Review - Slide by Jill Hathaway

Author - Jill Hathaway
Publisher - Balzer + Bray
Release Date - March 27th, 2012, 256 Pages

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.

       *A review copy was provided by HarperCollins through Netgalley for review purposes*

Slide is definitely something different than the other stuff that I’ve read which was refreshing. Sylvia or Vee for short has the ability to slide into someone else by touching something that they have an emotional imprint on. It’s something that she hasn’t shared with anyone since after her mother died and her father sent her to a shrink. She hasn’t even told her best friend Rollins for that matter. Although she hates sliding and tries her best to stay awake she ends up sliding into the murderer of her little sisters best friend Sophie. She knows what truly happened but if she was to tell anyone she’d end up right back at the shrink’s office with everyone thinking that she is the crazy one.

The plot line in this is great. We get the perfect amount of suspense, mystery, shocking truths and hidden lies. I didn’t know who the killer was until it was finally revealed and that I loved about the story. Trust me I had several several guesses but none of them were correct, very close but not correct. I was instantly sucked into this and it was a page turner. I love mysteries and we definitely got a good amount of that in Slide. I love the way that all the characters felt real and had real emotions to the situations that they were put in.

I loved that I was able to see Vee go through the process of figuring out who the killer was without revealing too much information to anyone that she herself knew that Sophie didn’t commit suicide, that she was murdered. We get to see friendships and families pushed to the limits emotionally with everything that is happening around them. It’s nice to see that even though some may have had their differences in the past, Vee is willing to see past that and do the right thing when that time comes. This was paced just right. We got the right amount of suspense at the right time.

There was a love interest in this and really the only thing that was iffy for me was her feelings toward Zane. I’m not going to delve too much into that because I don’t want to spoil or ruin anything for anyone but I am glad that in the romance department it turned out the way that I would have liked it to be. Those two seem a perfect match given everything that they have been through. This is only the beginning of this series and I cannot wait to get my hands on the next installment. If you’re looking for a great mystery with all those extra goodies tossed in, then this is the book for you!

-Shellie