Book Review: In An Instant by Suzanne Redfearn
In An Instant
Author: Suzanne Redfearn
Published: March 1, 2020
Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: February 7-11, 2022
Jessica’s Rating: 4.5 stars
Book Description:
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?
Heartrending yet ultimately redemptive, In an Instant is a story about the power of love, the meaning of family, and carrying on…even when it seems impossible.
Jessica’s Review:
At unexpected times in an instant life as you know it can change forever. In an Instant by Suzanne Redfearn shows us this through our narrator Finn, who tragically dies in a camper accident. We see the aftermath of the accident and the others struggle for survival. Finn is also a viewer to the aftermath as she is stuck between our living world and the afterlife.
This is a very hard and emotional read with the struggles everyone goes through in the aftermath of the accident. We have many characters who are imperfect and each person’s decisions affect everyone. There is one particular character you cannot feel anything for except for anger and more with the decision he makes.
In An Instant is a perfectly paced novel as we agonize the repercussions of the actions of others with Finn. After everything is said and done will Finn and the survivors be able to move on in either life or death? This is the struggle of the characters and their varying degrees of grief that they are going through.
Prepare yourself for an intensely draining emotional read. I did find the author’s note on Goodreads which unfortunately was not in the audiobook version that I listened to. The author’s note gives even more depth to her life event that happened when she was a child herself.
Prepare yourself when you go to read this one. It will stay with you as you think about life, death, grief, and moving on.