Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate follows multiple characters impacted by a fatal car accident a decade earlier who are still haunted by the secrets they have been keeping since that night. 


It's truly a slow burn of a novel that follows multiple povs remembering what really happened the night of the accident. The mystery of that night takes a back seat for quite a while as the book focuses on the characters and develops their various traumas and how their lives interconnect.  When the book returns to uncovering what really happened that night, is when the book really shines. Overall a good debut novel!


*Rounded up from 3.5 stars 


Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the ARC!

This book held my curiosity the entire time! A powerful suspense about a tragedy that has traumatized a community for the past 10 years. I loved the introduction of multiple characters and POV. And that last 10% of the book? WHEW 😅 Manipulations, lies, truth, grief. This thriller sure kept me guessing till the end.

Thank you to @netgalley @penguinrandomca @ashleytateauthor for an DRC in exchange for an honest review

This book definitely kept me on the edge of my seat! There were so many secrets discovered and I just kept getting farther and farther into a rabbit hole.

From start to finish this book had me on the edge of my seat! All the lies and deceit and just wow!

Ten years ago, there was an accident on a bridge in the town of West Wilmer. It took Grant twenty-seven (27) minutes to call the ambulance after the accident and Phoebe ended up dying.

There were three people in the car that night, but June remembers a fourth person no one else seems to remember. Someone who knows the truth of that night. The truth ends up coming forward on what really happened that night and wow, I didn’t see any of it coming!

I absolutely loved this book! All the twists and turns this book took me on, oh my goodness! I am here for it!

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had my eye on this book when I first saw it because the synopsis sounded amazing.

The chapters were short, and they ended in a way that really made you want to keep reading, so it did make for a quick read. I also enjoyed the back and forth with the timeline because I like that style of writing. I like getting little glimpses of the past to fill in the gaps of what had happened.

However, the characters became more unlikeable as the book went on, to the point where when the twist at the end came, I just didn’t care. And that sucks because the twist was a good one and caught me by surprise. But it just took so long to get there that I lost interest in the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada and Ashley Tate for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This book gets messy, first of all they were teenagers, in high school, next it was ten years, plus it’s a small town. I feel like this would’ve been more believable if any of those three things were shifted a tiny bit - maybe college, maybe 5 years, maybe they had moved away, not seen each other for a few years, like Wyatt. But you expect me to believe that a small town with this level of involvement and drama, and no one spoke about these things for TEN years? Tough.

This book moved relatively quickly, but I also found myself a bit frustrated with some of the characters and their communication abilities. I wanted June and Becca to demand answers, put their feet down, but it felt like the men really ruled these women in different ways.

All this aside, I still flipped pages like a mad woman to get to the bottom of this convoluted story. There were clues sprinkled throughout which kept you on the hook just enough to want to know if they pan out that way, or if a bomb was going to drop and shake it all up. The ending may be a shock to some, there was not huge jaw dropping twist necessarily - I could see 80% of it coming, and once you find out it does make a lot of sense

Have you ever wondered what goes through a person's mind and what their final thoughts might be as they slip from this world to the next?
would they be profound? Superficial? or of loved ones left behind?

Ashley Tate's opening scene in Twenty Seven Minutes grabs you with teenage Phoebe's
perspective as she lays dying after a car accident.

Told in duel timelines and through multiple points of view, Tate's debut novel is certainly thought-provoking.
The plot takes place in the 3 days leading up to the 10 year memorial with 4 well developed characters, although none are particularly likable.
Despite this, the author increases the intrigue and suspense, urging you to turn the pages faster, peaking your curiosity even more.

What happened during those twenty-seven minutes?
What is the truth?

Ashley Tate's writing style will pull at your heartstrings as she explores how loss, grief, and guilt
can become so unbearable until the shocking truth and dark secrets spill out.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and thought the premise was very unique, but
at times, I found myself losing focus amongst the character dialogue. Also, the intensity of the story didn't seem to match the ending, as I found it kind of fell flat, and there were still questions.

I will still certainly recommend this book to people because for a debut novel, Ashley Tate did an
excellent job.

