If your horror hangover from Final Destination still lingers, prepare to breathe easy (and maybe scream a little) when BREATHE IN, BLEED OUT slashes its way onto bookshelves this September. Penned by Brian McAuley, the USA Today bestselling author behind Curse of the Reaper and Candy Cain Kills, this new blood-soaked novel promises a gory, satirical takedown of the wellness industry with all the razor-sharp tension of a classic slasher.
Out September 2, 2025 from Poisoned Pen Press, Breathe In, Bleed Out follows a group of guests attending a remote, serene wellness retreat—where self-discovery comes with a rising body count. Set against the sun-drenched stillness of the desert, McAuley’s novel blends culty spirituality with vicious kills, and the result is as unnerving as it is unputdownable.
“Come to this retreat for the blood. Stay for the healing,” urges Stephen Graham Jones, bestselling author of I Was a Teenage Slasher. That quote alone might be enough to lure readers into McAuley’s world of crystal chakras and cleansing ceremonies gone horrifically wrong.
But it’s not just gore for gore’s sake. McAuley, a WGA screenwriter whose credits range from Fuller House to the psychological thriller Dismissed, brings a cutting wit and scathing eye to his commentary on the billion-dollar self-help world. A Clinical Assistant Professor of Screenwriting at ASU’s Sidney Poitier New American Film School, McAuley has become one of the genre’s sharpest voices—both literally and figuratively. With Curse of the Reaper named one of Esquire’s Best Horror Books of 2022 and Candy Cain Kills earning accolades from Kirkus, Booklist, and Library Journal, he’s proven again and again that horror can be both intelligent and delightfully depraved.
As guests drop dead in increasingly inventive ways, Breathe In, Bleed Out explores the dark side of curated perfection and spiritual consumerism. Think Scream meets Midsommar, with a body-positive influencer holding a severed head.
Early praise has poured in:
- “A breath of fresh air for the slasher genre… classic kills combined with a cheeky new age spiritual journey.” —Philip Fracassi, Boys in the Valley
- “You’ll never feel the same about heading out to Joshua Tree for the weekend.” —Liz Kerin, Night’s Edge
- “My guru of all things gruesome.” —Clay McLeod Chapman, Wake Up and Open Your Eyes
At just under 300 pages, Breathe In, Bleed Out promises to be a lean, mean slash machine packed with biting social critique, gnarly kills, and characters you’ll love to see disemboweled.
Breathe In, Bleed Out hits stores on September 2 and will be available in trade paperback and eBook formats wherever horror fiction is sold.
It’s time to find your center, align your spirit—and try not to get stabbed in the sauna.
