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baileysbear's review
4.0
Thanks to netgalley for the advanced ebook.
Overall enjoyable, just found that there were a few too many characters to keep track of who was who and what they did at times.
Overall enjoyable, just found that there were a few too many characters to keep track of who was who and what they did at times.
simonrtaylor's review
4.0
This was great. Simple premise, and a bunch of bait-and-switch moves. I tore through it.
ellelainey's review
5.0
** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR MY READING PLEASURE **
Copy received through Netgalley
~
Seven Minutes Later, by Bonnie Kistler
★★★★★
352 Pages
POV: 1st person, single character / 3rd person, single character
Content Warning: mentions of drug use, addiction, alcohol abuse, human trafficking, slave trade, sex workers, suicide, murder, framed for murder, threats of violence, mentions of child labour,
Seven Minutes Later is an engaging, clever story about how two women step onto a life and one survives, her life changed forever, in ways she could never have foreseen.
The story begins with a simple, but effectively shocking premise:
Two women are working late at a fashion company. One is the well-dressed, perfectly put together Human Resources Manager, Lucy. The other is down-on-her-luck, shabbily dressed new recruit, Shay. They get into the elevator together. The power goes out, stopping the elevator and cutting the lights. In the next seven minutes, something happens that results in the door being opened to reveal one woman dead and the other alive.
Thus begins the whole impetus of what comes after. Though it seems like that's the entire blurb, that all takes place within the first 1-2 chapters. Because, it's this event that kickstarts everything else, but the rest of the book also begins to explore what led up to the events in the elevator.
I found the story fascinating, right from the start. There was a point where it lagged a little, as it began to tell Shay's background, but even that eventually made sense in the context of the story.
There are 2 timelines – past and present – both relevant to the events in the elevator. But, there are also 2 POV's – one of Shay, and the other of Barrett, who is the boss of the company she works for. Both with secrets to hide. The secrets are eventually revealed through the dual timelines, both as Shay tries desperately to prove her innocence and that Lucy killed herself, and as Barrett attempts to cover up the wrongdoings of his company. Even if that means throwing Shay under the proverbial bus.
While Shay is our primary narrator, I liked the subtle hints that she could be an unreliable one, as some of her thought processes were ambiguous in terms of the events in the elevator. Some interesting, ambiguous phrasing meant that while we read her 1st person POV, even we weren't sure of what exactly she meant or if there was a hidden meaning to her words. That only became apparent at the end.
I loved how Shay was a lawyer, and you really felt that. All through her thought process 1st person POV, she thought and acted like a lawyer. Even in the initial stages, it was all about presenting evidence to her “jury of two” – the cops investigating the incident – being seen to cooperate, presenting the best face, the best case she could, and making sure they saw the story she wanted to present. It was such an interesting way of writing Shay that, while you often felt like you couldn't trust her, believe her, or even like her at times, she was still absolutely fascinating.
At first, I wasn't sure about the flashbacks. I worried that they were too long and long-winded, getting nowhere fast, and while I could have done without a few of them, in the end they all proved important. They showed another side to Shay, to compare to the victim/suspect she was in the present day.
In the past, although Shay and her husband David grew up poor, they build lives for themselves and eventually grew wealthy through their work. Both in top-class jobs, David is a successful banker and Shay a lawyer. Then the financial crash of 2008 sees them both fall into insurmountable debt. Their lives fall apart. And, this is the beginning of why and how Shay is eventually considered a suspect five years later, after the elevator incident. It all leads back to this moment, when their lives splintered.
I won't say more about that, or how the two timelines link, but it proved why the flashbacks were important. But, for me, another interesting aspect of the flashbacks was to plant the seed of doubt in our minds. In the past, Shay's life crumbles from extravagantly wealthy to dangerously poor, and while she was always smart and wily, now she's become desperate too. Which leads to Shay becoming a less reliable narrator than we thought. The flashbacks prove she's adept at lying, often at short notice, to get what she wants. She's convincing in those lies. She'll do anything to get back on her feet, keep her job, status and be rick again. In the flashbacks, we see Shay as smart, manipulative and crafty...which leads us to wonder what really happened on that elevator.
