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A review by marilynw
Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate
dark
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate
The story started out interesting for me but I began to lose interest as I realized I seemed to have landed in a crazy madhouse of a town. West Wilmer is described as claustrophobic and I agree, the small town can almost qualify as some kind of locked room (town) situation. As the story is told in two timelines, ten years apart, it seems like even though the characters have grown older, they never seem to have matured. The teens of ten years ago seem to be stuck in bodies ten years older (and most worse for the wear) but still with the mind of dysfunctional teenagers.
But it appears no one had a very good start in life in this place. When a parent hadn't physically escaped this town sans family, they still seemed to have emotionally and mentally escaped the town (and reality). This created dysfunctional kids, several who desperately needed psychological help. No POV can be trusted, these are messed up people. Now, ten years after a horrific accident, with a memorial service to commemorate the date, long kept secrets are oozing out of their hiding places, to destroy the tenuous relationships in this town. Things were never good here but now folks are going to know just how bad things are as this pot of secrets boils over and scalds the lives of many.
I was interested until I realized this story, if I could ever uncover what the story really was about, was going to be dribbled out to me much too slowly for enjoyment. The characters seemed so immature and unable to care for themselves, much less anyone else, that it's a wonder that the town can function. But that might be because the POVs we are seeing just aren't able to push a story along. Nothing said or thought can be trusted and then there is "other stuff" going on and I was ready for things to be over and done. Too bad that didn't happen ten years earlier. Actually, I'm not sure how things stayed secret so long since none of the characters seem competent enough to pull off what they pull off. I know the story worked better for others and there are some big surprises here for those who hang in to the end. Still, the surprises almost seemed anticlimactic by the time I got to the end.
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for this ARC.
The story started out interesting for me but I began to lose interest as I realized I seemed to have landed in a crazy madhouse of a town. West Wilmer is described as claustrophobic and I agree, the small town can almost qualify as some kind of locked room (town) situation. As the story is told in two timelines, ten years apart, it seems like even though the characters have grown older, they never seem to have matured. The teens of ten years ago seem to be stuck in bodies ten years older (and most worse for the wear) but still with the mind of dysfunctional teenagers.
But it appears no one had a very good start in life in this place. When a parent hadn't physically escaped this town sans family, they still seemed to have emotionally and mentally escaped the town (and reality). This created dysfunctional kids, several who desperately needed psychological help. No POV can be trusted, these are messed up people. Now, ten years after a horrific accident, with a memorial service to commemorate the date, long kept secrets are oozing out of their hiding places, to destroy the tenuous relationships in this town. Things were never good here but now folks are going to know just how bad things are as this pot of secrets boils over and scalds the lives of many.
I was interested until I realized this story, if I could ever uncover what the story really was about, was going to be dribbled out to me much too slowly for enjoyment. The characters seemed so immature and unable to care for themselves, much less anyone else, that it's a wonder that the town can function. But that might be because the POVs we are seeing just aren't able to push a story along. Nothing said or thought can be trusted and then there is "other stuff" going on and I was ready for things to be over and done. Too bad that didn't happen ten years earlier. Actually, I'm not sure how things stayed secret so long since none of the characters seem competent enough to pull off what they pull off. I know the story worked better for others and there are some big surprises here for those who hang in to the end. Still, the surprises almost seemed anticlimactic by the time I got to the end.
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for this ARC.