Grab the book - Jill Cooper's "15 Minutes" Puts a New Spin on Time Travel

            Billed as an “edgy high octane YA thriller,” Jill Cooper’s 15 Minutes delivers one sucker punch after another, keeping the reader guessing and turning the pages. Yay Jill! This author has succeeded in taking the usual elements of suspense and working them in completely unusual ways. 

            The enigma of the time-space continuum is perfect fodder for sci-fi authors, including me. Time loops, ripples, changing paradoxes….the real trick is making it work and making it believable even when we know it is impossible. To that end, Jill has certainly delivered. 

            I don’t want to spoil it for you so I’ll just drop a few tidbits from the “elements of suspense” file.

1)      Withholding Information – Not since reading Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, was I so anxious for information. My fingers couldn’t move face enough for page turning.

2)      Ticking Clock – Jill’s time travelers not only have external issues to face but life threatening internal ones. I dare not say more.

3)      Foreshadowing – Usually I can anticipate what’s about to come, so when I got taken by surprise, I just had to smile and keep reading.

4)      Momentum – Remember, when characters change the timeline, this is bound to happen.

If suspense isn’t enough to intrigue you, try romance. That’s right – it’s in here, too, and carefully crafted for YA readers who live the angst of relationships on a daily basis and for the rest of us who remember only too well. 

Welcome aboard, Jill Cooper, and keep those time travel novels coming. Who knows? Your characters might just bump into the “Light Riders” one of these days!