Oh this book! Beautiful yet heartbreaking.

It starts "Thirty Two Days after the accident", with a young person being wheeled out of intensive care on their final journey. Right in at the emotional deep-end we go.

We then go back to an accident where a group of young friends crash a car into a wall. The ensuing events are a real masterpiece in exploring character emotions and responses to that fateful event. There are multiple perspectives and so so much pain. Each character is on their own journey and dealing with things in their own way.

The added dimension is that we know that Harry, the driver, is hiding something. As we try to figure out what he is hiding we are also feeling so much for the others involved. We also spend some of the time unsure who was wheeled out in that first section.

It sounds cliched, but the journey the characters go on is fantastically written and feels so authentic and sensitively handled.

I've added all of Caroline Bond's books to my to read list.

I read the bulk of this through The Pigeonhole until I realised I had a Netgalley copy and couldn't resist reading ahead sometimes, when a stave finished but I wanted more. That's how absorbing this book is.

Thanks to The Pigeonhole, Netgalley, the publishers and Caroline Bond for this ARC.

Such a well written emotional story which centers upon a tragic accident. The story follows the aftermath of the accident as it's ripples move through the friends and family concerned. Heartbreaking at times. Really hit home as I have boys of a similar age and you can put yourself in the characters shoes and feel their emotions. Uplifting ending showing that some good can come out of such circumstances. I hadn't heard of this author before but I can see she has written a couple of other books which I will definitely be looking into.

One Split Second is one of the most emotional books I've ever read. Bond's writing is absolutely beautiful and she manages to capture the emotions of several people, each with a different connection to the accident, perfectly. She is never gratuitous and doesn't describe the events in gory detail. As a reader, I quickly realised that although the accident was tragic, the split second that changed everything is something that could happen to any of us and this helped me to engage with a difficult subject matter more easily.

Bond shows how the aftermath of the accident affects several people. Each one of the characters in One Split Second is perfectly drawn and even relatively minor characters are explored in great depth. I felt really involved in their lives as I was reading.

This novel does not end how I expected, but nevertheless the ending is wonderfully fitting. I don't often cry whilst reading but this was one of the exceptions and I feel very emotional to be leaving these characters behind.

Absolutely heartbreaking! More so when I have a daughter the same age as Jess. The one thing that is a parent's absolute nightmare without a doubt! Book had me gripped from the beginning. Thank you netgalley for the ARC.

Late one night, the parents of 5 teenagers receive the call that no parent ever wants to receive. A car, driven by one of the teenagers has crashed. The extent of their injuries is unknown, and not all of them will survive. Relationships will be torn apart, and for some of these families the consequences will haunt them forever. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down. I thought the story was totally believable - these circumstances could happen to anyone. It was sensitively told, particularly around the issue of organ donation. A very easy 5 stars.

This is a heartbreaking novel that follows five young people and their families in the aftermath of an horrific car accident. It opens with the accident and the parents all waiting to hear if their teenagers are alive or badly hurt and then follows the before and after as we see the fall out from that awful night. This was one of those books that I was thinking about whenever I wasn’t reading it. All of the characters felt real to me and I was absorbed in seeing how they all had different battles to face and how they all dealt with what had happened. This is a novel of resilience, of how people find their way through the darkest of times and eventually find a way to be okay in the new world they’ve found themselves in. I highly recommend this one!

This book explores the themes of grief, forgiveness and learning to live again when your whole life changes in a split second. When a car crashes one night, the devastation that ensues will affect so many lives. Those that were in the crash, their families and the wider community.

After a party, a group of teenagers are being driven home by their friend Harry. First on the scene is Pete McKinnon, and for the rest of his life he will be haunted by the images he sees. Harry is physically unharmed, but the three remaining passengers all have life changing injuries, and indeed, one will not make it.

As the families try to piece together the events of the night, the fractures in their friendship group seem irreparable. Harry is wracked by guilt, and feels that his life is over. When he accepts a charge of careless driving so as to spare his friends the ordeal of a trial, he feels that his custodial sentence is not punishment enough.

