This is a quick and fun read! Told in multiple POV as the ten year anniversary of a teenager’s death looms near, secrets of what really happened begin to shake a few of the locals

Phoebe was the younger sister of Grant whose life was taken suddenly and tragically too soon. His mother never forgave him. Questions still rise as to why it took him 27 minutes to call for help..

Becca was there. She’s always backed up Grant’s story. They’re in love so of course she believes everything he says, right?

June just lost her mother and is surprised that her brother Wyatt has returned after a decade of being missing. He’s subdued and not talking about where he’s been so she takes it upon herself to find out.

What could all of these plots and people have in common? You’ll have to pick this one up to find out!

After a high school party, a terrible car crash tragically killed local good girl Phoebe Dean. The ambulance came 27 minutes too late to safe her. But was Phoebe as much of an angel as everyone is saying? Why didn't her brother Grant call the authorities sooner? Had he drunk too much? And what about Crazy Becca who sat in the back seat of the car, what did she have to do with it? June cares more about the disappearance of her brother Wyatt. How much of a coincidence is it that he ran away the same night of the accident? Did he have something to do with it? All answers will come at the 10 year memorial of Phoebe Dean's death...

I really liked this story! The plot was very good and even though I read a lot of thrillers, the twist at the end still surprised me. I do think it shows that this is a debut, June seeing Wyatt for the first time in 10 years would have been more suspenseful and would have impacted the readers more if we hadn't already read a chapter from his point of view. I also thought there were too many POV's, which made it a bit confusing sometimes. Still, the writing style in Twenty-Seven Minutes is beautiful, there were some great plot twists and cliffhangers, and you could figure out what had really happened if you were able to connect all the dots correctly. Definitely recommend! 3.75 stars

Thanks to NetGalley, Ashley Tate and Ashley's team for providing me with an ARC!

Going into this one I was intrigued to find out what happened 10 years ago when they waiting 27 minutes to call for help resulting in a death. I appreciated the fact that we got feedback on each of the characters to get to know them and how they relate to the plot. However, it took a very long time for that and wished we spent more time on revealing the truth behind the accident. Once we did get to the reveal I was surprised and liked the ending. It just took too long to get there.

Twenty-Seven Minutes. That's the time it took Grant Dean to call 911 after he got into an accident on a one lane bridge in a rain storm. It is also the amount of time it took his younger sister Phoebe Dean to die from her injuries after she was thrown from Grant's truck.

The Deans were at the top of the high school heap in their small town of West Wilmer. Grant had his pick of girlfriends and was about to be recruited to play college football, his ticket out of his go-nowhere town. And Phoebe was intent on making sure he got out. With her. But when she dies in the car accident, all of their dreams die with her.

On the 10th anniversary of her death, Pheobe's mother plans a memorial service that the whole town is talking about and everyone plans to attend. Everyone but Pheobe's brother Grant, who would rather avoid it, and June, the younger sister of Wyatt, a member of the Deans's extended group of friends and acquaintances, who went missing the night of the accident as well. June, alone after the death of her mother, wonders what happened to her brother and why no one in town seems to have noticed that he was gone.

The memorial has people talking again about what happened during those 27 minutes. Grant claims to have blacked out and can't remember. But he isn't the only person who knows. Becca, Phoebe's friend, was also in the truck that night. And while she knows what happened, she would do anything to keep Grant's secret.

The novel is told from multiple points of view and jumps around from the weeks leading up to the accident and the days leading up to the memorial service. It's a bit hard to keep track of all of the characters, with all of their traumatic back stories. (Most have generations of family trauma.) And while there is a steady build up of suspense (the book starts with a fairly high level of suspense and never lets up), very little of what happened is revealed until the end. Instead, Ashley Tate fills the pages with the character's traumatic back stories and their fraught realities ten years later.

Tate does a fantastic job of capturing the claustrophobia of living in a small town with no real hope of getting out. Unfortunately, her success makes finishing the book feel like a herculean accomplishment.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

Absolutely loved this one. The cover pulled in instantly but the story was really fun. It kept me entertained while surprising me throughout the entire book. Highly recommend to anyone looking for suspense with a great ending.

Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate is a novel set in the claustrophobic town of West Wilmer. It explores the aftermath of a tragic accident through the eyes of Grant Dean, who lost his sister Phoebe. The book attempts to unravel the complexities of grief, secrets, and the search for truth but leans towards familiar genre tropes, especially with its predictable twist concerning Grant's character.

Despite its predictability, Tate’s narrative captures the essence of a small town's tight-knit community, dealing with themes of loss and the heavy burden of secrets. The story's setting and the multi-perspective approach add depth, although the climax might not surprise seasoned readers of the genre.

While Twenty-Seven Minutes may tread on well-worn paths and sometimes feels contrived, it offers a poignant look at the consequences of our choices and the pain of living with unresolved grief. The novel’s exploration of familial bonds and community dynamics might appeal to those interested in emotional narratives centered around tragedy and redemption.

