Book Review: Slide by Jill Hathaway

Slide
Slide #1
Author: Jill Hathaway
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Fantasy/Paranormal
Release Date: March 27th 2012
Review Source: Balzer + Bray
Available: Slide

Summary: (from goodreads) 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.

Suspenseful, page turner, “who did it” feel is what you get when you read the pages of Slide by Jill Hathaway. This type of genre in the young adult literature world is currently very small in number, but quickly on the rise, with Slide as a very nice addition.

The main character Vee is faced with a unique ability, or disability, whichever way the reader views it. It is an action that Vee is very reluctant to share, with anybody. When surrounded by just the right amount of emotions, feelings, or the constant simple contact of an object, once exposed, Vee can slide into the body, soul and mind of that person. Many times her body alerts her quickly, but within seconds, to those surrounding her, she passes out into an unconscious state. However, to Vee she has entered another person, looking at the world through their eyes. Looking at what is happening at that exact moment in time.

Unfortunately, for Vee, that moment in time is death. She looks at her sister Mattie’s best friend Sophie and realizes that this is a murder. The entire community feels that Sophie’s death was by suicide, however Vee knows better and makes it her mission to prove it. This story is filled with many supporting characters, her sister, her father, her best friend Rollins, and the new kid in town, Zane. Don’t expect a lot of love interest in this novel, as this is truly suspenseful through and through.

Jill’s writing flows very smoothly from the beginning to the end. Her strengths in her writing is truly attributed to the descriptions that she offers the readers when describing her characters. Just like the title, the reader can slide into each character and see the plot thicken with each page turn. The climax is a shocker, so be prepared, I never saw that one coming. Just when I thought it was going to be a predictable ending I was proven wrong very quickly. The events of this novel were truly planned out and presented in such a way that when reading this, I could not wait to get to the end to find out the answer to the question that you are faced with right from the start. Need a brief getaway to a genre less traveled, slide into Jill Hathaway’s novel. You won’t come out until you are finished!!!