Fascinating new book to tell you about today plus there's a chance for you to win an ARC!
Keep reading to learn more about the book and its author, to see my thoughts, and to enter to win an ARC!
13 Minutes
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Date: October 3rd 2017
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Thriller, Crime, Mystery, Fiction
Synopsis:
"Mean Girls for the Instagram age." --The Times (London)
The New York Times bestselling author known for her thrilling twists is back:
They say you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but when you're a teenage girl, it's hard to tell them apart.
Natasha doesn't remember how she ended up in the icy water that night, but she does know this--it wasn't an accident, and she wasn't suicidal. Her two closest friends are acting strangely, and Natasha turns to Becca, the best friend she dumped years before when she got popular, to help her figure out what happened.
Natasha's sure that her friends love her. But does that mean they didn't try to kill her?
13 Minutes is a psychological thriller with a killer twist from the #1 internationally bestselling author Sarah Pinborough.
Sarah Pinborough is a critically acclaimed adult and YA author based in London.
Sarah was the 2009 winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Short Story and also the 2010 and 2014 winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Novella, and she has four times been short-listed for Best Novel. She is also a screenwriter who has written for the BBC and has several original television projects in development.
Her next novel, Behind Her Eyes, coming for HarperFiction in the UK and Flatiron in the US (January 2017) has sold in nearly 20 territories worldwide and is a dark thriller about relationships with a kicker of a twist.
You can follow her on Twitter @sarahpinborough
Links:
Y’all, I loved this book and am going to do my best not to spoil anything but there is so much goodness packed into this thrilling story…
13 Minutes is a gripping, thrilling mystery that draws you in from the very first page. Plus some of the characters and different aspects of the storyline feel so relevant and important to the times we live in today such as bullying, peer pressure, drugs, teenage drinking, sex, self esteem issues, and more making it an even more interesting story. But truly, this one is quite unlike anything I've read in a while.
As for the main mystery of the story it involves Natasha, a teen who was dead for 13 minutes, but has no idea how she ended up in the river where she was found or what happened to cause her “momentary” death. Lucky for her someone stumbled upon her body and paramedics were able to revive her. Now, she wants answers, but is unsure where to go or who to trust. Plus she is struggling to cope with what she experienced. But just when you think you have this story figured out…it takes a sharp turn into a direction you never saw coming and becomes something completely different, but no less interesting.
13 Minutes starts as Natasha is found and is a fascinating mixture of narrative, interviews, texts, diary entries, and other documents that tell the story of the aftermath of what happened to Natasha and how it affected not only her, but those around her. I absolutely loved this choice made by the author. It was as if not only were we getting to know our characters better, we were also getting pieces of a puzzle that we were trying to solve right along with the characters. I was just as curious to find out what had happened as they were and became lost in the mystery of the story. It was definitely a page turner with a quite few unexpected twists and turns and I couldn't wait to see what would happen next.
Natasha’s brush with death affected her, as one would expect, changing the way she interacts with others and deals with situations in her life. Surprisingly, Natasha turns to former friend, Becca, for help following her near death experience….a friend, I might add that Natasha was quick to abandon to become part of the snobbish “cool” crowd, a crowd that has previously made it no secret how they look down their noses at Becca. Even Natasha has moments where she thinks of her friend in an unflattering way and treats her less than kind.
As for Tasha's new friends, it’s apparent from the beginning that something is up with them and that they are hiding something. These girls know more about that night than they are saying, but we, along with Tasha, are left in the dark at first. Becca is a bit more suspicious of the girls and it turns out that she might actually have a reason to be.
While the outcome of the story and what happened to Natasha wasn't exactly what I expected, I am not complaining. It exceeded my expectations and I enjoyed every twisty-turny bit of it.
I also really liked the two main characters of the story. While we don't meet Natasha and Becca until after Tasha’s life-changing event, we still get a glimpse of who they were both before their friendship ended and after as well as before and after Tasha’s brush with death. I appreciated the author showing the contrast in the characters and just how much their relationship had changed.
In fact all of the characters worked so well in this story. The author did a wonderful job of creating a cloud of suspicion around all of the characters and I was happy to see that my ambivalent feelings toward a certain character were justified in the end…trying not to spoil. I was so confused by my feelings until I got to one of the twists…then it all made sense.
Overall, I loved this book and felt that 13 Minutes was a wonderful mystery and drama that kept my interest throughout as I anticipated what the author would reveal next.
*I received a free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.*
- 1 ARC of 13 MINUTES by Sarah Pinborough
- US Only
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