Title: Slide (Slide #1)
Author: Jill Hathaway
Release date: March 27, 2012
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Pages: 250
Source: Publisher

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.

Jill Hathaway’s debut novel is an edge of your seat thriller full of love, lies, and betrayal.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Vee has a very strange ability.  She can slide into people’s minds and see things through their eyes.  This was probably the most interesting aspect of the book.  Vee has to be touching something of the person’s that they left an emotional imprint on but you would be surprised what objects hold emotional imprints.  Also, when Vee slides into other’s minds, her body is left unconscious and unprotected.  It can sometimes be a scary thing for Vee.  The idea of sliding is very unique and I hope to see it expanded upon in the next book.

The romance didn’t really hold any appeal to me, at least not with Zane.  Zane was very one-dimensional and he didn’t seem to have anything in common with Vee.  She seemed to be attracted to him for his hotness and that was it.  Rollins, on the other hand, was mysterious but well-developed. He and Vee had a ton in common and it was easy to see that he cared for her.  He was confused a lot of the time but still totally sweet.  I really want to see his and Vee’s relationship develop into something more.

As for Vee herself, she could use some development.  It was only at the end of the book that I started to see a change in her and hopefully that is expanded upon in the next book.  Don’t get me wrong, she’s a cool badass girl with pink hair and I loved her.  She really just needs to bring out her softer side a little more, like she does with her sister, Mattie.  The growing relationship between the two sisters was my favorite part of the book.  The family aspect was done amazingly well.

The mystery is not at all predictable, at least it wasn’t to me.  There are tons of suspects and quite a few red herrings thrown in to get readers off the trail of the real killer.  And let me tell you, when I did find out I was totally stunned.  I never saw it coming!

Overall, Slide will definitely appeal to fans of both traditional and non-traditional mysteries.  The end ties things up nicely but I’m still eager for the sequel.

Looking for more reviews of Slide?
The Reading Fever’s Review
Oh My Books!’s Review

Series:
Slide (Slide #1)
Impostor (Slide #2) – March 2013