Book Review: 3:59 - Gretchen McNeil

Title: 3:59
Author: Gretchen McNeil
Pub Date: September 17th, 2013
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Page Count: 368

Josie Byrne's life is spiraling out of control. Her parents are divorcing, her boyfriend Nick has grown distant, and her physics teacher has it in for her. When she's betrayed by the two people she trusts most, Josie thinks things can't get worse.

Until she starts having dreams about a girl named Jo. Every night at the same time—3:59 a.m.

Jo's life is everything Josie wants: she's popular, her parents are happily married, and Nick adores her. It all seems real, but they're just dreams, right? Josie thinks so, until she wakes one night to a shadowy image of herself in the bedroom mirror – Jo.

Josie and Jo realize that they are doppelgängers living in parallel universes that overlap every twelve hours at exactly 3:59. Fascinated by Jo's perfect world, Josie jumps at the chance to jump through the portal and switch places for a day.

But Jo’s world is far from perfect. Not only is Nick not Jo's boyfriend, he hates her. Jo's mom is missing, possibly insane. And at night, shadowy creatures feed on human flesh.

By the end of the day, Josie is desperate to return to her own life. But there’s a problem: Jo has sealed the portal, trapping Josie in this dangerous world. Can she figure out a way home before it’s too late?

From master of suspense Gretchen McNeil comes a riveting and deliciously eerie story about the lives we wish we had – and how they just might kill you.

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I was initially excited to start this book, as it got reasonable hype. The idea sounded cool and I really like doppelgangers on The Vampire Diaries, which is why I hoped I would like this one too! To my happiness, it did not disappoint.

My reactions kind of changed throughout the book, which isn't a bad thing! Not even in the slightest. First, I thought "oh, this has a lot of drama" because things happen at the beginning that make it sound more like a contemporary. Then things turned for the weird and I was like "that's fine, but I'm going to need some kind of explanation." However, that made me regret it because I got this truckload of science around the middle. I actually hate science because I find it really boring and I don't get it (most of the time). After that passed, it kind of went to this shocking moment (that wasn't all that shocking) where I was mildly surprised. Finally I went from that to heartbroken in .2 seconds and then the book closed.

This book was very feels-inducing, as you can probably tell by my whirlwind of emotions. It was also very straightforward (seeming) and then the ending was pretty turny, though I suspected it a little. The plot was okay, if not a bit tiring in some spots. I felt like there was drama that didn't need to be there. I don't mind teen drama but this story had a cool theme that kind of became less cool because of the drama.

To be honest, I didn't really like the characters. They were tolerable, but I just didn't like them. Sometimes they'd say things that were really intelligent and others they were so stupid. But they were tolerable which doesn't usually happen. I'm typically the love/hate kind of person which is why this is strange.

However, I can say that they added to the story in ways where they were more than just boring plot devices. So that's a plus.

3:59 was kind of neutral for me. Usually I have loads to say (good and bad) about books, however there isn't too much. I liked it and it gave me feels, but that's about it. I didn't really have criticism for much nor did I have dislike. I'm hoping to go read another of McNeil's books because I've heard they're scary. I'm into scary!

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Gretchen McNeil is an opera singer, writer and clown. Her YA horror POSSESS about a teen exorcist debuted with Balzer + Bray for HarperCollins in 2011. Her follow up TEN – YA horror/suspense about ten teens trapped on a remote island with a serial killer – was a 2013 YALSA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, a Romantic Times Top Pick, a Booklist Top Ten Horror Fiction for Youth, a finalist for the 2015 Evergreen Young Adult Book Award, and was nominated for "Best Young Adult Contemporary Novel of 2012" by Romantic Times. Gretchen's 2013 release is 3:59, a sci-fi doppelganger horror about two girls who are the same girl in parallel dimensions who decide to switch places. Gretchen's novels have been optioned by Hollywood production companies, and have sold internationally in Chinese, Spanish, and Turkish.

In 2014, Gretchen debuts her first series, Don't Get Mad (pitched as "John Hughes with a body count") about four very different girls who form a secret society where they get revenge on bullies and mean girls at their elite prep school. The Don't Get Mad series begins September 16, 2014 with GET EVEN, followed by the sequel GET DIRTY in the summer of 2015, also with Balzer + Bray. In addition, Gretchen has contributed an essay to the Dear Teen Me anthology from Zest Books.

Gretchen is a former coloratura soprano, the voice of Mary on G4's Code Monkeys and she sings with the LA-based circus troupe Cirque Berzerk. Gretchen blogs with The Enchanted Inkpot and was a founding member of the vlog group the YARebels. She is repped by Ginger Clark of Curtis Brown, Ltd.