I was really excited about this one, but it didn’t really do it for me in the end, I’m sorry to say.
I felt like perhaps too much was going on, and the plot just seemed to get lost in the shuffle. I did enjoy it, but I didn’t love it.

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Wow…never saw that ending coming. This book was a little hard to get into at first but once I kept reading I was hooked especially at the very end. Definitely a huge twist at the end!

Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC of this debut novel by Ashley Tate. The premise of this book is what drew me in. Why did I take 27 minutes to call for help? What really happened that night? We get a look back through multiple points of view to see if it sheds any light on what happens and why to Phoebe. I did figure out the twist early on, but I still enjoyed the ride.

If you like truly dark, small-town set thrillers, this one's for you. I do love a thriller with a good little plot twist at the end and this one delivers. There were points of the book where it felt things were dragging on but it was well worth it to read the end. Highly recommend this great psychological thriller!

My Thoughts:
If you want to read a good small town mystery pick up this.
This story pulled me in and had me wondering and guessing and entertained for pages and pages. You have a small town tragedy that was heartbreaking and different POV’s as to what really happened that night. But someone is ready to tell the truth. See if while reading this book you know what happened that night. The characters were not my favorite people but the plot and story is good.
She heard screaming but it wasn’t her because she was having trouble breathing and it wasn’t Phoebe because Phoebe wouldn’t wake up wake up Phoebe please wake up Grant where are you? Her eyes were open but she couldn’t see anything and her head was cracked like an egg Grant help us Phoebe won’t wake up Grant help us. Why aren’t you coming please we need your help. I’m so scared.

I liked that I couldn't completely predict the ending until closer to the end instead of so early on. I liked the chapter lengths, the multiple POV's were easy to follow while still having depth. I liked the flashback to the night of the accident mixed in between present time, and even with a lot going on it didn't get confusing which can happen with multiple levels to the story unfolding. I overall liked the book and characters. I was a little annoyed with Becca and June until they started to stand their ground for themselves. I liked that there was a lot of mystery to how everyone really fit with each other and then how all their lives were intertwined and frozen in time after that night until all the secrets came to the surface. I was hoping for the ending to flesh out a little more, it seemed like it just dropped off with a quick epilogue and done. Overall I definitely give this 4 stars for keeping the mystery alive to keep my intrigue as I read through each reveal! Thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the copy.

If you enjoy a small town mystery full of unlikable characters, Twenty Seven Minutes would be a great one to pick up!

The central mystery here surrounds the death of a young girl named Phoebe ten years ago. She was in a car accident with her brother and a classmate, but the ambulance wasn’t called for 27 minutes. What happened during that time?

Multiple POVs are used here, from the brother of the victim to the girl who was also in the car to another classmate having family issues. Each character adds a little something to the story, and we also get flashbacks to that night in the past.

The story is dark, and all of these characters have plenty of problems that they are trying to solve in all the wrong ways. I found it hard to like a single one of them! The gossip mill in this small town is on a whole different level, with things spreading quickly from person to person immediately after anything happens. That felt pretty authentic!

I found parts of this one to have pacing issues, and thought the final climactic scene was written strangely and needed another edit. I did figure out the ending quite early along, but I still enjoyed the big reveal.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the arc; all opinions are my own.

A dark and gripping debut that confronts the damage of secrets in small towns. Ten years ago, the small community of West Wilmer was slammed into grief when the town’s favorite, Phoebe Dean, lost her life in a car accident. The entire community mourns her loss together and wonders what happened in the twenty-seven minutes between the accident and when her brother finally called 911. Around the same time Wyatt, the town’s troublemaker, slips away unnoticed by everyone but his family. After a decade of mystery, the truth of that night begins to make to the surface. This book is told from multiple points of view and uses dual timelines to tell what was, and what is, of various people’s lives. We get a glimpse into who gets remembered and what gets forgotten in small towns. I found this book started out interesting and immediately drew my attention, but it then decided to crawl along at a leisurely pace till the twist, where it ramps up to full speed. Even though I could Predict the ending, think this book was excellent at making its points: People are not who they seem, People process grief differently, and often times the path to the truth is a long and twisty road.

This would have been a four star if I hadn't figured it out early on. It made reading the rest of the story a little tedious because with all the POV'S, the story was very repetitive. A whole lot of very delusional and frankly, not very nice characters made it hard to have sympathy for anyone, including the victim. All in all, it's a good story despite being a tad strange.

I really enjoyed the different POV chapters for each character. The relationships between characters was interesting and not too believable. It was more sad than a thriller, I actually cried at the end. The twist was so good and very unexpected. Definitely gave me YA novel vibes with some descriptive horror moments.

27 minutes marks the time period in which Grant Dean let his younger sister, Phoebe, lie in her own blood after a car crash before calling the police for help. What happened in this 27 minutes following the accident and why was Grant unable to call for help sooner? What is the truth behind his sister's death? All anyone is certain of that the crash happened on a rainy night, on a bridge after a rowdy high school party and that Phoebe passed on the lap of Becca (a classmate of the Deans' who is believed to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time).

This strange mystery has plagued the town of West Wilmer and haunts Grant as he moves through adult life. We meet this cast of characters 10 years after the accident, just as Grant's mother is throwing a memorial for Phoebe and right after the death of an older woman in town who also had an accident on the bridge. The town is approaching a vote to decide whether or not the bridge will continue to stand, or if it should be demolished in the hopes of preventing yet another disaster.

