The twistiest most engrossing read of 2023!

West Wilmer just comes to live as a location and sucks you in to the mystery Grant is trying to uncover. A huge success

I found this ploddy, predictable, and a little bit generic. The characters were meh, and the plot needed to be amped up. Sorry!

The victim of an accident lies dying. The prolugue tells us what she is thinking and feeling, that she’s “too young to die” . Not only is she too young, she is too beautiful and too good. She has suffered terrible injuries, so much so only her dental records will identify her once she’s found, but she comes from a small town where everyone knows everyone so everyone will know it’s her. Oh, and as well as being too young, too beautiful and too good to die, she is also “interesting and kind”, demand “truth, trust and loyalty”. So these first two paragraphs tell us all we need to know about said victim – she’s just too darn perfect, in fact she was “so special she glowed”. How much more can this author pile on to this dying girl?

After the prologue the action, if it can be called that, moves ten years later to a few days before a memorial for the dead girl, the Perfect Phoebe Dean. We now meet a cast of annoying, irritating characters, none of whom I care about or sympathise with. Among them we have Phoebes brother, Grant, who took twenty seven minutes to call an ambulance, which was too late to save her, and his mother, who can’t stand him. Grant’s “harried pulse vibrated below the surface of his skin” and whose mother’s back was all he saw of her….”his mother’s rounded back was still to him. This is what he saw most of and had for nearly ten years; the back of her. He still lived at home but could go weeks without seeing her face; sometimes he could forget what she looked like”. Oh dear, oh dear, this is just awful.

Apart from the awful errors in this downloaded ARC – half words, chunks missing out of the middle of some, lack of punctuation, long clunky sentences which just ramble on and on – this is just so bad it’s not even funny. I know I should read more of this. I wished for it, and my wish was granted, but I cannot continue.

I was a little puzzled by this book, it almost felt that in the ten years since the accident, the majority of the characters had not interacted with each other at all.
Yet, ten years later, they all are.

I'm afraid I didn't like any of the characters, Becca especially I wanted to slap, but there's no mistaking how cleverly its all been written.
The plot kept me intrigued as to the 27 min gap all the way yo the end, and I wasn't disappointed in the explanation.

#TwentySevenMinutes #NetGalley
Shocking debut of 2024.
For the last ten years, the small, claustrophobic town of West Wilmer has been struggling to understand one thing: Why did it take young Grant Dean twenty-seven minutes to call for help on the fateful night of the car accident that took the life of his beloved sister, Phoebe? If he'd called sooner, she might still be alive As the anniversary of Phoebe's death approaches, Grant is consumed by memories of that night on the bridge and everything he lost: his future, his reputation, his little sister. And the secret he's been keeping all these years is suffocating him. But he and Phoebe weren't the only ones in the car that night. Becca was there. She knows what happened―and she will do anything to help Grant keep his secret.
Everyone in West Wilmer remembers Phoebe, but only June remembers that another person was lost that night. Her brother Wyatt has been missing for ten years and now June is alone―no family, no friends. Until someone appears at her door. Someone who may know where Wyatt went all those years ago. Someone who knows what really happened on the bridge that night. Someone who is ready to tell the truth. Taking place over three days and culminating in a shocking twist that will leave you breathless, Twenty-Seven Minutes is a gripping story about what happens when grief becomes unbearable, dark secrets are unearthed, and the horrifying truth is revealed.
Adored it.
Thanks to NetGalley and Headline for giving me an advance copy.

The opening scene of a dying body in 'Twenty-Seven Minutes' immediately captured my attention. The story expertly weaves together themes of loss, love, secrets, and deceit, with a clear focus on the murder mystery surrounding Phoebe Dean's death. The narrative alternates between present-day and the events of ten years prior, providing insight from the perspectives of Becca, Jane, Grant, and Wyatt, and creating a sense of depth within the story.

Although the first half of the book was a bit of a slow burn and caused some confusion about the characters' backstories and connections, the second half more than made up for it with a faster pace and tense atmosphere, leading to an unexpected conclusion.

As a debut novel, 'Twenty-Seven Minutes' is a well-written piece that has me eagerly anticipating more works from this author in the future. Keep an eye out for Tate and their future endeavours, as this book is sure to become a popular choice for online discussion, book clubs, and personal libraries. Pre-order a copy today!

This was a slow burn thriller taking place ten years after a fatal car crash where the victim would likely have survived if the driver, her own brother, had rung for help sooner but the delay of twenty seven minutes proved fatal. Set in a small town which is still a melting pot of emotion where the accident is concerned there is a constant thrum of underlying tension. Told from multiple view points we see how the upcoming memorial causes some of those involved to slowly unravel until the truth of that night is finally revealed. The characters were not likeable which made this a more challenging read however the way the pressure built did eventually draw me in and although I had worked out what the events of that night were it made for a decent climax. 7/10

The town of West Wilmer has never recovered from the accident that took place on a dangerous bridge, involving 3 teenagers, in the wake of an illegal party. One of them, Phoebe Dean, who was the town's golden girl, died in the accident.

Ten years on, questions still remain about why her brother, Grant Dean, failed to call emergency services for Twenty Seven Minutes - a time period within which his sister could have been saved.

As the anniversary approaches, Phoebe's mother plans an event to commemorate her death. Meanwhile, another deadly accident on the same bridge raises questions about the need to finally demolish it.

But there is more than one lingering question involved here. What about the fact that June's brother Wyatt also disappeared on that fateful night? And why was Becca, the third teenager in the truck, even in the vehicle? What does she know about the incident that keeps her locked in an unhealthy relationship with Phoebe's brother Grant?

The novel conveys the suffocating nature of small town life quite effectively, but the twist in this story was not entirely unpredictable for me, and I was a little disappointed at how dislikeable I found all of the characters. Overall, the book was an ok read, but it felt like there were definitely some opportunities lost that could have made the story more cohesive and compelling.

This isn’t just a thriller. It’s a story about grief and love and loss. With characters that jump out of the pages and prose that lean literary, Ashley’s debut is absolutely stunning. I can’t wait to see what she writes next.