TLC Book Tour: 15 Seconds by Andrew Gross

15 Seconds by Andrew Gross
Synopsis:   15 seconds can tear your life apart . . .

Henry Steadman didn’t know what was about to hit him when he pulled up to a red light. A successful Florida plastic surgeon, he is in town to deliver a keynote address at a conference when suddenly his life becomes an unrelenting chase to stay alive.

Stopped by the police for a minor traffic violation, the situation escalates and he is pulled from his vehicle, handcuffed and told he is under arrest. Several other police cars arrive and the questioning turns scary, but just as Henry is released and about to move on, a blue sedan pulls up and the officer is suddenly killed. As the car speeds away, there is only one suspect left behind–Henry. In that moment, his idyllic life becomes a free fall into hell as he becomes the target of a police manhunt, as well as being pursued by a cunning, unnamed perpetrator bent on some kind of vengeance.

When Henry turns to a close friend for help, and he, too, ends up dead, Henry realizes he’s being elaborately framed. But in a chilling twist, the stakes grow even darker, and he is unable to go to the police to clear his name, without bringing on dire and deadly consequences.

With breakneck pacing and nonstop action, 15 Seconds shows what can happen when even the best life is turned upside down in an instant. It is also the story of an innocent man, framed for murder, who has to save the person he loves the most, all while being drawn closer and closer to an inevitable face-to-face standoff with a man determined to destroy his life.

My thoughts: 

15 Seconds has all the makings for a good thriller and is a quick read about a prominent surgeon on the run after he's been framed for murder.  Unfortunately I kept getting thrown out of the story by the lead character's 1st person narration, while the rest of the story and other characters thoughts and actions were in third person.  The story follows three characters: Henry, Carrie and Vance.  For Henry, the 1st person point of view didn't reflect the maturity of an middle age prominent surgeon so had a hard time getting into this character.   He was too dumbed down to be believable.

Yet, the 3rd person point of view pulled me in and really helped me get to know Carrie, a police community liaison who was trying to help Henry and the villainous Vance as he took matters into his own hands trying to find the people responsible for getting his daughter hooked on drugs.   There also wasn't any differentiation when the story went back into the past so a couple times I was thrown for a loop with a  'huh, wait a minute, where'd he come from' scratch your head thing.   Despite the story's idiosyncrasies, it was relatively good.

Gross learned at the feet of James Patterson and even co-wrote 5 stories with him, so if you like James Patterson then you'll enjoy 15 Seconds



Thank you to TLC Book tours for asking me to be part of the tour, William Morrow for providing me a copy of the book and Andrew Gross for creating an interesting story. 

For more thoughts about the book, go here and  for more information about Andrew Gross, check out his website here.  A reading group guide is also available here.


2 comments:

  1. Thanks for being on the tour Robin.

    By the way, how is your mom? I hope she's on the mend ...

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  2. I do like Patterson so you never know!!

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