The story is told in multiple voices - Becca, Grant, June (another sad community member who has lost all of her family, two in mysterious ways), and Wyatt (June's long lost brother). I have to admit that none of the characters was likable or fully developed.

While the characters didn't do it for me, I found that the symbolism in the book was intriguing and the ending surprised me. I would recommend this for readers of mystery but would caution that it is a bit repetitive.

Thank you, Net Galley and Poisoned Pen Press for this Advance Reader's Copy.

This propulsive novel is akin to watching a car wreck (no pun intended) in slow motion. Very slow motion. I did not get the satisfaction expected from the twists and reveals because by the time the author finally got to them they were all but completely obvious. However, like the car wreck, I could not look away. It’s an entertaining read if you don’t mind a bunch of almost thirty-somethings stuck in a high school mentality and all completely nuts.

This is likely a case of it's not you, it's me, but I was unable to make a connection with Twenty-Seven Minutes. With the synopsis, this sounded like a book I would love, and I was Interested in the prologue, but I feel like the multiple narrator dialogue make it feel scattered and lacking focus. Despite this not being the one for me, I will eagerly be looking for Ashley Tate's next book.

Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate is due to be published JANUARY 30th 2024 by Poisoned Pen Press.

Ten years have passed since Phoebe died in a car crash with her brother Grant behind the wheel. What baffled the investigation, why did Grant call 911 27 minutes after it happened? Becca was in the car with them and injured. She has promised to keep Grant's secret.
As the ten year anniversary and memorial services are to be held, another car crash in the same location occurs stirring up memories and gossip in the small town of West Wilmer.
Everyone knows and points, stares and talks in whispers about what happened that night. One person in town, June remembers the night well when her brother vanished. She blames Grant's family because all of the grief went into Phoebe instead of the search in her brother's disappearance.
Dark secrets are revealed and the horrifying truth. Is Gant behind the crash or was it truly and accident ? What is he hiding?🫣

Thank you Netgalley, Ashley Tate and Poisoned Pen Press for allowing me the chance to read this fine piece of work!

I really tried to get into the book but I couldn't. I now believe that all the books should come with a 3rd person or 1st person warning 😩

I found there to be too many POVs it was confusing and they were not likeable characters.

Thank you poisoned pen press and NetGalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

this book reminded me that I need to read more thrillers.

fuck, this was so good. I didn’t see the ending coming at all. normally I don’t like books that are multi pov since it can get all jumbled and confusing but since it was all in third person, it was much easier to read.

I liked the build up to everything and all of the foreshadowing throughout the book that you don’t even realize is foreshadowing until the end.

this was a debut and you’d never even know it. this was so well written and so good, you’d think ashley tate was writing and publishing books for years!

thank you so much to ashley and netgalley for this arc 🫶🏻

“But the ambulance was called too late-twenty-seven minutes too late. Something that would weigh on him forever.”

In Ashley Tate’s debut novel, Twenty-Seven Minutes, she discusses grief, loss, love, and the choices we make that can forever change our lives. After a bad accident happened on the town bridge involving Grant and Phoebe Dean, and Becca – Granted waited twenty-seven minutes to call 911 which cost Phoebe her life. Fast forward ten years, Mrs. Dean is finally ready to hold a memorial for her daughter, and the whole town can’t talk about anything else. Old memories resurface, people from the past return, and the truth about what happened on that bridge will emerge.

Ultimately this is a book about decisions – how one bad decision can change your life in an instant and effect not just you, but everyone around you as well. However, this book is rather dark, gloomy, and more about how grief is complicated and can transform you.

I did like how the story was written in multiple POVs and the backflashes to ten years ago. But, I didn’t feel like it was a thriller, or mystery, or suspense, but a rather monotone drama with a storyline that never really took off. Becca and June’s character were very similar, depressing, mentally unstable, and confusing. This could have made an excellent short story, but it was too long and repetitive.

I was very close to DNF’ing this book several times, and while the ending saved the book some – I don’t think this one was for me. I maybe had too high of expectations first hearing about Tate at the end of The Whispers, and unfortunately this one fell flat. I give this 2.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“… but what was love without sacrifice?”

Twenty-seven seven minutes is the amount of time it took for Grant to call the ambulance after he and his sister Phobe were in a car accident that got her killed.  Even though it happened ten years ago, there is a lot of mystery behind it that left a lot of questions.  Only those involved know what really happened. 

The prologue is intense, dark, and intriguing and really hooked me.  But, despite that, it is tough to get into. The synopsis sounds interesting, but after getting about 100 pages in, I still have no idea what happened or what's going on.  Everything is clouded in mystery with no explanation other than the vague thoughts of the characters who don't come off as very likable. I think a shorter version that gets more to the point would make for a stronger story.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a fabulous thriller with a touch of (maybe?) magical realism? Psychological warfare? Hard to say!! But, I absolutely enjoyed every minute. The beginning was so different from anything I’ve ever read that I knew it was going to be a gripping story. What else was super intriguing to me was that I didn’t particularly think any of the characters were ones to root for but I was still fully invested! This is an amazing debut by the author and I can’t wait to see what she does next!!