Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
Release Date: October 3, 2017
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Source: NetGalley
Genre: Young Adult \ Thrillers & Suspense
Natasha’s sure that her friends love her. But does that mean they didn’t try to kill her?
Natasha is the most popular girl in school. So why was she pulled out of a freezing river after being dead for thirteen minutes? She doesn’t remember how she ended up in the icy water that night, but she does know this—it wasn’t an accident, and she wasn’t suicidal.
Now Natasha’s two closest friends, who are usually her loyal sidekicks, are acting strangely. Natasha turns to Becca, the best friend she dumped years before, to help her figure out the mystery.
At first Becca isn’t sure that she even wants to help Natasha. But as she is drawn back into Natasha’s orbit, Becca starts putting the pieces together. As an outsider, Becca believes she may be the only one who can uncover the truth…which is far more twisted than she ever imagined.
13 Minutes, by author Sarah Pinborough, is dark, psychological suspense novel featuring a cast of characters who will remind readers of Mean Girls. From the onset of the story, the author starts with a puzzling and disturbing mystery. For 13 minutes, Natasha Howland was all but dead, until she was found floating in a river. She claims to have no memories of what really happened up to the point of ending up in the river. She does remember getting a text message that night from a unknown number.
But, things just don't add up. Why was Tasha in the river in the first place? Did someone attack her and dump her body in the river hoping she wouldn't be found? Why would Tasha be the first person Tasha asks for upon waking up? Is Tasha part of what happened, or just a pawn in a hard core game where anything can happen, and usually does? The same Becca she hasn't been friends with since Tasha became beautiful and started her own groupies called the Barbies who are by all indications, mean girls.
To top things off, Tasha becomes bitter cold towards her two best friends, and in fact, turns to her ex-best friend to discover the truth about what really happened. As with all of the authors plot lines, she loves to screw with readers heads. She is the queen of psychological thrillers. The author has chosen to write different POV's for each chapter, so you really have to pay attention as to who is telling the story. One could say that both Natasha and Rebecca are primary storytellers, especially since Becca gets dragged into a situation that she doesn't understand. In doing so, she ends up experiencing her own intrigue.
This isn't a story for the feint at heart. There's plenty of abuse of alcohol, drugs, and yes, sex. 13 Minutes is a twisted web of surprises and twists. Both main characters are unreliable as narrators, and truth be told, hard to actually like. The story is also told through text messages, psychiatrists notes, and police case notes. In the end, I'm not especially tolerant of characters who are mean girls, so this book ended up being just satisfactory for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment