Book Review: Slide by Jill Hathaway

First Published: March 1st 2012

Pages: 257 (paperback)

Publisher: HarperCollins

ISBN: 0007446373

Synopsis

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 distant lately, 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.

Review

I knew nothing about Slide when I first picked it up in the bargain bin on the Book Depository but I am very happy I did. It was a refreshing, interesting, quick read. I had never read any murder mystery novels before Slide, which is wired as I love all those types of TV shows. Jill Hathaway skilfully welds together a mystery novel while carefully adding a touch of romance and cleverly addressing contemporary issues.

I love that Jill Hathaway had the ability to write well rendered characters and their relationships with others. . We’ve got very deep, emotional issues that are touched in this story. Absentee fathers, deaths, bullying, affairs – she was able to create serious life problems that are somewhat dramatic, but also sincerely realistic.

I really enjoyed Slide’s protagonist Vee, she was a very strong, interesting character and I love the way Jill wrote her. I really like the voice that she gave to Vee, she was somewhat easy to relate to. I am a lover of strong female characters, so I think that is one of the main reasons why I loved Slide so much. Vee has so much going on her life, yet she remains headstrong. She did make a fair few mistakes but I think that is what makes her more real; which makes her easier to relate to. It’s incredible the way Vee deals with difficult situations she’s thrown into.

I loved the character of Rollins; he was a mystery at first. But when I did find out why he was all mysterious, what he really was ‘hiding’ I admired him a great deal more and it made him that more amazing. I found alot of Jill’s character very realistic and I think that’s what I really enjoyed.

I was and still am fascinated by her ability to ‘Slide’ into someone mind. It was new and unexplored. It was quite interesting and it made me think about, what would it be like, if this was real, if I was able to do this. In the end I don’t think that’s the best idea because, you might see, like Vee does, things you don’t want to see. Things that you will be haunted by forever. But in saying that the way that the way that Jill wrote about the ability to slide was very captivating, and what drew me in, in the first place.

The murder mystery was a very compelling component of the book as it was what kept me glued to the pages, desperate to finally uncover the culprit. All sorts of twists and red-herrings were included, creating a gripping plot that was full of suspense. I to some extent I thought I knew whom the murder was, as there was hints of foreshadowing, but I was never fully certain until it is said whom the murder is and in that was not very shocked at whom, but why. That was very much unexpected.

I expected Slide to center more on the romance, but the first half was practically romance-free, and I must admit I’m glad that was the case. I love novels that are not solely based on romance and everything revolves around it, I think that’s one of the main things I enjoyed about this novel. It let me take in the mystery elements, Vee’s ability, her loneliness and her fears, more seriously and it gave the story more weight.

The enjoyed Jill writing style but I did find it that there were choppy sentences, oddly specific figurative language, that kind of thing. That is probably the only bad thing I can really say about this well.

I found it middle paced, in a sense that it was not fasted paced but not slow at all. Just right in the middle, this was quite pleasing. I was a nice quick read that I read in a few hours, which kept me hooked to the very end.

Quotes that I liked;

“People have emotional ties to books, more often than you think…”

“His hands are behind his back.‘Choose,’ he says.‘I’ve already made my choice,’ I say, and I grab the sleeve of his leather jacket and pull him inside.”

I Give this book a 4 stars out of 5.

Have you read Slide? What did you think of it? Will you read it?