Tate's work reflects on the impact of tragedy and the complexities of human emotions, making it a suitable read for those who appreciate stories with emotional depth despite their shortcomings in originality and predictability.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an e-Arc of Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate for my review.

Thank you Netgalley, Ashley Tate, and Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced ebook! Wow! This book had me so hooked and had all my heart strings pulling and my heart beating fast wanting to soak up every word and every chapter to figure out what exactly happened that night. This was such a great read. Highly recommend!

Twenty-seven minutes can change a life. It can also alter an entire town's future, which is exactly what happened on a stormy night in West Wilmer. One family, multiple friends, the death of a young girl and a bridge on a stormy night = recipe for a tragedy that lives in the hearts & minds of those involved for a decade. But the question on everyone's minds is - what happened during the twenty-seven minutes from the time a deadly car crash occurred to when the police were called?

A psychological thriller with characters who actually pull you into the plot? Sign me up! I absolutely loved this debut novel from Ashley Tate. It's rare to find a thriller that twists & turns its way to the very last page, but this book did just that. And I loved that I wasn't halfway through knowing for certain what the end was going to be. Her writing style & character development was so on point, it's possible Sherlock Holmes would have struggled to unravel the truth behind this small town's greatest mystery.

I couldn’t enjoy the book. It was the pace.
The story itself couldn’t hold my interest. There’s no tension that we need in thriller.

A suspenseful intriguing mystery. Lots of twists and turns in this unpredictable page turner filled with complex characters. A tragic witty entertaining story that captured me on the very first page!m this is a must read!

Dark, tense and twisty.! The buildup for the ending definitely pays off. Overall, I think this is a true psychological thriller. The roller coaster of emotions the main characters experience are well detailed and kept the pages turning,

June, Grant, Becca, phoebe and Wyatt are characters that you can easily be invested in. I look forward to reading more by this author!

Thank you so much NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my advanced copy and the chance to review it honestly.

I received Twenty-Seven Minutes as an ARC through NetGalley. I really wanted to love this book but it fell on the average part of the scale for me. Maybe it was just my mood but it felt repetitive and a tad bit long winded for me. What I did enjoy was that it was entertaining enough for me to want to finish the book and I would definitely give this author’s next book a chance. I am also happy with the way the book ended. I’d recommend this book if you like slow burn thrillers. The good stuff mainly happens at the end but it’s the first chapter that really hooks ya!

Happy reading!

"Twenty-Seven Minutes" promises a gripping tale of dark secrets, unbearable grief, and shocking twists, but unfortunately, the execution falls short, leaving readers wanting more from this story.

The central question that propels the narrative—why did it take Grant Dean twenty-seven minutes to call for help on the night of a tragic car accident—fails to sustain the intrigue promised in the book summary. The plot unfolds slowly, and rather than building tension, it struggles to hold the reader's interest.

Grant's internal struggle and guilt over his sister Phoebe's death are explored, but lack emotional depth. The character development feels superficial, leaving the reader disconnected from the supposed heart of the story. "Twenty-Seven Minutes" attempts to explore the consequences of grief and the impact of buried secrets but fails to deliver.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

A decent debut novel by Ashley Tate. A small town dealing with the grief and unknown elements of a teenager's death ten years ago. Dual timelines and flashbacks reveal what happened on that tragic night. A slow build and a great twist toward the end as the truth is unveiled. Why did it take 27 minutes for the brother to call the police on that fateful night?

I received a digital ARC from the publisher and NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The characters, the mystery, the pacing, the plot, the writing and dialogue m, everything. Everything here is a HIT!
My only wish for people on this book is to not read anything going in before starting it. I knew little things from the book blurb and feedback, and was blown away by how great the pacing and twists were. Will (hopefully) make a good Netflix or Hulu series one day! Don’t miss this one. Five stars

Phoebe was killed in a car accident on a bridge. Grant and Becca, who were also in the car, waited twenty seven minutes to call for help. Now, ten years later, a memorial for Phoebe and discussion of tearing down the bridge, brings up the past in ways that Grant, Becca, and the whole town aren’t ready to deal with. This novel switches perspectives between multiple characters and time periods (now and the night of the accident), so readers get a well-rounded look at what happened and how it’s affected people. Unfortunately, all of the characters are unlikeable and underdeveloped. The plot was interesting, but the writing was lacking. The twist at the end was worth making it through though.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this title from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I'm forever eager to try new authors so I leapt at the opportunity to read "Twenty-Seven Minutes". This was a slow paced psychological thriller which was very well written.

The characters and overall tone were quite dismal, dark, and depressing. Ten years ago, some teenagers were involved in a drunk-driving accident after a party. Now, coming up to the anniversary of the accident, the mother of the fatal victim of the accident is planning to hold a memorial at her home.

