Book Review: Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate

3⭐
Genre ~ drama fiction
Setting ~ West Wilmer (maybe in Alabama)
Publication date ~ January 30, 2024
Est page Count ~ 377 (p+ 62 chapters +e)
Audio length ~ 9 hours 51 minutes
Narrator ~ Nikki Thomas
POV ~ multiple 3rd
Featuring ~ debut, dual timeline ~ 10 years later & 10 years ago, flashbacks, short chapters, small town, parental death due to cancer, drunk driving, underage drinking and drug use, secrets, lies

My review:

Pheobe was killed in a car crash when she was 17. Her brother, Grant, was behind the wheel.
Becca was in the accident and spent 18 days in the hospital. She sounds super unhinged and delusional in both the present and flashbacks
Siblings June & Wyatt each have things to say about that day.

Although each character is unlikable they were each distinct and it wasn’t hard to keep track of the POV’s. I can’t name one character at all that I liked. Now don’t think I am a terrible person here because obviously I don’t wish this on anybody, but I couldn’t even drum up sympathy for the deceased since it’s slowly revealed how crazy she was. The 10 years ago chapters were each told by someone different that was at the party that shed a little light on things, which I liked. The 10 years later chapters only span 3 days, but it felt much longer.

Overall, this was fine as a debut, but it reads like YA to me since the characters still hadn’t matured 10 years after the accident. It’s definitely suspenseful with it’s super slow buildup, since it took ages and ages to get to the meet of the story. I will say I was a little surprised about the twist, so that was nice. I do think this author has potential, so I’ll give her next book a go.

Narration notes:
I did not listen to this one, but am just giving the info above for reference. I do want to add though that I am not sure that the flashbacks would be cohesive. You can tell they are based on the italic font, but I’m not so sure it would be easy to figure out. I’m not talking about the 10 years ago chapters, but flashbacks within the now.

*Thanks to the author, Poisoned Press and NetGalley for the ARC. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*

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I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read it.

Book blurb:

Phoebe Dean was the most popular girl alive and dead.

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?

Someone knows what really happened the night Phoebe died. Someone who is ready to tell the truth.

With Phoebe’s memorial in just three days, grief, delusion, ambition, and regret tornado together with biting gossip in a town full of people obsessed with a long-gone tragedy with four people at its heart—the caretaker, the secret girlfriend, the missing bad boy, and a former football star. Just kids back then, are forever tied together the fateful rainy night Phoebe died.

Perfect for fans of Jane Harper and Celeste Ng, Tate’s literary suspense Twenty-Seven Minutes is a gripping debut about what happens when grief becomes unbearable and dark secrets are unearthed in a hometown that is all too giddy to eat it up.

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