Reviews

Told in multiple POVs in both the present and past, Twenty-Seven Minutes relies heavily on the characters’ mental health issues to create unreliable narrators and further the suspense of what happened a decade ago. I am always wary of books that use this device in mysteries and unfortunately it didn’t work for me here. I would have liked to see the mystery of the night Phoebe died be shrouded by something other than someone’s deteriorating mental health, especially given that it seems everyone in town believed what was originally told to police on that night so there was no real need to tell this story.

I received an advanced copy through Netgalley in return for an honest review.

mkengel96's review against another edition

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challenging tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

maggiespages's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

kristaknoske's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

-Suspenseful!
-Lots of characters/ families to keep track of.
- didn’t have a character that I was “rooting for”
-slow first 50 pages, then a quick read.
!!!T W I S T Y ending!!!

sydhoops's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

alex_mlynek's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.75

raedet's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Not for me. Really slow. I got 50% through and did not care for the characters and decided to check out the reviews. The low reviews had a lot of complaints similar to mine. The story doesn’t feel like an unfurling mystery, it just feels like it is dancing around getting to the point for the sake of trying to create a mystery. The twist really wasn’t that rewarding. The jumps back & forth through time did not flow well for me.

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