Grant and Phoebe Dean are brother and sister - siblings who have an extraordinarily close relationship. Their father died when they were small, and now their mother tries to keep them close to her. Closer than either of them would like and they both long for escape. Grant was driving the night of the crash when his little sister Phoebe died. He called the ambulance, but it was too late. Twenty-seven minutes too late. If he had called earlier, Phoebe might have survived. This weighs heavily on Grant to this day. His fate was determined by the accident which left him physically and mentally injured - putting paid to any hopes of the football scholarship that he had hoped for. Now he works at a poultry factory.

Wyatt and June Delroy are brother and sister - siblings from a dysfunctional family. Wyatt disappeared ten years ago - the night of the car accident that took Phoebe Dean's life. June was left to care for their mother, a disagreeable and demanding women.

Becca Hoyt was in the truck that crashed. She suffered severe injuries and was hospitalized for several weeks. Now she works in the same small store where she worked back then. She loves Grant, and would do anything for him... Becca comes across as a pathetic woman riddled with guilt, who never matured, stuck in a rut of her own making.

"... and now they dragged their trauma behind them like a ghastly security blanket, tattered and dirty and hardened in the corners with nervous spit."

This was a bleak read. The characters were not very likeable, despite their dire history. The town of West Wilmer, was a rural backwater peopled with the usual dead-end town mentality. The main characters carried their burdens of remembrance, grief, and guilt, but in a way that made them more pathetic than sympathetic.

The story was told via a dual timeline. The present narrative was interspersed with events from the night of the accident. I enjoyed the writing style and would read another novel by this author. That being said, "Twenty-Seven Minutes" didn't resonate with me, and I found it melancholy - peopled with characters who wallowed in their misery on a daily basis. The ending plot twist was one I anticipated. The overlying themes were those of guilt and dysfunction. My opinions of this debut novel are my own, and should not serve to deter other readers. It has received some very positive reviews.

I'm between 3 and 4 stars for this one, because the ending really got me to tear up and a book getting me to express emotions automatically earns a star. BUT it was such a slow build-up that I found myself getting bored throughout the book

Okay so a mystery, but honestly less thriller aspects that I expected. If you're expecting an edge of your seat, suspensful thriller book, then sadly this isn't the one for you. It's such a slow burn that at moments I was getting bored of the characters and wanted something exciting/intriguing to happen. I highly recommend getting a buddy read with this one so you can both keep each other accountable.

A little bit of the synopsis: Phoebe Dean was a popular girl, hence the "was" because she passed away after driving with her brother over a bridge. There are 27 minutes unaccounted for where Grant (her brother) could have saved her but what was he doing during that time?? You'll find out in this book. It takes 10 years for the questions to start coming out, why 10 years exactly? because the anniversary of Phoebe's death makes other reconsider that night and rehash old wounds.

This book focuses on 4 different POVs: June, Grant, Becca, and Wyatt along with a chapters titled "Ten Years Ago." Grant is Phoebe's older brother, June and Wyatt are siblings, and Becca... will Becca is an interesting character and I'll leave it at that. My favorite character was June overall, the rest I either felt pity or just bleh.

Honestly, I was starting to get bored during the book because it was a slow build-up. I felt as if the stories could have been cut down or maybe adding more twists in the middle could have held my attention better. The portrayal of the sibling dynamic did it for me at the ending and pushing up my ratings.

I just finished Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate and here are my thoughts.


One night changed the lives of so many people. 10 years ago the golden girl Phoebe, was killed in a car accident. Her brother was driving and a girl called Becca was injured in the back seat. It’s the same night June’s brother Wyatt leaves town, leaving her and her mother in despair.

Phoebe’s mother is planning a memorial. All it is going to Grant, Phoebe's brother, is bringing up painful memories of that night and the secrets threatening to undo him are even more fragile now that June is asking all the right questions but is anyone listening to her?


The concept was super intriguing. Dual timelines so we can see what happened in the lead up to the car accident that night. It was a slower pace but it was well written enough that I got over that. It had some pretty nice twists in it too but they weren’t earth shatteringly epic but they added nicely to a steady mystery.

I didn’t connect with any of the characters because they were all really unlikeable. June was about the only one that wasn’t awful but even then I didn’t feel like she deserved me rooting for her either. Everyone had secrets, everyone was underhanded. It was a bit too character driven for my liking without any good characters. It needed more plot and build up.


The ending was OK. I get it went for a dramatic bow but I felt it needed something more.

3.5 stars.

Thank you to #netgalley and @penguinrandomca

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Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of "Twenty-seven Minutes" by Ashley Tate. As a debut, I am always looking to be wowed, and this one did that "sort of". It felt like the story could have benefited from one more edit/revision. The first part was great, the last part I felt needed a little work. Overall, a good story about the secrets we keep and the lies we tell. Looking forward to more from this author,