Anna Rogers, a student at Gracewood College, returns home to the apartment she shares with her roommate, Kayla, after being overserved. Still, she is aware that an individual known as the Midnight Rambler has been terrorizing the neighborhood and breaking into apartments. As she approaches her building, a man steps directly out of the shadows calling her by name and follows her up to her door. Anna gets inside before he reaches her and informs Kayla of the situation, but she insists they not call the police.

On the Gracewood campus, 30-year-old security officer Avery Rogers is having difficulty breaking up a rowdy fraternity fight and is quickly outnumbered. She needs the local P.D. to intervene and save the day, which is ironic considering she was a Kentucky State Police (KSP) officer just as her retired cop father, Russell, was. Her service ended when she nearly drowned during a tragic case and had to be rescued by a colleague. Her father never let her live down the fact that she walked away from the KSP.

"David Bell plots this story well, and the chilling finale will have readers catching their breath until the dust settles. Bell proves once again why he is one of the best thriller writers out there."

Anna and Avery are half-sisters and part of a very disjointed family that rarely connects. Avery and her younger sister, Alisha, are from their father’s first marriage; he split from their mother, who later passed away from an illness. Russell is married to his second wife, Jane, with whom he was having an affair while he was still married to Avery and Alisha’s mother. Avery could never bring herself to calling Anna her sister, even claiming to people that she was adopted.

All of this family dysfunction is at the heart of TRY NOT TO BREATHE, David Bell’s new psychological thriller. Bell has many more surprises in store for readers as what begins as a tale of family strife will soon lead to a Pandora’s box of secrets that will threaten their lives forever. Alisha reaches out to Avery on behalf of their parents to look in on Anna. They are worried about this Midnight Rambler business, and Anna is not responding to anyone’s calls. Kayla indicates to Alisha that she took off on a trip up north, supposedly to visit a friend in Louisville.

Avery relents and goes to Anna’s apartment to check on her, only to find her missing. She also comes across the lifeless body of Kayla, who apparently has been strangled. Now, Avery’s police instincts kick in as she realizes this could be the work of the Midnight Rambler, who had not gotten physical up to this point. Or maybe someone else was targeting Anna, but Kayla was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Either way, Avery knows she must go after her sister in Louisville, where they believe she may be participating in a protest against police brutality.

Needing help and not willing to work with her father, Avery reaches out to her old partner, Charlie Ballard, and they embark on a road trip to Louisville. Avery has always suspected that Russ and Jane have been holding something back pertaining to Anna, and she will find out about this in traumatic fashion. Anna and Avery finally come together, briefly, as the police are raiding the rally, but Avery is dragged off to the paddy wagon before she can get near Anna. The violence that erupts frightens Anna so much that she looks for somewhere to escape it all. When she is approached by someone who seems to know her well, she leaves with him to get answers he claims to have for her about her past.

The final third of TRY NOT TO BREATHE heads in a completely different direction as secrets are revealed amidst a sinister background of violence and fear that could cost both Anna and Avery their lives. David Bell plots this story well, and the chilling finale will have readers catching their breath until the dust settles. Bell proves once again why he is one of the best thriller writers out there.