Slide by Jill Hathaway

Slide by Jill Hathaway
Slide #1
Release Date: March 1, 2012 (UK)
Publisher: HarperCollins
Source: Publisher
Rating: Enjoyable

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. - Goodreads

Slide is about a girl named Vee who 'slides' into other people's heads and sees the world through their eyes. There's a murderer in town, and Vee has to find out who it is before her own sister is killed. I don't know about you, but to me that sounds like an AWESOME premise.

Slide wasn't as fast paced as I was expecting it to be, especially considering how short the book is. Vee didn't spend much time trying to figure out who the killer was, and instead a lot of the story was spent talking about her friends and family. While I feel this could have worked in a longer novel, it slowed the book down in this case and made the book less than thrilling.

Vee, the main character, is okay. Just okay. She has bright pink hair! And she has this awesome ability, that could be seen as a curse, but I think it's pretty cool. Throughout the novel I was wondering into who and where Vee was going to slide next, and it made a compelling read! On the other hand, without her ability, Vee is a bit of a bland main character who needed something more added to her personality. Vee is likable enough, but she could have put me to sleep at points. She also wasn't as sharp as I think she needed to be in order to find the killer. She was able to slip into people's heads, and she didn't utilize this enough!

Rollins was one of the best secondary characters I have ever read about. He was so awesome, with such a vivid personality and an intriguing side story of his own. I hope he's in the sequel a lot more, because I love him and everyone needs more Rollins! I did feel really bad for him because Vee wasn't that good of a friend to him, but I think the two need to learn to communicate more. I find this with a lot of characters in YA to be honest. It would solve a lot of problems.

But I digress...

As for who was killing these people, I thought the culprit was obvious. Now, this may have been because I had JUST watched a TV show that had exactly the same turn out, so I can't say that it will be as clear to everyone.

There were other issues dealt with in this book such as depression, eating disorders, peer pressure, disabilities and more. I think Jill Hathaway dealt with these very well, and they moulded into the story.

Slide also works well as a standalone novel, as everything wraps up nicely. I'd be interested in seeing where the sequel takes the story, but I don't think it would be high on my to-read list.

Overall, this is a good enough book that is well written and interesting. It's just a shame I didn't like Vee as much as I could have or find it as thrilling as I was hoping to.