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!!

In this book we have many mid to late 20 somethings not moving forward due to the twenty-seven minutes it took Grant to call for help after an accident that killed his sister Phoebe. A tragedy for sure, but these people are all really messed up mentally and some also have physical difficulties due to the accident.

Not my favorite read so far this year. The book is so busy going back and forth between each persons view of what happened. A bit of woo-woo stuff with Phoebe still kicking Grant about his behavior, if only in his mind. The angst and vitriol from each of the main characters towards each other was not believable...especially after ten years.

I struggled to get through this book. It seems to be excessively wordy and sometimes difficult to follow. Adults behaving badly to themselves and each other is not my favorite trope. It would have been more believable if ten years hadn't passed. Lies and half-truths are never good.

Once I begin a book, I follow through to the end. The only redeeming part of the book WAS the end when we learned exactly what happened in those twenty-seven minutes.

I really enjoyed this book. It was fast paced & the author’s writing kept me intrigued. My only issue is that the twist wasn’t that much a surprise & that’s the only reason I gave it 3 stars.

**This book will be published on 1/30/2024!**
I received this e-book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for the copy!

Throughout Twenty-Seven Minutes, we follow several characters 10 years after a fatal and tragic accident in their small hometown. We find out that Grant waited 27 minutes to call for help after a car accident, which resulted in his sister, Phoebe's, death. Although a story was weaved and made to be believed, someone knows what really happened that night. Could the 1o year memorial be the time to reveal the truth of what happened?

Although I only gave this one 3 stars, I did enjoy this book! Ashley Tate kept us on our toes at the end of every chapter and built up the suspense all the way to the last chapters.

Told from the points of view of Becca, Grant, June and Wyatt, Twenty-Seven Minutes by debut author Ashley Tate, begins ten years ago, with seventeen year old Phoebe Dean, as she lay dying on a bridge after being thrown from a car.. Two other passengers, Grant and Becca, both injured in the crash, managed to survive. On the same night, June's brother Wyatt, after yet another fight with their father, disappears, leaving the miserable existence in a town that so many of the teens (June, Phoebe, Grant and Becca included) want to escape from.

Ten years later, the town is holding the Phoebe Dean Memorial to commemorate the terrible event that led to her death. The city is also putting to vote tearing down the very bridge on which Phoebe died. The continued focus on Phoebe's death is bringing up bad memories and guilt from Both Becca and Grant. Both of whom share a secret, one of many, of what happened that night in the car that led to the tragic event that happened on the bridge. For June, the memorial served as a reminder that the most traumatic events of her life, both the disappearance of her brother ten years ago, and the recent death of her mother, would always be overshadowed by Phoebe Dean. For Wyatt, the memorial is the catalyst for returning to explain his absence and expose secrets so that both he and June can find peace. For the town, filled with people who failed to see, hear, or provide help to those who needed it, all while reveling in the gossip of those unfortunate to be caught up in it, the memorial would finally bring about the answer they'd been dying to know for ten long years: why did it take Grant twenty-seven minutes to call for help as his siter lay dying.

The premise of Twenty Seven Minutes is an intriguing one. The story is very well plotted, with the author doing a masterful job of of juggling multiple points of view while moving back and forth between timelines. Tate also does a good job of developing each character. As each chapter unfolds the reader gets a clearer picture of who the main characters are. She puts the readers in an interesting position of empathizing, or even sympathizing, with these teens who are on the cusp of adulthood, all wanting to escape in order to have better lives than the ones they endure, and equally disliking the adults that those who survived that night became. As the layers are peeled away, what's left behind are people who emotionally never survived the events of that night. The truth reveals some ugly, unhappy, and self-serving characters.

As one who reads a great deal of mysteries and psychological thrillers, the surprise twist was not much of a surprise. The greater surprise was that the author took so long to reveal something that I feel should have been obvious to most reader by the halfway point. Instead, by the time the secrets are revealed, we are just pages from the end of the book. It felt like a lot of work for little payoff. I would honestly have preferred that the secrets had come out at the 75% mark and the last 25% have been dedicated to showing who the remaining characters continued on. to be. Would exposing the secrets and lies leave them still as emotionally stuck as they had been during the last ten years, or would they be free of the heavy burdens of the secrets and begin to move positively forward with their lives. At the very least I feel like there should have been an epilogue, and I am not a fan of epilogues.

Overall I had mixed feelings about the book. I feel that the author both did an excellent job of fleshing out the story and the characters while at the same time falling into the traps that many new writers fall into: (1) using an excess of words to tell the reader what is happening rather than writing concise statements that allow the reader to simply experience the story; I need a writer to paint me a beautiful picture without following up to explain every detail, and (2) trying too hard to drag out suspense for a big reveal thus making some scenes feel contrived. While this book is not one that I would pick up to read again, it was certainly worth reading the first time around, and I would be more than willing to read more from this author as she hones her craft..

From the first page, I was completely hooked and couldn't wait to discover how the mystery would be solved. The characters were not always likable, but I found that it made the story even more interesting. I found myself questioning their motivations, which made the story more intriguing. I was very satisfied with the way the story wrapped up in the end. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to others looking for a good, quick read.


Thank you Netgalley and the publisher, for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Twenty Seven Minutes - from the moment of the accident until the ambulance was called. Twenty Seven Minutes…and Phoebe Dean is dead.

Ten years later - the town is holding a memorial, and those most affected by that night have been left picking up the pieces. But with a visitor in town, the tale of that night is starting to unravel, and the truth isn’t quite what you think.

I thought the premise of this book was exceptional - the idea of a major town secret unraveling over three days after a tragic death peaked my interest. But the writing felt overly rambling - it was almost too drawn out. I would find myself skimming and then I’d have to go back to reread because the layers of the story weren’t quite precise enough.