The parents of Jess who have to make the horrifying decision to turn off their daughter's life support, cannot allow one another to share in the grieving process. It seems that they have not only lost their child, but also each other.

But when Fran visits Harry in prison to confront him with her anger, this is the beginning of a healing process that sees her move from rage to acceptance and finally to forgiveness.

This is not an easy read, but it is beautifully written and has an important message. Forgiveness is not an easy thing to offer someone who has changed your life irrevocably. But in order for life to mean anything, it is essential to your own wellbeing that you at least try.

This book was nothing like I expected. It's not full of twists and turns and who dunnits but it's a story of friendship and love. At times it's heartbreaking due to the nature of what happens and the characters involved but not in a way that drags you down. A very clever story that had left me with so many questions at the end

Thank you very much to #NetGalley and @corvus for sending me this ARC copy.
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One Split Second follows the story of a group of teenage friends and their parents following a car accident. It discusses themes of grief, guilt, coming of age and criminality.
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This book didn’t blow me away. Most of the plot and characters felt predictable, and whilst the story line was interesting, it felt very much like a soap opera where the plot had been used before.
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For my taste as well, it went on a little long. There isn’t much plot to this novel once you get past the initial accident. It’s geared up to be a character driven novel, but with so many principle characters it never felt like I properly connected with them individually.
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The book is largely well written and explores the thematic material, but I was left wanting more substance from the plot.

This book shows how life can change in an instant. It is an emotional and in places heartbreaking read. I could imagine every character and I got totally caught up in what was happening. To lose a child would be devastating beyond words. I feel that the story was written with empathy and emotion and showed all sides of the story.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

This book did not disappoint. It engaged me on every level and made me think about love, forgiveness, retribution, punishment, grief and loss. There are many more emotions I felt intensely as I read this novel. It is such an in-depth and intuitive insight into what makes us human and I was completely transported into the lives of the teenagers and families coping with the aftermath of what tragedies can play out as the result of One Split Second.
Caroline Bond's writing is sensitive, beautiful and utterly compelling. I lived with the families. I felt their every emotion, their every dilemma, their every heartbreak and their every joy.
As a parent myself it was an incredibly moving situation and one which no parent ever wants to face. Yet it wasn't mawkish or morbid. It was a fascinating exploration of the human mind and the consequences of our actions.
I loved all of the characters, even Harry's Dad who is not particularly likeable.
What happens after the car carrying a group of teenage friends, back from a party, crashes into a wall on the ring road, so close to home, makes you question what you would do, how you would react and who you would blame.
There are different consequences for all of the occupants of the car and the families' reactions all vary. All are touching, real and move the story forward in a way that makes you want to reach out and hug the entire cast, or turn the clock back just so that these people can live a different life.
What transpires towards the end of the story though is uplifting and made my heart fit to burst, with love and pride for the enormity of compassion bestowed upon individuals who others might not have the ability to forgive.
I loved the inclusion of a witness at the beginning of the story and how we return to him as the close. Such a perfect opening and a perfect ending. Clever and wise and oh how I wish I could lay claim to such writing talent!
For me it was an enlightening journey through the processes of grief and how we can, if the right things happen and the right people are with us, learn to rebuild lives without ever forgetting what went before.
This is the sort of book I would buy for friends as I love and enjoy nothing more than a profound look at human emotions. The reader can grow just by engaging with the story.
In my opinion, undoubtedly a triumph of a book.

This was one of those books that I was hooked on right from the start. The opening is compelling & I found I got into it really quickly.
5 teenagers are on their way home from a party - the car crashes and the lives of those in the car and the people who love them will never be the same.
The story is told from several points of view - the teenagers, their parents and also an eye witness. Each of them are well written characters with enough of a background to help you get to know them & see why they react the way they do to the crash.
It’s a story about human nature & I found it an emotional and thought provoking read. Will definitely read more by this author.

It's every parents worst nightmare - your child is at a party, you're waiting for them to come home, and then there's a knock at the door, and you hear those awful words: 'there's been an accident'. But sometimes it's what comes after the accident that's even worse... 'One split second' begins with a terrible accident involving 5 teenagers, and explores the awful legacy of blame, guilt, loss, and grief that the victims and their loved ones must learnt to deal with.

