I'm sorry to say this title wasn't for me. I didn't get past the second chapter. The writing style was too dramatic. I felt it was more in the style of a Young Adult novel. The description of the girl who is dying 'too young, too beautiful' etc. It just didn't feel right for me.

I'm sure this will be a hit with other readers.

I couldn’t engage with this book and I felt it dragged on a bit. The characters were unsympathetic and there was so much emphasis on their collective trauma and guiltbthat I couldn’t engage with them as individuals. The sub-plot of the vote to demolish a bridge was interesting thematically as a bridge is something that ought to bring communities together rather than tear them apart, but it wasn’t enough to make the story compelling to me.

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

Interesting premise. Ideal for fans of suspense that's delivered through character study..
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

Not for me. A good premise but not for me. Poor execution but poor writing. Not sure i would recommend.

If you're looking for your next addictive, page turning thriller, then look no further! I was absolutely absorbed in the twists and turns this book offers.

Twenty-Seven Minutes is all about the darkness inside of people and what happens when you keep secrets, sometimes for decades.

It's been a decade since Grant's sister died on the bridge in a freak accident. Now, there's been another accident, and there's a petition to have the bridge, but for some, that's where memories are held and secrets are buried. Was Phoebe Dean all that she appeared to be and who was responsible for her death the night of the party ten years ago.

Let's just start by saying what an ending! I didn't see that coming at all! I love unpredictable endings, and Ashley has smashed it!
This is more of a character driven thriller, and I loved each perspective. All of the characters have their own darkness inside them, and it made for fascinating reading. Overall, I really enjoyed Twenty-seven minutes and would recommend it to fans of thrillers.

I tried to like this book. It's written in an interesting way, but I struggle with this type of repetitive writing. I am afraid to say I gave up and didn't finish the book. I did want to find out what had happened. in those 27 minutes, and maybe as an audiobook, I would have enjoyed this so much more.

When a woman dies on a bridge, memories of a student’s death in a car accident in the same spot a decade earlier are stoked in the town of West Wilmer where everyone seems to have plenty of secrets to hide. The student was promising high schooler Phoebe Dean. Her brother Grant, who had been driving, contributes one of the four points of view to the structure of this thriller. He appears a deeply unlikeable character – a brother who waited almost half an hour before summoning help for his gravely injured sister as well as a man who maintains a secret girlfriend, Becca, whose recollections form the second perspective. This secretive couple is juxtaposed with young female June, whose brother Wyatt disappeared the same night, and Wyatt also contributes some thoughts from his unknown location. How the two sibling pairs are connected and what information the various timelines provide, are quite challenging to work out at first, but it is worth persevering for a satisfying read. I am grateful to the publishers and to NetGalley for the free ARC supplied to me in return for this honest, unbiased book review.

Not sure what to make of this book. I did find myself a bit confused in places. I struggled
To get into it and nearly gave up.. I stuck with it and im glad i did!

I found this book very drawn out and repetitive. I liked the concept and I read it to the end because it made me want to know the outcome but unfortunately I felt slightly disappointed overall.

A good read

The anniversary of an accident with lots of questions and no answers

That vital 27 minutes what happened.

The book leads up to the memorial and you can feel the tension. Will what lies buried become known

You really get to know the character. Just a really good read

Twenty-seven minutes. The amount of time that lapsed between young Phoebe Dean's accident on the bridge and her brother Grant calling the ambulance. Twenty-seven minutes that would shape the course of so many lives, and of an entire small town.

Ten years on and a memorial - and another death on the bridge - stirs up memories and prompts questions about that night. Why did Grant wait so long to call for help? Is there more to what happened than what he told police? And is there a connection between Phoebe's death and a troubled young man who left town that same night?

Ashley Tate's debut novel is an intriguing tale of loss, lies and wasted potential in a stultifying small town. Though it is unevenly paced at times, and some aspects feel under-developed, some beautifully crafted descriptions bookended by a devastating opening and a satisfyin g ending make Tate a novelist to watch.

The story is told from four perspectives - Grant (Phoebe's older brother), Becca (the other passenger in the truck the night of the accident), Wyatt (who left town that night) and June (Wyatt's younger sister). Of the four, June is the best written and feels the most fully realised, complex character. At the beginning of the novel, she is utterly consumed by grief over her mother's recent death from cancer and grappling with her brother's reappearance after ten years (and what that means for her). In the acknowledgements, we learn that the author wrote Twenty-Seven Minutes when she was mourning her own mother's similar death, and there is an unflinching rawness to the depiction of June's emotions that shows how much of her own experience Tate poured into the character. Through June's story - as well as those of Becca and Grant, and the descriptions of how Phoebe's death and Wyatt's disappearance affected their mothers and the rest of the town - Tate highlights the myriad, at times contradictory or unexpected, manifestations of grief.

