In An Instant ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
US Publication: March 1, 2020
Print: 326 pages
Audio: 10 hours 43 minutes
Confetti Rating: 5 stars
REVIEW:
Let me be the 27,319th person to say hollllllyyyyyy balls this was a phenomenal, gripping, 5-star read!!!
So many other adjectives come to mind about this story of a horrible winter car accident and its aftermath. Harrowing. Heartbreaking. Hard.
You can analyze a book for its prose and its plot. Susanne Redfearn’s prose is solid, but it’s the plot of In An Instant that really grabs hold of you. A reconfigured camper carrying a group of family friends swerves to miss a deer on an icy road and slides down a mountain in the middle of a blizzard. Sixteen-year-old Finn is killed instantly, and readers see what unfolds from her other-worldly perspective.
We become flies on the wall as the survivors first try to stay alive and then try to deal with the consequences of the choices they made in the process. We throw stones at the characters for their actions and then realize the old saying is true - everyone’s house is made of glass. Are we any different?
In An Instant is a very moving novel about what’s forgivable if not forgettable. It’s nearly perfect, though I do wish a few of the teenage characters had made some other decisions at the end. But if I judged them for their actions, I would have missed the point.
This and Redfearn’s other novels are available as part of the Kindle Unlimited program. In An Instant also includes WhisperSync for those who prefer the audiobook format. (As of 3/8/21.)
PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:
Life is over in an instant for sixteen-year-old Finn Miller when a devastating car accident tumbles her and ten others over the side of a mountain. Suspended between worlds, she watches helplessly as those she loves struggle to survive.
Impossible choices are made, decisions that leave the survivors tormented with grief and regret. Unable to let go, Finn keeps vigil as they struggle to reclaim their shattered lives. Jack, her father, who seeks vengeance against the one person he can blame other than himself; her best friend, Mo, who bravely searches for the truth as the story of their survival is rewritten; her sister Chloe, who knows Finn lingers and yearns to join her; and her mother, Ann, who saved them all but is haunted by her decisions. Finn needs to move on, but how can she with her family still in pieces?