Review - 15 Seconds by Andrew Gross + Giveaway

Title: 15 Seconds

Author: Andrew Gross

Series: Stand Alone

Pages: 336

Published: July 10th 2012 by William Morrow

ISBN: 9780061655975

Source: Sent for arranged tour

 Descrption: Henry Steadman is a successful Florida plastic surgeon on his way to deliver a keynote address at a conference when his world falls apart. 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 after it subsides, and Henry is about to move on, the officer is suddenly killed in his car and there is only one suspect: the very person he was about to arrest not ten minutes before. Henry! When a second friend turns 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. 


 I Give This ....

I thought it was interesting that when I featured this book in my mailbox post, nobody knew who Andrea Gross was.  Now, I understand that I'm primarily a young adult reviewer so my audience is likely not familiar with the genre that Andrew Gross writes.  But, this use to be my everyday reading until I branched out.  I'm very familiar with Andrew Gross although I've not read anything he's written on his own.  I wanted to see how his work stands without the name James Patterson attached to it.


I was impressed with how fast this book opened up.  Our lead character, Dr. Steadman, seems like a stand up guy.  He's trying hard to stay active in his daughter's life.  He does charity work (Doctors without Borders seems like an awesome program!).   But, when things progress from bad to worse, I began to wonder if there was something hidden in his past that would make somebody want to completely dismantle his life.  Nothing he did seemed to help the situation, yet I couldn't see how anything else he did would make it better in anyway.  


The culprit behind the entire setup was an interesting twist to the story.  I felt for the guy at first.  He went straight up the line and managed to gather a lot more information than even the police can do it seems.  I think the problem in the end was, he couldn't directly pin his problems on Dr. Steadman.  He just happened to be the first person he latched on to.  I think from this point on, he reached a new dimension of delusional.  It no longer was about revenge and what he thought was justice.  It was about destruction and righting the wrong he thought he had been dealt in life.  I was pleased to see there really were no skeletons in Dr. Steadman's closet.


The book is not as fast paced as I would have thought.  For a title of 15 seconds, I thought it would proceed forward at breakneck speed.  I think the title was more in reference to the car accident at the beginning and how this in turn effected the rest of the story.   Still, an impressive read for Mr. Gross.  I'm pleased to see an author step up from underneath James Patterson. 

I'm also happy to have a copy of 15 seconds up for giveaway!  All you have to do is enter the form below!   Open to US residents 13 and older.
 

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