Debut author Ashley Tate has written a fresh book about a drive gone wrong, ending in a beloved teenage girl's death - Twenty Seven Minutes is set to be published in January 2024!

The anniversary of Pheobe's death is coming, and the town is on edge. What happened that night, and why did it take 27 minutes for Pheobe's brother to call for help? He's lost all respect and all sense of self-worth. Becca, another passenger in the car, is obsessed with that night and her perceived relationship with Grant. Wyatt went missing that night, and his sister has no idea what happened to him. What exactly happened on that drive home? Will the anniversary of the accident force everything into the light?

The novel takes place in the last couple days leading up to the anniversary from the perspective of a variety of characters. I personally never connected with any of them; I found them all distasteful and not excitingly so. The story felt drawn out to me, and I never felt a compulsion to keep reading. There were some twists at the end, and I was surprised by a few elements - which is always fun!

Grab this one at a library or share with a friend!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for my ARC; all opinions are my own.

"Twenty-Seven Minutes" by Ashley Tate is an absolute page-turner that delivers on its promises of suspense, tension, and gripping storytelling. Tate's masterful narrative craft keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout, leaving you guessing until the very end.

The story revolves around a small town's decade-old tragedy, and the author skillfully weaves together the past and present, unveiling secrets and hidden truths that will keep you captivated. What sets this novel apart is its exceptional character development, with multi-dimensional characters who elicit a wide range of emotions from readers.

The small-town setting, filled with gossip, parental expectations, and unresolved mysteries, adds a layer of complexity to the narrative. The writing is both insightful and cryptic, providing a thought-provoking exploration of how past events can shape the present and influence the bonds between siblings.

The heart-wrenching prologue sets the tone for the entire book, and the author's storytelling prowess shines through in every chapter. The pacing is impeccable, with short chapters that keep you eagerly turning pages, craving the next breadcrumb of information or plot twist.

As the story unfolds through multiple points of view, the author skillfully navigates unreliable narrators, making you question every character's truth and perspective. This character-driven narrative is a testament to Tate's storytelling abilities, and it's astonishing to think that this is her debut novel.

"Twenty-Seven Minutes" is a dark and ominous masterpiece filled with grief, trauma, tragedy, and secrets. Ashley Tate has proven herself as a natural-born storyteller, and this book is undoubtedly one of the standout thrillers of 2024. If you're a fan of small-town mysteries, complex characters, and unexpected twists, don't miss out on this extraordinary debut. Tate has set a high bar for herself, and I can't wait to see what she writes next.
Thank you NETGALLEY and the publishing coffee for allowing me to read and review this early.

This one was a gripping suspense that kept me guessing until the end. There was A lot of characters at once. I was a little overwhelmed to start but once I knew who was who this was a fun read. The ending when Grant was screaming Wy! Brilliant! Thank you net galley and author Ashley Tate for this ARC!

Characters fell flat for me, and often felt like the story was lacking in “suspense”. I tried really hard to like it, but it just wasn’t for me.

The characters fell flat for me. I didn’t enjoy how the timeline was written or how slow the book was. I didn’t enjoy any of the characters or how they were introduced to the story.

Publication date Jan 30, 2024
Review: 4/5⭐️
Genre: Mystery/Psychological Thriller
Trigger Warnings: Alcohol, Teen Death, Loss, Family Betrayal


Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate will leave you guessing to what truly happened in the town of West Wilmer the night Pheobe dies from a tragic accident on the bridge. Questions are going around as to why Grant waited twenty-seven minutes to call the accident in and what was he hiding? Everyone knows that they were not alone; and that Becca Hoyt was in the truck too. What does Becca know?

This mystery/thriller genre is portrayed in two timelines – Ten years ago and the present day. There are multiple characters that all play a role in what happens throughout this book. You will get to hear POV’s from Grant, Becca, June, and Wyatt. Get ready to embark on a journey of emotions as this book is full of secrets, lies, and regrets!

Grant and Pheobe have an inseparable sibling bond and their plan is to leave town together after graduation. Who would have thought Grant would be changing his mind after secretly dating behind Phoebe’s back and losing all focus to their future? Phoebe was very protective over Grant and Becca was madly in love with him. Does Phoebe find out who Grant is seeing? Does this explain why Becca Hoyt was in the truck the night of the accident?

