What do readers think of 15 Seconds by Andrew Gross? Write your own review.

I really enjoyed this book! The author grabs the reader from the beginning and keeps you on a roller coaster ride until the end. I found myself staying up late at night to read so I could see what happened next. I found the writing style similar to James Patterson, so if you enjoy his books you may want to give this one a try.

I agonized about giving this book 4 or 5 stars, but decided on 4 because despite the plot that kept me reading into the wee hours of the morning, and characters that I became quite interested in, the writing just didn't rate 5 stars. I think this book will be quite successful, and while I totally enjoyed reading it, I would pass it on to someone rather that keeping it.

What a fast paced mystery! I thoroughly enjoyed Henry Steadman and his resolve to find the "real killer" while trying to outwit the police who were chasing him. The characters are all very believable and the premise of the story is also. I don't think it would generate a lot of discussion for a book club , but for a good summer mystery its great.

Great summer read! I was hooked from the very beginning, and didn't want to put it down until the end. Though the chapters are short, I had to read on to see what was going to happen next--a real page turner. The timeline was a little confusing when some of the back ground was introduced, but once I realized what was happening there was no stopping. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys thrillers!

It is true that our lives can change in seconds because of one reason or another and for Henry Steadman, it certainly did. This is a fast paced, lots of action story. You certainly wonder how he is going to get out of the situation and find out the hows and whys of what is happening to his life. It seems impossible for someone you don’t know to run and almost ruin your life, but Andrew Gross showed us it can happen. I have read each one of Andrew Gross’s books and loved every one of them and this is no exception.

I wasn't sure I liked 15 Seconds at first. It seemed like every other innocent victim story I have read. But the addition of the story of the real killer and his family, as well as the accused man's sense that he was similar to Harrison Ford in The Fugitive, along with the compelling background of the one person who believes him combined to make this an original and engrossing tale. I was about 2/3 through when I picked it up after work at around 5pm, and I couldn't put it down for the next 2 1/2 hours, until I finished. I didn't even remember to eat dinner!

Can 15 seconds change your life forever? How can an everyday event in one person's life affect the lives of people that the first person has never even met? We all hear about decisions made in a split second can change your life forever. This book dramatically describes just how such decisions can and do affect not only your own life but those who aren't even known to you. Thought-provoking and a very fine read.

The thriller genre has a long history in popular fiction. The Dime Novels and Penny Dreadfuls of the 19th century thrived on action, cliffhanger situations, and minimal character development, eventually evolving into pulp novels and countless paperbacks. In that respect Andrew Gross’s 15 Seconds fits the criteria for a thriller. His erstwhile hero, a naïve doctor named Henry Steadman, finds himself in over his head as seemingly incriminating evidence accrues, linking him to murder and more. How can he establish his innocence before the police catch and imprison him?

Any self-respecting thriller should also be a page-turner, and the first half of the book will keep readers guessing right alongside Steadman. But author Gross, in an unusual turnaround, reveals the mystery—at least to his reading audience—and what remains devolves into a more conventional tale as Steadman also figures out who’s out to get him, and in a series of cat-and-mouse chases it all finally climaxes in a scene out of early movie serials (think The Perils of Pauline) with a deserted shack, whirling saw blades, and the menacing villain face-to-face with the good doctor.

Unfortunately, Gross has Steadman thinking in exclamatory sentences—“and I didn’t care!” “I’m pretty sure I can prove it!” “the only chance I have!” and so on throughout the novel. Set in Florida and Georgia, the frazzled Steadman races back and forth, racking up hundreds of miles in travel, but at the expense of much plot plausibility and characterization.

15 Seconds stands as an adequate thriller, but with better writers plowing the same ground and equipped with better plots, the discerning fan of the genre will probably find this effort disappointing.