Slide Review

TITLE Slide
AUTHOR Jill Hathaway
PUBLISHED 2012 by HarperCollins
PAGES 346 (ePub edition)
READ April 30 - May 1, 2012
BUY IT Amazon / The Book Depository

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 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.

Slide was a unique, fast paced read. It comes off as an everyday, run of the mill murder mystery, but it is really so much more than that.  For me the real intrigue of this one was the relationships between our characters.  The broken family that Sylvia comes from, and the strained friendships she works on throughout were what had me hooked.  The murder was fairly easy to piece together once skeletons started coming out of closets, but I'm willing to look past that because I genuinely cared about these characters.

I found myself connecting with Vee right off the bat, and her situation had me feeling for her throughout the novel.  As if she didn't have enough to deal with with her "sliding" she was also forced to step up to the head of the family when her mother passed away and her father threw himself into his work.  She just had so much going on! Between her home-life and her fractured friendship with Rollins she was stretched pretty thin.  Her best friend Rollins was also a character that had my heart broken. Jill Hathaway has written a rather unbelievable story with very believable characters.

Slide is a fantastic read with a fresh premise that keeps you hanging on every word until the very last page.  This is a quick read, but a superbly fulfilling read at that. I will definitely be recommending this novel to anyone looking for an alluring read.