Ten years ago, Grant's sister Phoebe died in a car accident where he was driving. There was always suspicion around the fact he waited 27 minutes to call the police, and the fact if she'd received medical help earlier she could well still be alive today. Unfortunately, this book was not it. The plot was incredibly slow, with such a long build up before the ten year memorial. The events that took place in the book before this memorial - the climax of the book (or at least it was built up to be) - couldn't happened in a much shorter time frame and saved us all a lot of time. It wasn't a slow burn, it wasn't necessarily long. It was just long and slow. The climax itself was unsatisfactory and the whole book fell short and boring. Thank God I chose to listen to this on audiobook so I could listen at 2x speed and hurry it up for myself. On top of that the ending was incredibly rushed, especially compared to how slow the rest of the book has been. Also, not a single one of the characters had a likable trait about them.

An engaging enough psychological thriller, but found it a little uneven in pace and plotting. No real surprises along the way, but overall the characterisation was good.

I DNF'd this book after 42% - I just couldn't get into this story and didn't feel any intrigue as to what was happening. I skimmed through the rest of the book and didn't find the conclusion that interesting either.

To call Twenty-Seven Minutes just a thriller would not do it justice. It's a book that has so many depths and layers to it, it's an utterly stunning debut that will redefine the genre and make you want to read more by the author. As they weave a stunning and complex plot which is made even more rich by the characters who you wholly invest in.

Twenty seven minutes by Ashley Tate starts slowly as we learn about the characters. The carefully plotted novel speeds up as we head towards the devastating reveal. Following a car accident the driver Grant takes twenty seven minutes before calling the emergency services. By the time they arrive his sister Phoebe has died.
For me the novel felt a bit laboured at times but the tension builds up and kept me reading to find out what happened.

This debut is a slow burn of a thriller. When popular girl, Phoebe Dean, is killed in what appears to be a tragic accident, it sends ripples of distress through the small town. Her brother was the driver of the car that hit her and his story does not seem to add up, particularly that he took 27 minutes to call the police. With the 10 year anniversary of her death approaching and the mystery still no closer to being solved, a memorial is planned with devastating effects for everyone.

Featuring multiple POVs, this book had potential to be a great story, but I did find a few of the character particularly grating. Great plot twist towards the end though and worth a read if you like a mystery that takes a while to reveal itself. 3.5/5
Thanks to NetGalley for a free ARC in return for an honest review.

What a debut! What a storyline! This book had me hooked from the first chapter. There were so many believable characters that made up the story and all had an important role in the absorbing storyline. This was such a good read with a wicked twist. I will certainly be looking for more titles from this author

Dark and disturbing but also very slow and featuring a cast of characters very juvenile.
It starts with a bang and then it stops being exciting. There's a lot of potential but it's like it was sitting and trying to decide if it wants to be a thriller or a literary novel
Not my cup of tea
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I absolutely loved this book.
It is told from multiple view points and flits between the present day and ten years ago when Phoebe dean died.
As her memorial looms closer secrets begin to unravel. What really happened in those 27 minutes?
Yes it is a slow burn, but, trust me, the twist is worth the wait.

I loved this. Twisty and atmospheric and just enough drip feeding to keep you wanting more. I spent the whole book wanting to know what really happened. The characters were great.

I loved the premise of this book which is about a small American town with secrets surrounding the death of a young girl.

Why did it take Grant twenty-seven minutes to call for help after the car accident involving his sister? What does Becca (who survived the car crash) know about the accident? What really happened on the bridge that night?

This was a highly anticipated read which I was expecting to love. Unfortunately I found it hard to emphasise with the main characters and found the story too slow going. I was listening to this on audible (purchased after the book was published) and I gave up after 30% as I just wasnt involved enough in the story.
If you like slow build, character driven thrillers you might enjoy this but it wasn't for me.

I did quite enjoy this but mostly for the last quarter of it! The ending was really good and I am glad I carried on reading as it was worth it!


