Review For 13 MINUTES: A Novel By Sarah Pinborough- 5*

Title: 13 Minutes  

Author: Sarah Pinborough

Genre: YA Mystery Suspense

Rating: * * * * *

Publishers: Flatiron Books

(Oct 3, 2017)

Hardback: 352 pages

ISBN: 978-1250123855

FTC Disclosure: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

Copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of providing an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of this book.

“Mean Girls for the Instagram age.” ―The Times (London)
The New York Times bestselling author known for her thrilling twists is back:
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.

Natasha doesn't remember how she ended up in the icy water that night, but she does know this―it wasn't an accident, and she wasn't suicidal. Her two closest friends are acting strangely, and Natasha turns to Becca, the best friend she dumped years before when she got popular, to help her figure out what happened.

Natasha's sure that her friends love her. But does that mean they didn't try to kill her?

13 Minutes is a psychological thriller with a killer twist from the #1 internationally bestselling author Sarah Pinborough.

Well here I was patting myself on the back because I had it all figured out. Yeah, sure I did! Then I realize I'm only halfway through the book! Let me tell you the rest of the story blew me away! 
In general, I stay away from "mean girl" books and movies although PLL did suck me in big time for years. I honestly can say that despite not caring a crap about any of the characters in the book, I had a very hard time putting this book down. It is a great twisty story and though listed as a YA book, I wouldn't recommend it to YA readers. Way too much sex, drugs, and lies for this parent's comfort level.  This is definitely a book I'm passing on to my 20ish daughter who teaches these creatures that honestly at times I didn't even recognize as human beings. Through most of the story, my one thought as a parent would be the horror of knowing that you had birthed and raised some of these girls. 
This is a book that is told from alternating POVs, diary entries and texts. Ordinarily this style would piss me off royally as it drags me out of the story but (and it kills me to say this) it works here. Had I know up front this was the writing style, I'd have probably walked away as I have from so many other YA books. I guess I'm just going to have to accept this style if I continue to read YA books but I don't have to like it. That said, I'm glad and scared that I enjoyed the ride.

Sarah Pinborough is the number one Sunday Times Bestselling and New York Times Bestselling author of the psychological thriller Behind Her Eyes (Jan, 2017). During her career she has published more than 20 novels and several novellas, and has written for the BBC. Her recent novels include the dystopian love story, The Death House, and a teenage thriller, 13 Minutes which has been bought by Netflix with Josh Schwartz adapting. 

Behind Her Eyes has sold to nearly twenty territories so far and was sold at auction to the US in a significant deal to Flatiron, Macmillan. There are discussions on going with several movies studios about the film adaptation. You can follow Sarah on Twitter at @sarahpinborough.