Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate
“The rare gift that delivers it all: elevated prose, characters with depth, unpredictable twists, and a pitch-perfect mood.”—Ashley Audrain, New York Times bestselling author of The Push
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.
Review:
I received an advance galley of this book courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
As soon as I read the premise of this one, I knew I had to read it. I was in the mood for a good mystery, and the promise of a “shocking twist that will leave you breathless” made me feel like this was exactly the book that I needed.
In this novel, the small town of West Wilmer becomes the backdrop for a perplexing mystery that has haunted its residents for ten years. The question of why it took Grant Dean twenty-seven minutes to call for help after the car accident that claimed his sister Phoebe’s life sets the stage for an intriguing narrative.
The book opens with a bang as we’re immediately dropped into the story right after the wreck occurs, and we get a look inside Phoebe’s head as thoughts race through it, giving just enough information to leave the reader intrigued and hungry to know what happened. We then jump forward ten years post-accident, and Phoebe’s mother is planning a memorial for her, which just so happens to coincide with another accident on the bridge that claimed yet another life. The plot unravels over the three days leading up to Phoebe’s memorial and is told from the perspectives of four different characters: Grant, Phoebe’s brother who was driving the night she was killed; Becca, a young woman who was in the car the night of the crash; June, a former classmate of Phoebe, Becca, and Grant; and Wyatt, June’s brother and town troublemaker who also went missing the night of the accident and hasn’t been seen by his sister since. To say much more about the plot or these characters would give away things that I feel made the book fun to read, so I’ll just leave it at that.
One of the strengths of this book is its ability to create a sense of claustrophobia within the town of West Wilmer. It’s your standard small town where everyone knows everyone’s business (or at least think they do). The atmosphere is almost suffocating, mirroring the feelings of our main characters as they struggle with the aftermath of that fateful night.
As far as characters go, I felt they were all pretty intriguing, but I was most drawn to June as I felt she was the most sympathetic and the easiest to understand. Her loneliness and determination make her a relatable and sympathetic character. However, I struggled to fully connect with the other characters. While Grant’s internal struggle is well portrayed, I found it difficult to empathize with his actions. I was also super confused with Becca and her relationship with Grant. Ten years felt like way too long of a time for anyone to put up with the things she put up with. I never fully understood them, and this made it challenging to invest fully in their respective storylines.
Another aspect of the book that fell short for me was the dialogue. I found it to be unnatural and somewhat stilted. Conversations between characters often felt forced, which detracted from the overall reading experience. I get that the author was trying to move the storyline along and often used dialogue to set up certain plot points, but it made the dialogue often seem really unnatural, and conversations felt unbelievable.
Despite these flaws, the pacing is excellent. The plot unfolds over the course of three days, keeping readers engaged and eager to uncover the truth alongside the characters. The narrative builds steadily towards a shocking twist that delivers on its promise to leave the reader breathless. I had my suspicions of what was going on about halfway through, but it was still a satisfying conclusion.
Overall, I felt this was a good read that delivers on its promise of mystery and intrigue. While the characterization and dialogue have their flaws, the strength of the premise and the final reveal made for an enjoyable reading experience.