By 20% I'd already formulated three possible events on the elevator, and one of them ended up being right. But, this is only because the crumbs were left all throughout the novel for me to find. While I didn't have all the info, when I made my theory, I had enough to guess the who and how, but not the why or how it all came together.
What I really loved about the whole process was that it was true to reality. I believed the investigation into Shay, the reason the police came to their conclusion, and I loved that it was so realistic that Shay was sent to jail when the evidence mounted against her. Awaiting trial, we got to see Shay in jail, and all the trials she faced there. It isn't often that you get to see a mystery novel take you that far into the process. Most characters are reprieved, on the run, or not suspected so that the prison never really enters the frame. But, I loved that it did, here. It made the story unique, and also gave a very stark and honest view of how female prisons operate. That Shay recognises her white-woman privilege and the injustices of some incarcerations.
“My white-woman privilege might have been useless when it came to raising bail, but I knew it was the only reason I'd landed this plum work assignment.”
“It was their men who dragged them down, every single time. It a world without men, none of these women would be here.”
Was it perfect? No. There were a couple of places that I paused to wonder what was going on. For example, the slightly stereotyped and critical quote “the florid complexion of an Irishman. Or a drunk. Or both.”
There was also a point, very early on, when three suspects were separated before the police could question them. That was fine, absolutely standard procedure. Except, for this, “He had the sit on the floor at least twenty feet from one another.” I don't know about you, but 20 feet is a bit excessive. That's longer than my living room. And, since I'm bad with numbers, I double-checked I wasn't getting myself mixed-up, but if you Google it, 20 feet is the height of a giraffe. The length of an Orca. More distance than these three needed to be separated by, at any rate. I think a good 4-6 or 10 would have been find and more than standard. I mean, we only needed 2-feet of distance during COVID.
I was also quite confused by the title. Now, I like the “Seven Minutes Later” because it sums up how important that gap was, between Shay and Lucy walking into the elevator, and the gun going off. That's the seven minutes. It's vital to the whole point of the story, and only revealed later in the Epilogue. However, all throughout – the acknowledgements call the book “The Cage”. I'm not sure if this is a left-over from a previous edition or not, but it was confusing.
~
Overall, I loved the unpredictability of the story. How clever and unique it was, and that it took us to interesting places within the characters lives. There were plenty of twists that left you wondering and doubting yourself, doubting the characters even, and made the journey more engaging for it.
Copy received through Netgalley
~
Seven Minutes Later, by Bonnie Kistler
★★★★★
352 Pages
POV: 1st person, single character / 3rd person, single character
Content Warning: mentions of drug use, addiction, alcohol abuse, human trafficking, slave trade, sex workers, suicide, murder, framed for murder, threats of violence, mentions of child labour,
Seven Minutes Later is an engaging, clever story about how two women step onto a life and one survives, her life changed forever, in ways she could never have foreseen.
The story begins with a simple, but effectively shocking premise:
Two women are working late at a fashion company. One is the well-dressed, perfectly put together Human Resources Manager, Lucy. The other is down-on-her-luck, shabbily dressed new recruit, Shay. They get into the elevator together. The power goes out, stopping the elevator and cutting the lights. In the next seven minutes, something happens that results in the door being opened to reveal one woman dead and the other alive.
Thus begins the whole impetus of what comes after. Though it seems like that's the entire blurb, that all takes place within the first 1-2 chapters. Because, it's this event that kickstarts everything else, but the rest of the book also begins to explore what led up to the events in the elevator.
I found the story fascinating, right from the start. There was a point where it lagged a little, as it began to tell Shay's background, but even that eventually made sense in the context of the story.
There are 2 timelines – past and present – both relevant to the events in the elevator. But, there are also 2 POV's – one of Shay, and the other of Barrett, who is the boss of the company she works for. Both with secrets to hide. The secrets are eventually revealed through the dual timelines, both as Shay tries desperately to prove her innocence and that Lucy killed herself, and as Barrett attempts to cover up the wrongdoings of his company. Even if that means throwing Shay under the proverbial bus.
While Shay is our primary narrator, I liked the subtle hints that she could be an unreliable one, as some of her thought processes were ambiguous in terms of the events in the elevator. Some interesting, ambiguous phrasing meant that while we read her 1st person POV, even we weren't sure of what exactly she meant or if there was a hidden meaning to her words. That only became apparent at the end.
