Slide by Jill Hathaway

Slide by Jill Hathaway

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Goodreads: 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. 

My take: The concept of sliding is interesting and new. Basically, Sylvia loses consciousness and slides into another person's mind. While there, she sees what the person is doing and saying and gets the secrets of that person whether she wants them or not. The flip side of this is that Sylvia then leaves her own body vulnerable and unprotected. So Sylvia tries very hard to not sleep by taking as much caffeine as she possibly can.

The selling point of this novel is the mystery. Sylvia has her cliche'ed high school experience which you kind of have to overlook. It is not as bad as other books but still present. Anyway, Sylvia slides into someone's mind without knowing the owner. Her sliding destination has much to do with emotional power on physical objects; a pencil, shirt, a dollar bill, whatever. This time she sees the world through this person's eyes and realizes she is witnessing a murder committed by this person.

Throughout the novel, Sylvia slides in and out of people, discovers more about herself and others, the control she does or does not have, and most of the people look suspicious of the crime. It was fun because I didn't really know which person committed the murder, although I had my notions.

The book also addresses pertinent issues in high school and adolescence. It's a little gritty but not inappropriate. I didn't love the conclusion of the mystery. It seemed forced and unbelievable. Besides that, though, it's an intriguing, easy read.