Thursday, April 5, 2012

Book Review: Slide (Slide #1) by Jill Hathaway

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:

Release Date: March 27, 2012
Publisher: Balzer + Bray for HarperCollins
250 Pages

Vee Bell is certain of one irrefutable truth—her sister’s friend Sophie didn’t kill herself. She was murdered. 

Vee knows this because she was there. Everyone believes Vee is narcoleptic, but she doesn’t actually fall asleep during these episodes: When she passes out, she slides into somebody else’s mind and experiences the world through that person’s eyes. She’s slid into her sister as she cheated on a math test, into a teacher sneaking a drink before class. She learned the worst about a supposed “friend” when she slid into her during a school dance. But nothing could have prepared Vee for what happens one October night when she slides into the mind of someone holding a bloody knife, standing over Sophie’s slashed body. 

Vee desperately wishes she could share her secret, but who would believe her? It sounds so crazy that she can’t bring herself to tell her best friend, Rollins, let alone the police. Even if she could confide in Rollins, he has been acting off lately, more distant, especially now that she’s been spending more time with Zane. 

Enmeshed in a terrifying web of secrets, lies, and danger and with no one to turn to, Vee must find a way to unmask the killer before he or she strikes again.

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Review:
Slide is an addicting story. I don't know how else to put it. I wanted to hit... hurt... yell at people when I had to put it down.

Jill Hathaway's debut novel is excellent. I loved the characters. You don't read about many girls with pink hair, or about girls who slide into the body of a killer. Like quite a few others, I recognized some things that reminded me of Kimberly Derting's series, The Body Finder, but this was much different in many ways.

Vee is awesome. I love her and wish that I had the courage to dye my hair pink. That's just so cool! Her bravery and determination to find out the truth are what really made me love her. She's a vulnerable teenager with a gift that can sometimes be a curse. She has an amazing passion to find out the truth. I adore that in a character. She's a strong female lead. I think that I would go insane if I watched a girl that I grew up with be murdered in cold-blood, but she feels that she must prove that it was a murder and not a suicide. She wants to clear her own conscious and keep her friend's memory from being forever tainted.

The language in this novel is beautiful. It flows like a song. Ms. Hathaway writes pictures so clearly that you can imagine them in your mind without trouble.
Example: "Blood wisps from her wrists in long, skinny stands."
There are longer examples of the writing, but blood stuff is interesting. This sentence just really grabbed my attention. And the page it's on?! So, so creepy.

There are a few cliches in this book, but Ms. Hathaway writes them in a way that doesn't make them stand out. The cliches, like a parent who is never there because he's grieving for his dead spouse, actually really work for the novel. Even the cruel teenage girls played a great part in this plot. Though one of them, Amber, is a twisted girl that really, really needed some mental help. I just couldn't understand how she could do something so cruel to a person she claimed to be best friends with. This is probably why I have more guy friends than girl friends.

I loved Zane. Mostly because he was a Nirvana and Kurt Cobain fan. Kurt is my idol and pretty much the love of my life. I got really excited when I saw that in the book. He was such a great guy and my heart aches for him. One of my favorite lines in the book is Zane's:
"God," he says, "You're so beautiful. It just kills me."
"It was you," I whisper. " In class, I mean. That was your note."
Zane was probably my favorite character in the book. He was just such a great, totally misunderstood guy.

Rollins is a good character, too, but he isn't really the greatest friend in my opinion. I understand that he has issues, but he is extremely hypocritical and that really bothered me.

Parts of this book really freaked me out. It was so interesting and unique. I was immediately engrossed. I adored just about everything in this book. The mystery in this novel is one of the best parts. There were so many shockers that I didn't see coming.It's the first time in quite a while that a book has been able to do that to me. I loved it!

I literally shouted curse words while I read the last fifty pages of this book. It was crazy! It reminded me a lot of Lisa McMann's Wake series and her writing style with the last couple of shockers. My heart dropped and now I'm a very, very sad girl. Slide was extremely awesome. Everyone who loves gritty, YA mysteries should read it. Now that I've finished it, I'm dying for the sequel!

1 comment :

  1. Thank you for your review! I just received my copy of SLIDE earlier this week and with my towering TBR list I wasn't cure if I could make time for it..but after reading your review, I just might have to move it up my list! =)

    Lilian @ A Novel Toybox

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