Olivia Kiernan Books In Order

Publication Order of Frankie Sheehan Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Olivia Kiernan is a UK based Irish author of fiction, crime, and thriller books best known for her crime thriller novel, Too Close to Breath which features DCS Frankie Sheehan investigating the killing of Dr. Eleanor Costello. At first what seems to be a simple murder case turns into a complex dark canvas of fear with an endless list of suspects.

The author was born and spent her childhood in County Meath. She is graduated with an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Sussex. Olivia Kiernan became a published author in 2013 when her debut novel Dawn Solstice was published. In 2015, Kiernan began writing her second novel Too Close To Breathe. After hiding her manuscript for about a year, re-editing it from time to time, she forwarded it to agents and within a month she signed with a literary agent, and in 2018 the book was published. The novel marked the first installment in what was to be known as the Frankie Sheehan series. Despite relocating to the United Kingdom, Kiernan admits that her Irish background characterized by plenty of words and storytelling has always played an essential role in her writing career.

According to an interview published on Irish Times website, Olivia Kiernan admits that she has always wanted to write a novel with not only a strong and independent but also identifiable lead character and a plot with lots of psychological twists and a fascinating victim at the core. She has always been influenced by writers including Gillian Flynn, Tana French, Sebastian Barry, Anne Enright, and Jane Harper.

Too Close To Breathe

Too Close To Breathe is the first book in the Frankie Sheehan Detective series by Olivia Kiernan. It is a tale of a female detective who finds herself investigating a series of murder cases all which appear to be connected. Diving into the world of the Dark Web and Irish criminal underworld, the detective must use her profiling and detective skills to solve the murder case.

The story opens up by introducing the readers to Frankie Sheehan the heroine. Olivia Kiernan has crafted a profoundly disturbing police procedural starring DCS Frankie Sheehan that’s set in the darker side of Dublin. We meet Frankie returning to work after a serious attack that left Tracy Ward dead. She is yet to recover, sick from a type of post-traumatic stress disorder but she needs to be back at work. With a scheduled trial of Tracy’s murderer, Frankie is dealt with a blow when she finds herself dealing with what is first assumed to be suicide. A young microbiologist Eleanor Costello is found hanged at her home.
It doesn’t take Frankie long to spot that it wasn’t a suicide but rather murder and this forces her and her investigating team to embark on an investigation journey where the lines between the killer and the victim are distinctly blurred.

The murder cases take them deep into a dark website called the Black Widow that focuses on self-harm and death experiences as well as BDSM practices. It’s not too long before another body of Amy Keegan is discovered, a woman whose close to Frankie. The death of Amy Keegan connects to with Peter Costello, and the pair had been in a relationship before.

The missing Peter becomes the main suspect, but nothing is as it seems. The cops go undercover to investigate the darknet but they get little clues even though they’re sure that the killer is a frequent visitor of the website. Frankie is also forced to reassess the notion that they already have Tracy’s killer because it appears that the case at hand connects with Tracy’s case. In a tale where the truth proves to be elusive, Frankie and her investigative team come across human beings who thrive in the darkest sphere, the use of thallium and its antidote, secrets, deception and a killer who will stop at nothing to accomplish his needs.

Olivia Kiernan writes in an engaging thriller with an emotionally damaged and flawed character. Frankie is a profiler and a forensic scientist in a complex story with sinister underbelly involving the personal and unseen aspects of human lives with references to the dark webs dealing with death fantasies and BDSM. It’s a cleverly plotted story that shows you that you never know what goes on behind a closed door and the fact that first impressions are always deceiving.

One of the major themes in this book that come into play is secrets. Secrets are the basic principles of life; everyone has them and protects them. And it turns out that Eleanor too had them as well and it’s up to the detective to uncover them if she has any hope of solving the same but doing so she has to venture into places she’s never been before. Even worse, the detective has to deal with the fact that she discovers more about the case and the more she digs deeper, the more she puts her life as well of those she loves in danger.

In the end, regardless of the secrets kept or the pain inflicted, the only thing that matters for our detective is justice for the murder victims even when learning that they may not be the people first believed to be. The cases must be solved and not only for the victims but also for herself because she won’t be able to forget it unless it’s over. If you enjoy thriller books, you will love what Olivia Kiernan has presented the readers with her Frankie Sheehan series debut novel Too Close To Breathe.

Dawn Solstice

Archaeologist, Dawn Kennedy is sent on a mission to work at a Neolithic tomb in Ireland that’s famed for its history of reincarnation. The archaeologist is drawn to a farm owner Evan, but their relationship seems to be ruined right from the start. The local people talk of The Legend of Banshee, a herald of death and when a strange spectre attacks Dawn, she suspects that the past might be reaching out to her. Soon she finds herself living in fear, fear of the banshee, love and the local’s fractured history.