To use Reddit terminology... ESH. The characters are all awful, and the ending is so predictable that after just a couple chapters I skipped forward to see if I was right, and got tricked by the author's method of throwing us off. But in the end, despite my being thrown off, there's no "big twist" here. Exactly what I thought had happened did happen, and it wasn't even an enjoyable read to get there. Such misery on every page. What a waste of time.

Oh wow! This was a fantastic story td from multiple perspectives over a decade-span. I had an idea where the plot was headed, but there was plenty that I didn’t expect! It was a wonderful read and I found myself pushing bedtime back juuuust a bit so I could keep reading this. Quite a thrilling debut novel, I definitely cannot wait for more from her in the future!

'Twenty-seven minutes' written by Ashley Tate

Published on: 30th of January 2024
Positives:
● A strong hook at the beginning
● two timelines and times are included
● Every main character has an individually strong voice 
● Surprising story
● An ending twist
● There's a reading group guide of questions at the end of the book. I love this and believe it should be incorporated more.
● multiple perspectives

Negatives:
● There is an occasional wording error

You should read if you like:
● small town gossip and the stories that unfold
● mysteries
● multiple perspectives
● two timelines
● unlikeable characters
● who-dunnit stories

If you have ever watched one of those nature programs (and who among us hasn’t?), that features a pair of exotic birds, engaged in an elaborate mating ritual, then you have an idea as to what this book has to offer. Rich and colorful, building to a fabulous crescendo, filled with nuances along the way. Teasing, tempting, carrying you, willing or not, along with it. At first, the ride is slow and steady, but gradually it becomes quicker, more restless, more involved. You want to look away, if only briefly, but you can’t, swept up as you are, in all that’s happening.

The book, written in a unique character-driven style, I felt, was longer than it need be. As much as I liked it, three quarters of the way through I became weary of the sameness. I found it became repetitious and dragged a bit; it teased me longer than I would have liked to have been teased. I was ready to move on with things, to have something new happen, rather than continually rehash the past in a variety of ways, through a variety of voices. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, the author surprised me. The reader has to be willing to suspend disbelief. I had many questions that I wanted answered.

That’s not to say that I didn’t like the book because I did. Very much. I just didn’t quite like being played the fool for as long as I had been. All of this said, the book is excellent. It’s hard to believe that this is the first book to the author’s credit. I’m eager for more.

This book was well written and had a great, but predictable, twist. I really liked of it displayed the intricacies of small town relationships; the “everyone-knows-everyone”. As a mystery/thriller it was a little slow for my liking.

It has been decade since a brutal accident that shook a small town took the life of Phoebe, the best and the brightest. Her brother, Grant, and Becca, the unfortunate passenger, are both still dealing with the accident in their own ways. There is more to the tragic accident than meets the eye however. Poor unfortunate, wrong place at the wrong time Becca is looking for more in her relationship with Grant and Grant is cold as ever as his guilt weighs on him. Meanwhile, it has been a decade since Wyatt, June's brother went missing, a detail that no one has really paid attention to until June begins to ask questions. The anniversary is stirring up emotions & everyone is on edge. The novel had a good premise, but the characters were boring (and Becca was annoying in my opinion, I really did not enjoy her POV) and at the end it just went all over the place.

Twenty-Seven Minutes is a good read that will keep readers interested until the end. The story is told through the lens of multiple characters and their perspectives but it is done in a way that flows seamlessly throughout the story. Each character has a unique voice. Well done story and I would definitely recommend.

I enjoyed reading this book. The characters were interesting. The plot twist at the end wasn't exactly what i had guessed it would be. I did find some typos or misuse of words.
Thank you to Net Gallery for a chance to read an advanced reader copy.

So.....OMG!!!

I love love loved this book!!

The writing, the characters and the plot. It was simply fantastic!

Did I read that this is a debut for Ashely Tate?! Wow! She has firmly set herself among the genre's greats like: Ware, Jewell and Lapena!

If you love a dark, twisty, your own theory getting blown out of the water on the reveal, then this is the book for you!!

You must read it!!

I had a very hard time getting through this book. It just couldn’t grab my interest like I thought it would but it was a decent read as I wanted to see how the story ended.

Oh my gosh, such an amazing story of secrets, lies and skeletons in the closet. Each character is going through an enormous amount of trauma in different ways but all due to the same tragedy. Really interesting portrayal of the limitations of grief and sadness.

Conceptually this book sounded like one I would really enjoy, anticipating a big twist at the end.

