Book Review: 13 Minutes

Dark, dysfunctional teenage girls, how I love you! Think Cat Clarke, Christopher Pike, Megan Abbott and Robin Wasserman to get a sense of this psychological thriller about two ex-best friends – the outsider, Becca, who’s busy getting high with her musician boyfriend, and the queen of the ‘Barbies’, Tasha, who’s just been pulled out of a freezing cold river.

Having been dead for thirteen minutes, Tasha begins keeping a diary to process her feelings – at her therapist’s request – and also to see if she can recover the memories of that night. Her two best friends – Jenny and Hayley, her subordinate Barbies – seem terrified she’ll remember. To find the truth, she needs to talk to someone she can trust: Becca.

The bitchiness, power games and borderline-sociopathy of teenage-girl friendships are on full display here, coupled with an authentic take on classroom politics. Even as the police are involved, there’s still a school play to work on (The Crucible – of course) and gossipy classmates or clingy friends to contend with. It feels very, very real, even as the body count increases. A most enjoyable read indeed.