Thank you to Netgally and Penguin Random House Canada.
The review is voluntary.

publication date January 30th, 2024

Conceptually this book sounded like one I would really enjoy, anticipating a big twist at the end.

Unfortunately, the premise was not enough to detract from the writing style, random plot holes and an entire cast of unlikable characters. I found it distracting how many times the author used ! In the middle of the sentence or when relaying facts about the character. The convenience of someone being missing for 10 years and then randomly showing up was bizarre. The multiple POV normally works well for me, but in this case I felt there were too many and it was not only overwhelming, but led to a lot of gaps not being filled in.

A riveting debut novel! The plot was gripping, the characters were complex and richly drawn, and that twist! I can't wait for more from this author. Bravo.

Ashley Tate understands grief and loss. This is a dark and gripping novel about how the death of a member of a community can impact that community for years. While it was a bit predictable in places and none of the characters were particularly likeable this book was takes hold of the reader and you are along for the twisty ride. A strong offering for this first time novelist!

Easy to find yourself lost in this book... lost as in totally into the story.
Each chapter is written in a different perspective of the story which makes it easy to follow along. Definitely some feeling with this book. I throughly enjoy reading it.

Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book.

"Nothing can keep the truth buried."

One thing that I have done lately is to give myself a few days to ponder a novel. I let it sit with me and see how it holds up over time. Do I think about the story and characters a lot? Do I continue to feel something once I am done? Do I have the often talked about BOOK HANGOVER? Twenty-seven minutes definitely gave me a book hangover.

Ashley Tate does an amazing job of pulling you in from chapter one, with an incredibly intense scene. If you ever wondered what it is like as someone meets their end... Ashley takes us there. Would we have these profound thoughts of our life, or would we be superficial in our thinking at the end? It left me with chills.

In my opinion, there are two heavy topics addressed in Twenty-seven Minutes, favoritism and survivors guilt. Whether its favoritism within a family or within the community, one thing that connects the individuals, is that they feel less than someone else. So you have a group of individuals, with their own stories, working through feelings of unimportance while trying to move on from their guilt.

Twenty-seven Minutes is worth your time. I really wanted to give this a 5-star rating, but one character in particular (*cough cough* Becca) was super annoying. But I understand her purpose.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the opportunity to read and review this dark and twisted story.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada, Doubleday Canada and NetGalley for this ARC!

This was my first book by Ashley Tate and it left me sobbing! The story is told in POVs by multiple characters, and told beautifully. I was never left confused by what was happening and I just wanted to keep unraveling all the secrets.

5 stars!

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate, published by Penguin Random House Canada

This was a good novel, I enjoyed it, it was a bit of a challenge to keep the characters and their stories straight, but as I read it became more clear and I could keep them all straight. The story really got my attention and I didn't want to put the book down
The novel revolves around the 10th anniversary of Phoebe's death, the bridge she died on and the interaction of friends and family since the accident.
As the story is told by a few different characters, the reader begins to see how the relationships were 10 yrs ago and how they have developed to present day since the death of Phoebe. All the characters seem to have anger or psychological issues that become apparent during discussions about the accident and that stem back to the party and the accident. And then the twist at the end that I didn't see coming, awesome!
I would love to read more novels by this author and will watch for her next book

Special thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
"Twenty-Seven Minutes" follows the story of a town still processing the tragic death of a teenage girl, Phoebe that happened 10 years prior. This book had well-crafted suspense and intriguing characters that made it a compelling read. One thing I loved about this book was that it was told from multiple different characters perspectives. The narrative unfolds with precision, keeping readers engaged and eager to uncover the truth.
From the opening scene, the author reels you in by staring with Phoebe’s perspective as she’s dying. “Twenty-Seven Minutes” creates a sense of tension that grabs hold of the reader. Throughout the book I was anxiously waiting to understand why it took Grant 27 minutes to call for help that night and what secrets him and Becca were keeping.
"Twenty-Seven Minutes" is a suspenseful mystery that will satisfy fans of the genre. Prepare to be on the edge of your seat waiting to uncover the truth of what happened that night.