I loved how Shay was a lawyer, and you really felt that. All through her thought process 1st person POV, she thought and acted like a lawyer. Even in the initial stages, it was all about presenting evidence to her “jury of two” – the cops investigating the incident – being seen to cooperate, presenting the best face, the best case she could, and making sure they saw the story she wanted to present. It was such an interesting way of writing Shay that, while you often felt like you couldn't trust her, believe her, or even like her at times, she was still absolutely fascinating.
At first, I wasn't sure about the flashbacks. I worried that they were too long and long-winded, getting nowhere fast, and while I could have done without a few of them, in the end they all proved important. They showed another side to Shay, to compare to the victim/suspect she was in the present day.
In the past, although Shay and her husband David grew up poor, they build lives for themselves and eventually grew wealthy through their work. Both in top-class jobs, David is a successful banker and Shay a lawyer. Then the financial crash of 2008 sees them both fall into insurmountable debt. Their lives fall apart. And, this is the beginning of why and how Shay is eventually considered a suspect five years later, after the elevator incident. It all leads back to this moment, when their lives splintered.
I won't say more about that, or how the two timelines link, but it proved why the flashbacks were important. But, for me, another interesting aspect of the flashbacks was to plant the seed of doubt in our minds. In the past, Shay's life crumbles from extravagantly wealthy to dangerously poor, and while she was always smart and wily, now she's become desperate too. Which leads to Shay becoming a less reliable narrator than we thought. The flashbacks prove she's adept at lying, often at short notice, to get what she wants. She's convincing in those lies. She'll do anything to get back on her feet, keep her job, status and be rick again. In the flashbacks, we see Shay as smart, manipulative and crafty...which leads us to wonder what really happened on that elevator.
By 20% I'd already formulated three possible events on the elevator, and one of them ended up being right. But, this is only because the crumbs were left all throughout the novel for me to find. While I didn't have all the info, when I made my theory, I had enough to guess the who and how, but not the why or how it all came together.
What I really loved about the whole process was that it was true to reality. I believed the investigation into Shay, the reason the police came to their conclusion, and I loved that it was so realistic that Shay was sent to jail when the evidence mounted against her. Awaiting trial, we got to see Shay in jail, and all the trials she faced there. It isn't often that you get to see a mystery novel take you that far into the process. Most characters are reprieved, on the run, or not suspected so that the prison never really enters the frame. But, I loved that it did, here. It made the story unique, and also gave a very stark and honest view of how female prisons operate. That Shay recognises her white-woman privilege and the injustices of some incarcerations.
“My white-woman privilege might have been useless when it came to raising bail, but I knew it was the only reason I'd landed this plum work assignment.”
“It was their men who dragged them down, every single time. It a world without men, none of these women would be here.”
Was it perfect? No. There were a couple of places that I paused to wonder what was going on. For example, the slightly stereotyped and critical quote “the florid complexion of an Irishman. Or a drunk. Or both.”
There was also a point, very early on, when three suspects were separated before the police could question them. That was fine, absolutely standard procedure. Except, for this, “He had the sit on the floor at least twenty feet from one another.” I don't know about you, but 20 feet is a bit excessive. That's longer than my living room. And, since I'm bad with numbers, I double-checked I wasn't getting myself mixed-up, but if you Google it, 20 feet is the height of a giraffe. The length of an Orca. More distance than these three needed to be separated by, at any rate. I think a good 4-6 or 10 would have been find and more than standard. I mean, we only needed 2-feet of distance during COVID.
I was also quite confused by the title. Now, I like the “Seven Minutes Later” because it sums up how important that gap was, between Shay and Lucy walking into the elevator, and the gun going off. That's the seven minutes. It's vital to the whole point of the story, and only revealed later in the Epilogue. However, all throughout – the acknowledgements call the book “The Cage”. I'm not sure if this is a left-over from a previous edition or not, but it was confusing.
~
Overall, I loved the unpredictability of the story. How clever and unique it was, and that it took us to interesting places within the characters lives. There were plenty of twists that left you wondering and doubting yourself, doubting the characters even, and made the journey more engaging for it.
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