Ten After Closing

by Jessica Bayliss

Scott each and Winny went to the Café Flores wanting to escape their normal teen troubles; now, held hostage at gunpoint, they just want to leave alive. Perfect for fans of This is Where It Ends and Party.

10PM: Closing time at Café Flores. The door should be locked, but it isn't. Scott Bradley and Winsome Sommervil are about to become hostages.

TEN MINUTES BEFORE CLOSING: Scott's girlfriend breaks up with him in the café's basement storeroom because he's late picking her up for the big end-of-the-year party. Now he can't go to the party, but he can't go home, either?not knowing his dad will still be in a drunken rage. Meanwhile, Winny wanted one night to let loose, away from her mother's crushing expectations. Instead, she's stranded at the café after her best friend ditches her in a misguided attempt at matchmaking.

TEN MINUTES AFTER CLOSING: The first gunshot is fired. Someone's dead. And if Winny, Scott, and the rest of the hostages don't come up with a plan soon, they may not live to see morning.

Told from both Winny and Scott's perspectives, and alternating between the events leading up to and following the hold-up, Ten After Closing is an explosive story of teens wrestling with their own challenges, thrown into circumstances that will test their very limits.

• ISBN10: 151073211X
• ISBN13: 9781510732117
• Publish Date: 25 September 2018 (first published 21 June 2018)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
• Imprint: Sky Pony Press
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 328
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Scott and Winny were already having a pretty bad day, but it turned deadly ten minutes after closing.

• Pro: The format of this book was brilliant. It was told from before and after "closing". After moved forward and focused primarily on the hold-up, while before moved backward and focused largely on Winny and Scott's family issues and feelings for each other. The flips were well orchestrated, and the backward storytelling kept me curious.

• Pro: I got the impression, that Winny and Scott were both prisoners - literally during the hold-up and figuratively due to family expectations and demands. They were wrestling with some big decisions regarding their futures, but their families sort of robbed them of their autonomy and limited their choices. I thought Bayliss handled this quite well, as their struggle and emotions regarding the situation were crystal clear.

• Pro: Oscar and Pavan were such great parts of this cast. The addition of Oscar lent believability to some of the actions the hostages took, and Pavan was just a wonderful character, who I really enjoyed meeting.

• Pro: I thought it was a smart choice to include Winny and Scott's backstories, as well as their possible romance. Those "before" pieces were what made this feel YA to me, and not just like a hostage story.

• Pro/Con: There were parts of the ending I was wholeheartedly pleased with. The reactions and responses seemed appropriate and they made me happy. Though I questioned a few choices made for Scott, I did like that the idea of forgiveness was included, because I don't think it's uncommon for people surviving a life or death situation to gain more perspective on things.

• Pro: It was so easy to like Scott and Winny, as well as Scott+Winny. I admired their strength and ambition, and at the same time, I empathized with them regarding their home lives.

Overall: A fast-paced story, which combined a hostage thriller with a teen family drama for a satisfying reading experience.

*ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

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