Couldn't put it down

Loved this twisty turny adventurous journey through the minds of well thought out characters. An entertaining audible with fabulously addictive narration. Recommend.

10 people found this helpful

Teen chicklit

I picked this in a 2for1 sale, so went in blind. Bitchy schoolgirls manipulate each other in story with slightly unsatisfying ending. I found this a little hard to listen to with two characters whose names start with the same syllable...but perhaps that is because I'm a middle aged teacher who has to untangle teenage melodrama on a daily basis.

7 people found this helpful

Strictly for the young folks

It's clear I'm not the target audience for this book which is full of teenage angst, introspection and bad language. The format didn't work well on audio at times - for example with the text conversations. I struggled to get through it but if you're a young adult I'm sure you will enjoy it. The plot is done quite well - Natasha almost drowns (she dies for 13 minutes) but recovers except she's lost her memory. We meet her school friends and learn about her family as she tries to work out what happened to her. Slowly the mystery deepens and we see that things are not perhaps the way we first thought. I felt it was overly long and slow, but overall a good story worth 2.5 to 3 stars. The narrator did a very good job of being an annoying 16 year old schoolgirl.

4 people found this helpful

brilliant!

A story that grips from the beginning. fulfils your worst nightmare when mother to a daughter in this age of social media. good narration and satisfying ending. will be looking for another book by this author.

2 people found this helpful

Be warned this is teen fiction

Probably ok for teenage audience - not clear from the description that this is YA fiction. Full of cliched 2D characters, text talk, moans about parents, bitching etc. Very dull.

4 people found this helpful

Very good thriller!!

Would you listen to 13 Minutes again? Why?

Yes, at some point. Compelling thriller.

What did you like best about this story?

Clear cut characters good or bad.

Which character – as performed by Rosie Jones – was your favourite?

Hannah

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Cry for Hannah and anger towards Tasha and those weak enough to be used and manipulated by her. Do understand why someone would want to get rid of Tasha, complete bitch!

Any additional comments?

Good book

6 people found this helpful

Super story

To begin with I didn't think I would like this book, however, it does to press on regardless. In the end it was a real corker lots of twists and turns. The characters were believable and brought to life by the excellent narrator . I will certainly try other books by this author.

1 person found this helpful

Mean Girls meets with a mystery thriller

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve listened to 13 Minutes, but some of my thoughts and feelings are still very clear to me. At one hand, I was very intrigued by the plot and I remember I kept finding excuses to be able to listen longer than I planned each day. But on the other, I had issues which kept me from loving the book and giving a higher rating than I did. I sure have mixed feelings about this one.

13 Minutes‘ intricated plot follows many treads. At one hand we have the lead character, Natasha, the most popular girl in school, the leader of the Barbies. Who, due to an accident ended up being dead for 13 minutes and loosing her memories of the last 24 hours or so. Naturally she wants answers as to what happened and why her best friends act strangely around her. On the other we have Becca, once best friend of Natasha, who is pushed to the curb of school society, because she is not pretty enough. And despite the hurt Natasha caused her in the past, she still longs to be in their midst. The accident brings them closer again, but that’s really what she wants?

Every party involved in the mystery has their own secrets and ugly truths and as we get deeper in the main plot, the more it becomes clear that no one can be classified as only good or only bad. The surface can be deceiving and you really never can know what’s really in someone’s mind. 13 Minutes at heart is a YA Psyhological Thriller Mystery with petty teenage quarrels – I might have rolled my eyes a lot – but it’s also about the consequences of one’s actions as well as toxic relationships. Be it friendship, romantic relationship or parent children relations. 13 Minutes leans heavily on the friendship aspect, but we get from the others as well. It also brings in topics such as drugs, sex and mental abuse on a level. Nothing too explicit, but it’s definitely aimed for a more mature audience.

Maybe because I was more like Hannah in highschool – a side character and the only one I actually liked – a boring, plain bookworm and because I prefer a quiet drama free life, but I found the “friendships” portrayed horrifying. It’s crazy to imagine such toxic relationships exist, but as it stands, they most likely do. And often you don’t realise how toxic they are until it’s too late.

For me the twists were quite predictable, though even I didn’t see everything coming. But my biggest issue with 13 Minutes was the fact that I pretty much despised every character. I have no idea if this is how I was supposed to feel toward them – in which case I tip my hat before Sarah Pinborough as she did a splendid job at bringing these characters into life – or if I should have felt sorry for them. I’m also not sure if this tells more about me or the book. I definitely had feelings, and what more do you ask from a book?

But if you ask me, the way these girls treated the people around them who they called friends is just… not how you treat a friend (or anyone, really). And if nothing else, 13 Minutes should be a great bad example of that.

13 Minutes is what would happen if someone remade the Mean Girls as a psyhological mystery thriller, so if that’s your niche, then I definitely recommend checking it out.

would recommend

I found the story line great and the performance was brilliant overall i would recommend

Outstanding

I found this story to be very well constructed and brilliantly performed. I look forward to more from the author and of its reader. I couldn't recommend it highly enough.