This is a hard book to review, simply due to it's harrowing nature. Obviously, the subject matter is incredibly distressing, that's a given. But somehow, Bond was able to create a book that was also incredibly moving, showing the importance of love and loyalty in times of grief, and the way in which the ties between us are more important at times of trauma than at any other. The way Bond was able to show the way that the accident affected not only the victims themselves, but also their loved ones, and the wider community as a whole - that was fantastically done. And despite the challenging subject matter, the book itself manages to avoid becoming overly depressing to read, due to Bond also showing us the moments of levity and beauty that can occur after such an awful experience.

Yes, this book is devastating at times, and you'll definitely be put through the emotional ringer by the end. But it's worth it. It's sad and moving and life-affirming and beautiful, and I think it is an incredibly insight into the lives of 5 young people and their families struggling to cope with an unimaginable experience. A book I would definitely recommend, by an author I will eagerly read again.

Disclaimer - I was provided with an advance reading copy by NetGalley. This has not affected my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.

This a contemporary fiction that is set in London. It features a split timeline of many characters whose lives intertwined with one another.

Every parents worse nightmare. One late evening, after a party, a car of five teenagers crashes abruptly into a wall, which leaves one fatality and the rest scarred for life. This tragedy affects both the teenagers and their parents in different ways. There are many emotions that they deal with regret, blame, responsibility and envy amongst others.

The author, Caroline Bond, has done extremely well into developing each and every character as well as given their perspective so that you understand their situation. I found the characters were very relatable with their back stories. This story goes behind the tragedies that happens in a fast-paced world filled with cars.

I received an e-copy from Netgalley.

With thanks to Netgalley, Pigeonhole and the publishers for the arc, which I have enjoyed reading.
One Split Second By Caroline Bond is a thought provoking book, with a whole range of emotions and moral issues to think about. The role of relationships and trust and consequences of people’s behaviour is also dealt with.
I enjoyed reading this book, which wasn’t an easy book to read. It was however a very complex storyline, dealing with moral dilemmas, relationships and even organ donation. An author to watch and read more of in the future.
Highly recommended.

One Split Second is the story of every parents' worst nightmare. A call in the night that wakes you from your comfortable sleep and shatters your world. Your child has been in a car accident and taken to hospital... no further details are known.

Commendably written, One Split Second tells the story from the perspectives of the teenagers involved in the crash and from their parents. The heartbreaking repercussions of the accident and how each of them deals with the events that follow are terribly realistic and really make you feel for each of the characters.

True to its title, the book shows just how quickly life can change. It shows how our lives can be thrown into utter turmoil and the range of emotions that we as people go through in response to such devastating events. One Split Second shows us how hard it can be to forgive.

Not overly heavy or depressing despite the subject, One Split Second is a very good read. Very well written and paced, I would definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Caroline Bond and Atlantic Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

