Publisher: Gollancz
Release: 18th February 2016
Genre: YA, Thriller
Source: Copy received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Synopsis:
"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
13 Minutes is a masterfully crafted YA Thriller. It’s like Mean Girls on crack and had me so addicted that I’d stay up late into the early hours of the morning to read it.
Tasha is your notorious mean girl so when she’s revived after being dead for thirteen minutes in icy water she knows that this wasn’t an accident and that many people have a reason to want her dead. Her two sidekicks “the barbies” are acting suspiciously so, with nobody to trust and no memory of what happened that night, Tasha turns to her childhood best friend Becca to help put the puzzle pieces surrounding her death into place.
I love books that explore toxic female friendships. The relationships that we make in our teens can be all consuming – bordering on obsession. 13 Minutes portrays these relationships to the extreme. It’s dramatic and exciting to read but also terrifying because behind every action there is an element of truth that’s scarily recognisable.
By the time I reached the final page I was left dazzled at the craft and complexity of this book. It’s such a brilliant study of the pressures that are placed on teenage girls to the point where their lives become one big performance. 13 Minutes doesn’t shy away from the nitty gritty of being a teenage girl and Sarah Pinborough delivers this message with subtle feminist undertones.
Overall 13 Minutes is an unmissable read for lovers of gritty, thrilling YA fiction.
