCOVER )

'If you're after a seriously spooky story, this is one for you... a truly terrifying tale. Not for the faint-hearted!' (Helen Boyle TBK )

'Jack's susceptibility to frightening asthma attacks matches the consumptive sufferings of a long dead girl who appears to him.... Readers aged 10 and above will be gripped and spooked.' (Linda Newbery TES )

'a brilliant ghost story which kept me hooked until the end. The descriptions are wonderfully vivid, with the nightmare passage being particuarly haunting, and any 8-12 year olds feeling brave enough to try this are in for a treat.' (Clare Harrison DUNMOW OBSERVER )

'an atmospheric, chilling tale guaranteed to raise the hairs on the back of your neck.' (Nikki Gamble THE BOOKSELLER )

'Such is McNish's skill that when you read of the young hero Jack's asthma attackes, you'll find your own breathing feels constricted. He evokes the same empathy when dealing with the ghosts who haunt Jack, taking us into the realms of inventiveness that are his trademark. Breathtaking." (Philip Ardagh GUARDIAN CHILDREN'S BOOKS SUPPLEMENT )

'An astoundingly creative story with some truly scary moments... Add to this the remarkable way in which McNish develops the theme of breathing, including an acutely well drawn representation of Jack's chronic asthma, and you find yourself with a multi-layered story that will genuinely unnverve the reader, in a way so many ghost stories fail to do.' (Huw Thomas BOOKS FOR KEEPS )

'gripping in its claustrophobic intensity... An irresistable page-turner which allows you to feel what it's like to be asthmatic and, oddly, leaves the reader pitying the dreadful Ghost Mother. You will never see mouth-to-mouth resuscitation again without wondering:are they blowing in or sucking out?' (Tina Massey CAROUSEL )

'You shouldn't really read this before you go to sleep, as there are some really scary moments. It's well-written and easy to read.' (Felix Taylor (age 14) INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )

'Morbid, necrophiliac and often distinctly queasy, this could be just the thing for adolescents in search of something engagingly horrible.' (Nicholas Tucker THE INDEPENDENT )

'An unusual ghost story where nothing is as simple as it seems until the very last explosive climax. A brilliant winter warmer.' (INSIGHT (Derbyshire) )

'The Nightmare Passage is a vivid and unusual version of hell.... a book for 11 to 13-year-olds who like and exciting and gripping read.' (Rachel Ayers Nelson THE SCHOOL LIBRARIAN ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.