This book kept my interest the whole way through. It's the story of a horrible car accident and how it's still affecting the characters lives 10 years later. The author really developed the characters and was able to keep me invested in all their lives. The author also kept me guessing about the ending until the last chapter. Thanks for the ARC.

Ashley Tate’s debut novel is a gripping thriller set in a small town still struggling with the aftermath of a tragic accident. Ten years ago, three teenagers were involved in a deadly crash when Grant Dean crashed his truck into the guardrail of an old bridge. Becca, a backseat passenger, was left with broken bones and a crippling case of traumatic grief, and his sister Phoebe died at the scene. The community has had a decade to ask questions and spread rumors, most of which stem from the timeframe local police were able to piece together. Investigators said there was a 27 minute delay between when the crash occurred and when Grant contacted emergency services, and no satisfactory explanation has ever been provided by either surviving witness. Told through multiple narrators, the story unfolds between the ill-fated night of the accident and the week of Phoebe’s anniversary memorial service. Tate builds a true sense of tension for the final reveal and deftly handles the complications of survivor guilt and familial grief.

This is an author to keep an eye on!! Prolific writing and a story that kept me up way past bedtime to finish. You will love this!!!

I loved the multiple POV’s, it’s creepy and dark and a bingeable read. It was a slow start, but managed to pick up especially towards the end. I think the story could have tied together a little quicker.

I went into this expecting a character driven story with some shocks and twists, but multiple times it felt like the shock value was the main focus, so I never completely felt like I got into the characters. I think this will still be a fun read for the occasional thriller reader, but maybe better for readers who like soapy dramas.

At the start, we know that teenager Phoebe Dean has died from an accident on a bridge, but she wouldn’t have died if the ambulance had been called right away instead of twenty-seven minutes later.

The story unfolds via four POVs (Grant, Becca, Wyatt, June, all similarly aged in their twenties) and two timelines, now and ten years ago. Grant is Phoebe’s older brother, who was driving when the accident occurred. Becca was also in the truck and thinks obsessively of herself as forever Grant’s girlfriend, possibly a one-sided relationship now and maybe even then. Wyatt and June are brother/sister; their mother recently died, but Wyatt left the night of the accident and is now returning after his mother’s death just in time for a ten year memorial dedicated to Phoebe. Wyatt and June’s connection to the accident is yet to be revealed.

Author Tate captures the essence of the enduring aftermath of a small town tragedy — usually faintly remembered, but now finally evolving into a new telling of “the truth” as the anniversary approaches and Wyatt’s return stir things up. The story is very character-driven; secrets are eating each one of the main characters and all of them are dealing with grief and trauma. Only June, the outsider at the time of the accident, seems likeable. The structure is interesting as it changes from person to person, with short 10 year old narratives interspersed to give us more context (and small town gossip). The story keeps building with almost unbearable tension and a truly surprising twist at the end is jaw-dropping. 5 stars!

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for a free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO Only Grant’s eye color is mentioned and he has big brown eyes.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO Just gifted baby pink roses and the acknowledgment that Phoebe loved wildflowers, although her mother thought her favorites were roses.

Bravo for this amazing debut! I was hooked at the prologue (wow) & each chapter continued to draw me in until the satisfying conclusion. Dark & intense with complex characters filled with grief, all consuming guilt, fear & regret that is powerfully dark & tragic.

Also filled with secrets, lies, deception & obsession that lead some of the characters to suffer hallucinations that lead to their own form of madness. I was shocked by the cruelty & psychological abuse that each character dished out and\or endured themselves.

Highly recommended. I am looking forward to her next novel.

Thank you to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press & Ashley Tate for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Favorite Line: “Nothing can keep the truth buried; it will always unfurl itself, lay itself bare. It is unstoppable-like the tide, or a storm, or a ghost. It will hunt you down.”

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC. Wow, I did not see that ending until it was right their in my face. A Lot can happen in 27 minutes, especially when you can decide who lives and who is sacrificed. I really enjoyed the different point of views and it kept me guessing throughout the book. Well done.

Thank you NetGalley, Ashley Tate, and Poisoned Pen Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! This book sadly wasn’t for me and didn’t really hold my interest, but I can see why people who like the genre more would enjoy it. I’m glad I got to try it and still recommend picking it up.

On the night of a drunken high school party, Phoebe Dean died in an accident on a bridge in her small town. Her brother, Grant, was driving, and their friend Becca was also in the truck. Grant and Becca lived, but were both badly injured, emotionally and physically. Becca can’t remember much about the crash, but Grant explained how he hit a deer and swerved into the guardrail. He did wait twenty-seven minutes to call for help though…what was that about?

Ten years later, a woman in her 90s also crashed and died on the bridge, and now the town is debating whether to take it down. Most people in town would like to see it disappear, but there are a few people who would be devastated if the bridge was removed - for a variety of reasons. As all this is happening, a memorial is scheduled to honor the ten-year anniversary of Phoebe’s passing, and emotions are running high in this little community.

This book has relatively low ratings, and I think I may know why. This started as a straight mystery book, but ended almost as a horror novel would. I like horror more than mystery, so I enjoyed the ending much more than the slow beginning, but I can see how it might throw off people who don’t like that genre. When you think you’re reading a pretty straightforward book, then it leans into horror or fantasy, sometimes the cohesiveness of the story is lost. I think that may have been the case with this one.

