Title: 13 Minutes
Author: Sarah Pinborough
Publication: October 3, 2017
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Teens, Young Adult
Pages: 352
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
I was dead for 13 minutes.
I don’t remember how I ended up in the icy water but I do know this – it wasn’t an accident and I wasn’t suicidal.
They say you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer, but when you’re a teenage girl, it’s hard to tell them apart. My friends love me, I’m sure of it. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t try to kill me. Does it?
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**
13 Minutes, or I was dead for 13 minutes now I want to know why, by Sarah Pinborough was not exactly what I expected, but interestingly deep and twisty. While the story may have kicked off at the end of the crime and mystery, but the suspense and guessing continues throughout this entire book.
We follow multiple characters in 13 Minutes. You see multiple perspectives and how the threats and stress bare down on them. I liked the multiple viewpoints of this story because it showed a lot of different things we would not have been able to piece together without the knowledge. The story lines were well written and gave just enough detail to now drag out. My one major complaint is that the story felt like it was two stories in one. A little more detail or “fluff” could have been added in and this book split into two. At about the 60% mark, the story felt like it was coming to a close. The main climax had happened and it was as if I was reading an epilogue, but then it continued. This would have been the perfect place to split the story. It confused me and felt like too much. Too much in one story to have two mysteries happen back to back that way. I wished it had been split.
While I guessed the “ending”, the continued story threw a big curve ball that kept the interest flowing. I loved that it was able to catch me off guard. However, with all the ups and downs and the false ending part way through the book, I felt the real ending was a bit of a let down. It ended abruptly and didn’t really wrap things up in a nice ending, but didn’t leave room for another book, in my opinion. I wanted more. I wanted to know how some of the other characters ended up.
With those disappointments in the layout of the book and the ending, I did enjoy the story. The mystery was riveting and kept me flipping pages. I would still consider more books by Sarah Pinborough and plan to check those out in the future. 13 Minutes is the perfect book for teenagers or young adults looking for a mystery/suspense novel.
STAR RATING: 3/5
13 Minutes by Sarah Pinborough is now available via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and bookstores near you. Make sure to add it to your To Reads list on Goodreads and leave your feedback for the author when you are done. You can also check out more books from Sarah Pinborough on her website HERE! Make sure to check them out!
