No matter how well trained you are, knowing something in theory and being able to apply it practically are very different things. Nobody can know for sure how they’ll cope in a crisis…and having read this, I’d have to pray never to be put in that situation because it leads to a lot of pain and misery (or at least that’s how it felt).
Tim and Kerry have been best friends for years. They are celebrating New Year with friends as they reach the end of school. Kerry thinks Tim might be about to kiss her. But her eye is drawn to golden boy Joel, the town’s shining light/potential Premiership footballer. He has collapsed on the floor. With only her cadet training to rely on, Kerry attempts CPR. For eighteen minutes she works on Joel, determined to save the boy she’s always had a crush on. She expects Tim, who has also applied for medical school, to help. He doesn’t. He’s frozen, and doesn’t do what he needs to until the last minute…by which time everyone assumes he’s saved Joel. He doesn’t tell the truth.
And so begins eighteen years following these three around as they deal with the aftermath of that night.
The story takes us through the minutiae of their lives following Joel’s dramatic rescue. We watch them deal with life and all the things thrown at them, or not.
None of them are happy. Nobody seems to be getting what they want and they hover round each other, each blaming the others for how their lives turn out. People come and go from their lives and yet the focus is always on this bizarre triangle.
Unfortunately, all three characters make decisions that are infuriating. They are selfish and hurt those around them. We can sense how things might be different but just have to watch them orbiting each other, butting heads and getting frustrated by their inability to see a way out of their situation. Eventually, we assume things will be resolved but it felt like a long slog to reach that point. I’m sure there’ll be many readers who’ll find this life-affirming and heart-warming, who’ll fall in love with these three and their experiences and finish the book feeling they’ve been given the answers to how to save their own life. That wasn’t my experience.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this in advance of publication.