Also, the night of the accident Wyatt disappears from home. Where does he go and why did he leave? June is left to tend to her mother until the day she passes, and Wyatt shows up at her doorstep. There are so many questions that June wants to ask, but Wyatt says he needs more time before he explains, and she cannot let anyone know he returned. Wyatt has a secret of his own that results in bruises all over his body and his teeth are beginning to fall out. Is there a connection to Pheobe’s death?

I was truly captivated with this book and Ashley Tate did a great job building suspense. This being my first book read by this author I was impressed with her execution. I would not hesitate to read future books from her or recommending them to my friends.

Thank you #AshleyTate #NetGalley and #PoisonedPenPress for providing me with an #ARC of this book!

As much as i loved the prologue and general idea behind the book it was a hard read. The characters were bland and the multiple PoV became hard to keep track of. The "twist" even though was a little shocking, was predictible. As a debut the author is very promising and I cant wait to see what she has in store. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Big sigh of relief! I finally finished this long, endlessly repetitive, soap-opera style-drama, go-nowhere lackluster mystery!

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You will have to read all those other mind-boggling 5-star reviews for a run down on the (non)action and the plastic characters of this story. I can't summon the energy to do it. I never felt that any of these characters were fully fleshed out, so I couldn't be bother to care one way or the other what became of them.

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The final reveal was a major let-down and anticlimactic to boot. As the police are fond of saying at the site of any traffic accident: nothing to look at here folks. It took me so long to read this book that I often lost track of which character had done what thus far.

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My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I am totally going against the grain on this one and rating it 2 disappointed stars out of 5.

I didn’t love this book, but I also didn’t hate it. I’m honestly not quite sure how to describe it or feel. Started out really strong for me especially with the prologue, but then I felt like I just really wanted more. The story discusses the death of phoebe dean, who is the town’s shining star. Yet we never really get a whole lot of information on who phoebe is and why the town loves her so much.
I felt like the author was grasping a little bit to make things shocking. The flipping between characters was also confusing since we didn’t get to know any of them very well (two of them I kept getting mixed up). No one really got an in-depth storyline, and so I found myself unable to relate with most of them. I will say the twist at the end was good and I did not see it coming so for that I will give it three stars.
Thank you to NetGalley and poisoned pen press for the ARC.

Ten years ago a terrible car accident rocked a small town. A young girl dies, but the question is why did it take her brother who was driving twenty-seven minutes to call for help? On this tenth anniversary, will the answer be revealed?

I loved the concept- but the book fell flat for me for a number of reasons.

The characters were all extremely unlikeable. I felt down and sad reading it the whole time. This was likely intentional but just not the vibe for me.

The plot was sometimes hard to follow jumping across multiple viewpoints and timelines, and it was too slow of a burn. It felt like the same conversation or thought process was re-hashed a million times from each point of view and nothing was revealed ever, until the very end.

The reveal wasn't a huge twist and I found it extremely unconvincing. Ten years have passed and this hasn't been figured out? Really? It just didn't seem believable enough.

Overall, this book just wasn't for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This was a good book. It had a good ending and it did keep me guessing. All of the characters were very shifty and suspenseful and with the dual POVs it made it more interesting.

This one was dark. It felt fast-paced at times, and other times it felt like the dialogue was a bit clunky, and the fact that it only happens over a few days and we're rehashing things from multiple POVs slowed things down a little bit. Once it became clear what was happening with a few of the characters, it felt like there could have been a bit more subtlety to their storylines or something; they were written a bit too "crazy" and one-dimensional, so it was hard to care about them. But the storyline overall was interesting, as was the twist.

Twenty-Seven Minutes takes place 10 years after a deadly accident, where a promising teen was killed, but her brother who was driving waited 27 minutes to call for help.
The premise for this book was promising, but it didn’t really follow through. None of the characters were likable, the dialogue was clunky, and the biggest mystery of the book was why an entire town is still so obsessed with an accident that happened ten years ago. Unfortunately this one fell flat for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of Twenty-Seven Minutes in exchange for my honest review.

