When the Amazon order containing this book turned up, I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed by the contents. Sure, it was everything I’d ordered, including two books by one of my favourite authors, Christopher Fowler. One of these was the cause of my disappointment. Not for the contents, but for the size. I expected something a little more than a slim volume containing fewer pages, albeit bigger ones, than the instruction manual for my PDA. Fowler has released a number of short story collections, but I was expecting a novel length novel, rather than something that looks like a short story on its own.You’ve heard the old phrase about not judging a book by its cover, right? Well, I did. At the very least, I was judging a book by the size of the gap between the covers. More fool me.It’s Ben Harper’s first day as the Health and Safety Officer at SymaxCorp. His predecessor left his job suddenly about three weeks previously although the evidence suggests that he never left the building. Unused to the corporate world, having lied his way into the job, his suspicions aren’t immediately aroused by a large number of staff apparently suffering with health problems and puts the strange magnetic forces that work on the building down to interference from all the computers in the office. By the end of his first day, he’s starting to realise that things aren’t quite how they should be. By Friday of his first week, it’s all gone very wrong indeed.Apparently, Christopher Fowler was a humour writer before he switched to writing urban horror stories. Although I’ve never found any of his earlier work, there’s definitely a huge helping of humour in “Breathe”. It’s not laugh out loud funny, but the whole book is presented with a wry grin and a merry twinkle in Fowler’s eye.It’s a read you can get through very easily. You’d expect this from such a short volume but even so, the story rushes past and drags you along with it. There’s no need for any kind of scene setting, so there isn’t any. The all-action writing style reminds me of Elmore Leonard, although the story is like nothing you’d ever read from him. However, much like Elmore Leonard, there’s a very visual quality to the story that you can see working well as a film.Unfortunately for Fowler, there’s unlikely to ever be a film made of “Breathe”, as it’s already been done. Essentially, the storyline evolves into something akin to “Shaun of the Dead” based in an office building. It’s a little more all-action and a touch less funny, but if you can imagine a strange combination of “Shaun of the Dead” and “Die Hard”, this is probably what you would end up with.You need to be able to suspend your disbelief for this. Part of the horror of Fowler’s earlier works was their touch of realism and the amount of knowledge of London he displayed which made you think that these events could possibly happen to you. This time, he’s gone for the easier option and has set out purely to entertain. Although the office setting is one that will be familiar to many, SymaxCorp isn’t like any office I’ve ever worked in. It’s office life taken to extremes and is all the better for it.If I were describe “Breathe” in one word, that word would be “fun”. It’s a gripping and highly entertaining read and one I went through in a single sitting and then went back and started again. There’s barely a word wasted and the continual action keeps the pages turning. Yes, it’s short but that feels just about right, as making the story any longer would be to ruin it. It’s short and sweet and just about perfect. For the entertainment value and how it grabs you, it’s possibly Fowler’s best work, even though he has produced better writing and more original stories.Given the frequency with which Fowler produces short story collections, I wouldn’t be too surprised to see this crop up in one in the next year or two. However, Fowler fans and anyone who enjoys reading purely for entertainment would be advised to grab this now, rather than waiting that long. It’s not the best introduction to Fowler’s work there has ever been, but it’s great fun and shouldn’t be missed.This review may also appear under my name at any or all of www.ciao.co.uk, www.thebookbag.co.uk, www.goodreads.com, www.amazon.co.uk and www.dooyoo.co.uk
