Shelf Awareness: Two teenagers are stuck in a time loop, reliving the last few minutes before a plane crash, in Rachel Reiss’s clever and arresting YA locked-door mystery, Seconds to Spare.
Characterization is sometimes thin–for example, little information is shared about Evelyn’s relationship with her still-living mother or her plans as a recent high school graduate–but kinetic pacing and unexpected plot twists make Seconds to Spare a gripping narrative. The time loop element, reminiscent of movies like Groundhog Day and YA novels such as Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall, adds an intriguing speculative element to the mystery, and the clock ticking toward a permanent plane crash raises the stakes. Reiss (Out of Air) develops visceral action scenes–“everything lurches forward at an entirely unnatural angle. Nothing’s where it should be. Side is now down, down and up are now to the side”–and the plane cabin setting creates an atmosphere of claustrophobic suspense. Mystery fans will enjoy deciphering clues alongside the characters as this propulsive mystery reveals its secrets.
Shelf Talker: Two teens who keep repeating the same 28 minutes in a crashing plane must work together to break the time loop and prevent the crash in this gripping YA mystery.