This thriller reminded me so much of Agatha Christie's books where the focus is on the characters and their inner struggles and demons until you come to the big reveal and everything makes sense.

There are many things I loved about this book, but the most I enjoyed is the fact that I did not see the twist coming!

a rarity that happens when I read mystery books lately. I usually am able to predict the ending halfway through

The other thing I loved about this story is the fact that I DID NOT LIKE one single character. They were written in a way that showed how dark and unrelatable they were. You do not root for anyone to be innocent.

10 years ago, young Phoebe Dean died in a tragic accident. Her brother Grant, who was driving, waited 27 minutes before calling for help! Why? We follow the POV of four people who are somewhat connected to this mystery, Grant (the brother), Becca (his secret girlfriend), Wyatt (the runaway who comes back), and June (Wyatt's sister). The book delves into each person's inner thoughts to see how this tragedy affected them. So mainly this was more a Character-based mystery than plot. We are not supposed I guess to feel satisfied and have a closer once everything is revealed but more understand the "Why" did they act like that.

While reading, I kept asking myself, why did they, especially Grant, stay in the wretched town after the accident when everyone was suspicious of their involvement? But the ending explains a lot!

The story explores the deep dark side of the human psyche and delusion and how jealousy can fester inside oneself to the point of destruction.
I wish I could write more about this, but I would spoil a lot of the book. So better read it and enjoy the depravity of these characters.

a thank you to NetGalley and the author for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own of course.

For a debut thriller, this is as good as they get!!!! I wasn’t sure what to expect going in but I was immediately hooked from the very first chapter. Such a strong opening, a fantastic plot & an ending that left me pretty speechless. You know those thrillers that leave you quite emotional? They’re rare yes, but this is definitely one of them!!!! Ashley is absolutely an author I’ll be keeping an eye out for in the future — consider me impressed!!!!! After reading so many thrillers, it’s so refreshing to come across one that actually stands out! Really excited for everyone to read this one when it’s released! Thanks for my copy!

This one was a little disappointing. The plot was messy. The author attempted multiple different character perspectives and time frames from 10 years ago to present.

No matter the messiness, I persisted hoping that the inevitable plot twist would be worth it. I’m not sure it was.

Grant and his younger sister, Phoebe, are in a horrible car accident. This accident ends in her death. Questions arise on whether or not that should’ve been the case. Grant survived and there are twenty seven minutes unaccounted for before he called authorities. She could have lived. What really happened?

As the lives of the persons involved are unspooled ten years later, the reader learns that there was a lot more going on than meets the eye.

This novel was entertaining at times, frustrating at others. All of these people weren’t very likable and were descending into madness. It might be foolish of me, but all of this happening ten years later seemed a little irrational. I feel like things should have hit the fan the way that they did a lot sooner.

I was originally going to give it a solid three stars, but after consideration, I’m not sure I would recommend it to others. I’m going down to 2.5 stars rounded up.

A great thank you goes out to Ashley Tate, Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Truth Will Be Revealed-I couldn’t put this book down! The way the chapters switched between characters’ points of views and always ended in cliff hangers had me flipping pages for hours. I felt like I could never get to a good “stopping point” for the night because I wanted to keep reading to find out what happened next in each characters story. I also enjoyed the inside look of what really happened on that horrible night ten year ago from multiple points of view that we got every few chapters. I truly enjoyed trying to piece together the truth of that night with each new bit of information given, and just when I thought I had a theory, I was proven wrong!

The plot of this book pulled me in, but this is the slowest of slow burns, to the point where I was bored at times while reading it. The ending felt rushed and incomplete. I would have liked to see the action fall earlier, so we could have seen more of the aftermath.

Tons of twists, and the ending is definitely not one I was expecting! I do think there were some extra characters that didn’t totally contribute to the storyline, but it did help paint the picture of a small town - everyone knows everyone and no one minds their own business. This story is centered around family, tragedy, and secrets that will leave you guessing. I love the author’s writing style and would definitely read anything from Ashley Tate in the future!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!

This was an amazing debut novel! I will definitely be looking forward to other books by this author in the future! It gripped you from the very beginning, kept you on the edge of your seat the entire time. I just needed to know what was going to happen next. Awesome character development, awesome plot!