'This one was not a normal home; this one was stagnant with grief and ghosts,' Tate writes, and her novel explores how this description can be applied to both Phoebe and Wyatt's childhood homes and to the town as a whole. She deftly paints a picture of a community haunted and, at least from the perspective of our narrators, frozen in time since the night of the accident. More could have been done to clarify why exactly the young people of the town are so desperate to leave and to really emphasise the lack of opportunity and impetus in such a place, but Tate nevertheless writes a commentary on the suffocating closeness of a small town.

Two of the main dynamics depicted are the sibling relationships between Grant and Phoebe, and Wyatt and June. I believed the strength of feeling shown but the overall family dynamics in each home felt quite vague, either censored or watered down as if for a YA audience. Wyatt and June's father is very lightly sketched and Grant and Phoebe's mother's motivations are not explained in a satisfying way. Of the central cast of characters, Phoebe never feels like a very tangible, realistic person, though there is a quote from the opening of the novel which makes me think that maybe this was intentional: 'Because over time all of her flaws will become slightly blurred, slightly vague, and without her around to age or mature or correct them, the complicated girl will fade away until all that is left is the girl that they just remember. The special one. The perfect one.'

The novel ends with a clever twist, which didn't feel obvious but, on looking back, had been very deliberately foreshadowed throughout, and explained some of the slightly odd characteristian of some of the main players.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

It has such an interesting and unique plot with excellent pacing which kept me super engaged throughout. It is incredibly emotional, raw and beautiful. I absolutely love a thriller and this was no exception, i will definitely be reading more from this wonderful author

This could have been a 4 star book.

The premise of this story was really interesting - what did happen in those 27 minutes where Phoebe Dean was left to die? However I don’t feel this book quite lived up to the expectation.

Firstly, let’s go over the good points. I like the prose which is easy to read & sometimes seems quite poetic in nature. I think the characters are all quite distinct with some interesting qualities. Intrigue is also kept up quite well by switching of perspectives & little hints are given as to the bigger secret that the book is about. The flashbacks are also clear and easy to understand.

Right. Onto the less good points. This book ends extremely abruptly. You wait ages for what the reason is for those 27 minutes & it’s built up & built up. In just a few pages it’s explained & probably not as well as it could have been. In fact, it’s mostly still shirked around by going through the other characters reactions & feelings. I feel like so much more could have been made of this so actually the ending felt a little flat to me. Also, although the characters were quite distinct they weren’t distinct enough. They seem almost stereotypical - the jock, the girl stupidly in love with the jock, the A student, the crazy girl, etc. I left the book feeling like I’d just watched an episode of police procedural drama or soap opera - I’d whiled away an hour or two but didn’t find anything gripping or memorable.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, the author & the publishers for granting me access to this ARC in return for an honest review.

This is a book to keep you guessing. It begins with the accident from which everything else spins out. We hear the story from the point of view of all involved but who sees and tells the real truth? This is not only a thriller but also a tale of loss and grief, compounded by the unknown and all the cover up surrounding the tragedy. An unusual style of writing which might do well as a book for study by teenagers.

I thought this book was very dark and brooding. It tries hard to build the suspense and keep you guessing about the night of the accident. It felt a bit like something out of an old young adults series where everyone has a secret that they are trying to hide from their parents.

I couldn’t give it more than a 3/5 as a lot of the characters aren’t really likeable and it all just feels a bit repetitive. I had high hopes for this book but unfortunately they were not met.

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced reading copy.

I did find this a little confusing in places. It took a bit of getting into - and there were parts where it was jumbled and it wasn't clear if events were really happening or just in someone's imagination. However, the ending did surprise me and it wasn't what I'd expected so I was glad I continued right to the end.

Twisty and interesting. This is well written but I wasn't sure I was interested enough in the ending by the time it arrived for it to be a total success.

Dark secrets and unexpected alliances create a riveting narrative in this thriller that will leave you breathless and craving more. Fast paced and full of thrills it’s a must read for 2023

I wasn't a fan of the characters in this book. Which made it a struggle for me to read. Sorry. It wasn't really for me

A really great and intriguing read. I loved the characters and the story. Will look out for more from this author.