As we all know, all actions have consequences and the rippling effects of these actions can travel far and wide and way beyond the immediate future. They can not only affect the life of the person responsible for either a bad decision or foolish behaviour but the lives of those within that social circle too. Such is the premise for One Split Second.
A close knit group of adolescents on the cusp of adulthood are celebrating prom night when their lives are all irrevocably changed in a split second following a car crash. One split second is all it takes to alter their lives trajectories; one bad decision that has repercussions for all five,including their families. Families who are connected to each other by virtue of their children’s friendships suddenly find their allegiances blown apart by one moment of recklessness.
The opening for this novel brilliantly sets the scene for what will follow and is quite sobering whilst making you question how it will fit into the narrative. Definitely the first paragraphs are the hook that reels you in, I wanted to discover more and I enjoyed how we witness the crash from multiple angles including that of an eye witness. The tension created as news spreads around the neighbourhood like wildfire is pitched just right with every parent literally holding their breath until they know for sure their child is safe. I can’t begin to imagine the worry and the anguish those moments must bring forth and then the unashamedly selfish sigh of relief that your worst nightmare hasn’t become reality. The author has captured these feelings beautifully.
This is a thought provoking novel about loss and grief and forgiveness which I found compelling. Never mawkish or sentimental in any way (which it so easily could have been) the author has explored in detail the effects this crash has on everyone involved, scrutinising and cataloguing all the range of emotions these individuals experience and imagining the scenario from different perspectives. Of course there are distressing scenes but it isn’t the tearjerker that I’d been expecting. The writing packs a powerful punch in the sense that it forces you to wonder how you may cope if faced with a similar situation and it is the type of incident that unfortunately is based in reality. Reading this took me back to an incident reminiscent of the some of the scenes played out here and many years later I can still remember that the grief experienced by one person in particular was all consuming and life changing. No one knows how any one person will react to the loss of a loved one but the author has explored in depth every aspect of grief and its impact on individuals, parents, siblings and marriages. The fragility of life,the anger, the sadness and the hopelessness and the simple fact life goes on are all evident in these pages and described with such empathy.
I loved the contrasts in reactions and subsequent behaviours of the adolescents and the parents in the aftermath of the crash. Some are more affected than others and Fran’s perspective in particular is one of the more compelling parts of this novel as is Harry’s. The way they process the events and repercussions of that night prove that this is an experience unique to the individual and that there is no right or wrong way to act. Interestingly too is how other acquaintances/friends interact with these people following the car crash. Who to blame and how they should be punished is a central question that the author seeks to answer but one that will hopefully provoke heated debate, making it a perfect choice for any book club. Is forgiveness possible in these circumstances? Has justice been served or is a lifetime of guilt punishment enough?? I guess that’s up to the individual reader to decide and they are questions that you will probably still be pondering long after the last word has been read.
Fran and Harry are my favourite characters for very different reasons which I won’t divulge in case it reveals too much of the plot line. Suffice to say all characters emerge as changed people by the end, some hopefully for the better. I loved Mo for his gentlemanly attitude towards Tish and his general respectful, polite demeanour but I couldn’t stand Dom for his bullish insensitive behaviour throughout making him unsuitable fatherly material.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this novel if you enjoy a well considered approach to a highly emotive subject without the writing being overly dramatic and sentimental. My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read.

I really enjoyed this. The characters were well written and the sadness of the massive effect one split second can have on so many lives was really affecting. Definitely recommended.

This is the first book by Caroline Bond that I have read. This novel takes on an all too real subject: What are the effects when a group of young people are involved in a major car accident.

I enjoyed the book. The characters are developed well. The story line is believable and the pace of the narrative is sufficient to maintain interest.

The relationships between victims and the perpetrator are explored. The reality of such a tragic situation doesn't make for particularly enjoyable reading. However the author manages to create a book which exposes an important outlook on the lives of entire families.

This isn't a novel with a fast and furious conclusion, but there is something compelling about the ending.

On the strength of this book I will look out for future titles by Caroline Bond.

I give my thanks to Netgalley and Atlantic Books (Corvus) for a copy in exchange for this review.

There is a lot of food for thought between the covers of this novel; it certainly made me re-think a few things.

On their way home from a party, five young adults are involved in a horrific crash. This is the story of the fallout which follows, and how it affects not only the occupants but also their families in the wider community.

A thoughtful and considered story, this one ate me up. Showing both sides of the picture following a car accident, it's hard to decide who to sympathise with the most. Is it the injured or their families? Caroline Bond has covered every eventuality and emotion and, although there is no need to choose 'sides', my empathy swung first one way, then the other - and back again, several times. This is very skilfully crafted; I became engrossed very quickly and the characterisation is terrific. I could easily imagine each and every one and, in several cases, compare them to those I know! A very different kind of tale, but an excellent one, beautifully written and all-encompassing. I had no idea where it was going or even what the ending would be, but I think the author worked it out perfectly. I wouldn't change a single thing. Emotionally packed and strangely uplifting, this is one I would recommend, especially to everyone seeking that something different in a book. I'm delighted to give One Split Second 4.5*.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley and to Rachel's Random Resources for my spot on this tour; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.