REVIEW: Slide by Jill Hathaway

Pub. Date: March 27th 2012
Publisher: Balzer&Bray
Pages: 250
Readership: Young adult
Genres: mystery, paranormal
Rating: ★★★.5 

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.

I won't lie, it's the cover that first drew me in. I was excited over all of the purple. but then I read the synopsis and I knew I had to get my hands on it the second it came out, which I did. I tore into it immediately. I went slow at first because I've been busy but also because I wanted to savour it. I've been doing that with books lately; trying to make them last as long as possible but honestly, that doesn't work. I breezed through the last 150 pages like hellfire.

Slide is full of real characters with real problems and a touch of the supernatural, which is Vee's ability to "slide". If she touches something someone has left an emotional imprint on, she can slide into their heads and see life through their eyes. Pretty freaky, right? Or cool, depending on how you look at it. I loved Vee. She knows who she is but she's scared. She pushes people away before they can get too close. A lot of us do that, I know I do. She was well written. She's a teenage girl. She has her issues, her insecurities and her secrets. She's clever but not to the point where she conveniently figures things out and everything is wrapped up in a neat little bow. I also love the boys! Rollins and Zane are different from each other but Vee loves them both in her own little ways. I won't go further because to do that would mean I'd have to spoil but believe me when I say I loved them both!

I do, however, wish that Vee's SLIDE ability was fleshed out more. How did she get it? Why? What is it, exactly? That isn't really explained it just kind of... is and that bothered me a little bit. I hope Jill goes into it more in the second book. The history of it, how she got it, why, are there more people with the ability? It was kind of weird that there is this supernatural ability in a very real-world setting but I'm a sucker for that so I kind of just let it go and figured the author will talk about it more in the second book.

The book was well paced and kept me hooked.  Slide is a book to read if you want a light read, with good mystery, great characters and a very likeable main girl. It's a book to read if you're a fan of the short-lived show Veronica Mars. All in all, I came away smiling. I look forward to the next one in the series! What would you do if you could slide? Who would you want to slide into?