Unfortunately, the premise was not enough to detract from the writing style, random plot holes and an entire cast of unlikable characters. I found it distracting how many times the author used ! In the middle of the sentence or when relaying facts about the character. The convenience of someone being missing for 10 years and then randomly showing up was bizarre. The multiple POV normally works well for me, but in this case I felt there were too many and it was not only overwhelming, but led to a lot of gaps not being filled in.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of “Twenty-Seven Minutes” in exchange for an honest review. Maybe this is not fair of me, but the second I realized how many exclamation points there were in this book I just had a feeling it was not going to be the book for me. I just really cannot fathom why that many exclamation points are necessary in a novel. This really felt like a YA novel to me. I also feel like many of these characters could benefit from some professional mental health support that was grossly lacking. Check it out for yourself, but this one wasn’t for me.

While this is billed as a thriller, this book is also an exploration of the psyches of several different characters and the moments leading up to a great tragedy. I did not expect the ending at all, and I could feel myself getting more engrossed as the clues began hurtling me towards the truth of what happened the night of the car crash. Ashley Tate does a great job portraying each character, their flaws, and the way their mistakes and secrets begin to impact them psychologically and physically.

The Book begins with THAT one night almost 10 Years ago. The Night Phoebe Dean died in Becca Hoyt's arms and gave the whole Town of West Wilmer its collective Trauma.
Except for June Delroy though… for her that terrible Night marks the Day, her big brother Wyatt ran away from the Family without another word.

Phoebe, 17, dies because of that darned bridge on a rainy night. It's not one of those well lit bridges, no… far from that.
So after this horrible accident happens and things don't add up, for the next 10 years everyone mourns and reminiscences Phoebe, some putting her on a too high pedestal, AND many ask themselves what in hell Grant Dean did in those 27 minutes until he called the ambulance for his beloved Sister?

Would Grant's sister still be alive if he didn't "wait" for those long 27 minutes?
Was he drunk and just waiting for his alcohol level to lower?
Or was it really all Becca's fault and Grant was maybe in shock?
Why did Wyatt run away that same night? Did he see something. that could potentially compromise Grant and/or Becca?

One thing first, this Book starts very slow. I was sooo close to DNF'ing this after less than 25%.
BUT NOW I am very happy, that I kept reading!

From the very first sentence the author mentions June, I felt connected to her. I really hurt for this poor young woman. (No, fortunately none of my big brothers ran away… but still.)
With her mother dead now she's the only occupant of her family's small, weathered house. A sad, fragile woman yearning for her big brother to come back and help her. To be there for her.

On the other hand I could not warm up to Becca and Grant. I know, I know… they didn't have it easy after this fateful night but Becca was such a psychotic Drama-Queen and Dean was a self-centered A*sehole. It was easy to hate them, end of discussion.

Wyatt, June's Brother, was a mystery to me for about half of the Book… but even he was a victim of the time. I had a hard time sympathising with him, but in the End I did.

Though how could you or I judge any of those Kids, after all a lot of this mess has a background story. Widows who did behave erratic towards their children and picked a favourite. Or Parents who did not know how to get a hold on their child, not knowing how to help them getting back on track.

Unfortunately the Tragedy took its course 10 Years ago, and now after all this Time the one's who survived have to pick up the pieces.
Some might cut themselves deep while doing so.

To tell the truth, the last few pages had me a bit close to tears. Personally the last 20-25 pages were the Best, to which this was all building up to.
Well done, Mrs. Tate!!!

𝑴𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒈𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝑩𝑶𝑶𝑴 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅!

There's more than one mystery in this novel about an auto accident and its impact on a small town. Unfortunately, the characters are so dislikable and everything else about the book is so depressing, that, more than a third of the way through, I have no interest in learning any of the outcomes. It doesn't help that the book skips from character to character and from the present to the past to the present, etc.

My thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a complimentary ARC. The foregoing is my independent opinion.

Love this story about how the truth will set people free. A nice slow unwinding of the truth. Very well done with well developed characters, with the exception of June. I wanted more about who June was back then.

2.5 stars

Meh
It wasn’t the greatest. The premise was great. The prologue was great. The book seemed like a first draft, and maybe it is. It’s kind of messy and repetitive.

I had high hopes for Twenty-Seven Minutes. The prologue was written beautifully and was really compelling. Because of that, I was so excited to dive into this book.

Unfortunately, shortly after that, it all fell apart for me. While I found the novel’s premise really interesting, the execution is what kept me from enjoying it. The writing wasn’t tight, which made me have a tough time focusing on the story. It felt like there was much more telling going on rather than showing—something about the way it was written lacked both polish and confidence. For these reasons, for me this book felt really tedious to get through.

I found Twenty Seven Minutes a little disappointing. The plot was messy and dragged on.

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?

The ending was good but I needed a little more suspense throughout the book. It felt like it was dragging a little.
I think I would have enjoyed this book more if the characters could have been more relatable. One of the characters didn't even seem to be necessary in the book.