Highlights
- Multiple POV
- Intriguing characters

Reasons for 3.5 stars
- Very slow burn
- More drama vibes than I expected but thats more my own doing!
- Very YA/tame

So why did it take 27 minutes to call the ambulance?…. basically what this story is all about.
It takes place in a small American town where everyone knows everyone else and we are told the story from multiple points of view which I found a bit confusing and repetitive at times. It is a sad powerful story with few positive vibes and a bit long drawn out but I did actually enjoy it.

Thank you to the author, Headline Publishers and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This debut novel is told from multiple POVs and with time jumps to ten years before (when the accident referred to with "twenty-seven minutes" happened) and the present day, with a 10-year memorial scheduled. It's all a bit confusing, and very soap-opera adjacent and very, very slow. None of the characters are fleshed out, none are likeable and by the time I finished this the ending was anticlimatic because it was so foreseeable. Overall, I would tend to see this as more of a YA novel, since none of the characters seem to have matured after high school, but I felt I aged several lifetimes before I managed to finish it.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Phoebe Dean, a promising student, died ten years ago. A car crash that claimed her life. Her brother, Grant, left bereft but also criticism as to why it took him exactly twenty seven minutes to call the emergency services. Grant is continuing to live and grieve, but what he doesn’t know is that another person who knows what happened that night is back.

This was a slow burn of a story, and we read from the current time to ten years earlier, to gather a picture of exactly what happened to Phoebe. The characters were well written, and perfectly unlikable, which suited the story. The ending was a surprise, and a bit of a twist on a slow story. Great for fans who enjoy a slow mystery.

Twenty-Seven Minutes is the first novel by Canadian author, Ashley Tate. Ten years after the car accident on the West Wilmer bridge that took his sister’s life, Grant Dean’s mother is planning a memorial. At the same time, the town is voting on the removal of the bridge that has recently taken another life, but it seems that not everyone is in favour...

In a dual timeline narrative, multiple characters relate the events of the few days leading up to the memorial for Phoebe Dean, and those preceding the fatal accident a decade earlier, and several of those narrators are unreliable. Turns out, in this tale populated with toxic males and bitter, downtrodden, naïve, obsessed, nosy or lonely females, there’s plenty of grief, guilt and blame, and lots of secrets and lies.

But the journey to the reveal goes on for far too long, the true facts drip infinitesimally slowly into the story, and when the author finally drags the reader to that point, the twist is lame and the reader will have to don their disbelief suspenders for quite a few aspects of that truth. There are no characters with whom the reader can connect or empathise. It’s hard to recommend this one.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Headline Press.

This was a really slow burn. The story was narrated over several time periods and went backwards and forwards a lot, which at times made it difficult to follow.
It tracks the lives of various “main characters” and took me a while to get into their individual stories. I can admit that I did not find many of the characters likable either as a result of their actions or their own gullibility. Also I felt the book took ages to get going, with lots of bits repeated in the narration which got a bit boring.
Overall an okay read which I wanted to finish as I wanted to see the conclusion and truth of what happened.
On a positive note for me the last 20-25% of the book was much better and better paced which improved my rating of this book to 3.5 stars.

You read the synopsis of a book and you think great this book is for me!!!
However, I was disappointed, the characters are well written but the overall story was slow paced and it really did drag!
I did struggle with this book.

I was drawn to this book by the intriguing synopsis, and really looked forward to finding out what had happened in those 27 minutes.

Unfortunately, the story didn’t read as the tense thriller I had hoped for.

The story is told from multiple POV, in a dual timeline. All the narrators seem to be unreliable, and unlikeable too.

The characters who were contemporaries of Phoebe’s, must now be in their late twenties/early thirties. They don’t seem to have matured in the intervening ten years. They seem emotionally under developed. Consequently, it has the feel of a YA TV drama to it. I have nothing against YA books, I wish it had been sold to me this way.

I’m afraid I wasn’t the right reader for this book, though I’m sure others will love it.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did, overall it is a good story, however I found it a little slow paced and it dragged on a little, the characters are well written, but there are a few too many and I struggled to keep track of them off, I did enjoy the plot twist within the storyline.