Overall, I do think this is a decent book, it’s just not one I’d read again. There were a couple of really good shocks, the writing was good, and I liked watching the troubled characters’ layers peeling away as the story went on. For a debut that tackled some hard subjects, I think the author did just fine and I’m interested in seeing what their next book will bring! 3.5 stars.

(Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press, Ashley Tate and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on January 30, 2024.)

Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate is a mystery set in a small town where the tragic death of a high school student rips apart more than just the victim’s family. What happened the night of the accident? If the ambulance had gotten there earlier, could her life have been saved? And why did twenty-seven minutes pass before emergency services were called? These are all questions that haunt both the reader and those left in the aftermath of her death. Told from multiple points of view, see the mystery unfold both 10 years after the accident and in the characters’ memories of that fateful night.
I was given an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book, it was well written with complex characters, and a great mystery! I highly recommend!

I picked this one up, cause I was DESPERATE for a book to hook me. After picking up and putting down 5 in one day, I decided to see if switching it up and reading on my kindle would help, AND IT DID.

I was immediately hooked by this book, the multiple POVs, the dark, the creepy factor and a what actually happened story line made this a totally bingeable read.

I will say not a single character was likeable which is why I’m only giving it 4⭐️s. Other than that I love the story and the way it plays out.

Thank you @netgalley and @poisonedpenpress for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. Definitely give this a read in January!

I wanted to love this book. It started out good, but then quickly died down, I wasn't a fan of the characters, and the plot kept losing me.

I found this very slow and repetitive, it didn't really hold my interest. Told from multiple perspectives, the whole book was the main characters talking about the fact that they couldn't talk about what happened 10 years ago. By the time the big reveal came, I had pretty much lost interest. The character development was good and the premise was creative but it's not one I can recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an advanced reader copy

Thank you NetGalley and Ms.Tate for the opportunity to review "Twenty-Seven Minutes." This thriller is written from different view points, which really gives the reader a story with a lot of twists and turns. I had no idea till the very end what had happened. A real page turner!

A lot of chitchat and not a lot of twists and turns. The whole 300+ pages revolve around an accident we learn about in the very beginning and the rest of the story is a lot of whiny young adults reminiscing. The first 10% and the last 10% are good.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced reader copy!

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for letting me read author Ashley Tate's debut novel in exchange for an honest review.

This book is 288 pages long, but the events only take place over 3 days, aside from flashbacks to the night Phoebe died, and Wyatt disappeared, 10 years ago. It has multiple POVs, and each chapter is named after the character who's POV you're reading, which I like. The flashbacks are italicised, which makes it clear what parts of the story are in the present vs the past; all in all, the book is clearly structured. Onto the things I'm not so much a fan of: despite the multiple POVs, it's told in 3rd person. There was a lot of narration, which at times felt like I got a lot of information I didn't necessarily need. It's also told in past tense - which I'm mostly neutral on.

It is described as "a gripping story about what happens when grief becomes unbearable, dark secrets are unearthed, and the horrifying truth is revealed." To me, it felt like 288 pages of waiting to find out why Grant took 27 minutes to call 911, and why Becca has been keeping his secret all these years. I kept reading, because I wanted answers, but like I said above, it felt like there was too much narration and info-dumping at times, and not enough plot. I liked the premise, but I think I personally would've preferred a different narration style. In the end, this book just wasn't my cup of tea.

If you like stories with lots of information about characters, flashbacks, and finding out their thoughts and feelings about events that happened a decade ago, I think you might like this story.

This was a bit of a slow burn, but I thought it was a really good story. It centers on the mystery surrounding the death of a promising high school student named Phoebe. Those involved have been keeping secrets and it all starts to come out as the 10 year anniversary of Phoebe’s death looms. The story is told in both past and present timeframes and in alternating POVs.

I liked how the small town setting and related gossip really added to the story. I thought the characters were fleshed out well and although there are a lot of them, they weren’t at all hard to keep straight. I didn’t love that Grant kept seeing Phoebe everywhere- that took me out of the story a bit. There was some repetition that could have likely been edited out to make the story move more quickly, but I was fascinated by the characters and didn’t really mind it much. I saw the big twist coming but there were still some surprises. The end was just sad but it all came together well.

Overall, while not super fast paced, this is a heart wrenching and well told story of keeping secrets in a small town. I enjoyed it and would recommend to those who like psychological thrillers. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ashley Tate's debut novel, Twenty-Seven Minutes, unfolds in the small, tight-knit town of West Wilmer, grappling with the aftermath of a tragic car accident that claimed the life of Phoebe Dean. The central mystery revolves around the titular twenty-seven minutes it took for her brother Grant to call for help. While the first half of the book captivates with an engaging premise and a desire for answers, some readers may find the latter half losing a bit of momentum. However, Tate excels in portraying the lasting impact of grief and secrets on a community. The novel navigates the intricate web of relationships, guilt, and hidden truths, keeping readers on edge with unexpected twists and well-developed characters. Despite the minor drawback of a difficulty connecting with some characters, the book provides an enjoyable and suspenseful read, with a promising debut from Ashley Tate in the psychological thriller genre.

This is a gut wrenching, nail biting suspense. The twists and turns had my heart in my throat.
Thank you so much to NetGalley; and Ashley Tate for providing an Advance Reader Copy to me in exchange for an honest review.