3:59

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 are doppelgängers living in parallel universes that briefly overlap every twelve hours at exactly 3:59. Fascinated by Jo's fabulous life, Josie jumps at the chance to cross 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.

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.

1114298540

3:59

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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Overview

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.

Product Details
Related Subjects

Editorial Reviews

Kimberly Derting

Praise for POSSESS: “With demons, secrets, and a butt-kicking heroine, POSSESS is a whole lotta dark and twisted fun!

Christopher Pike

Praise for TEN: “TEN is a real page turner! Gretchen McNeil knows how to plot a thriller: Her setup is flawless and the suspense kept me on the edge of my seat.

Nancy Holder

Gretchen McNeil’s TEN is my new number one! I jumped at every creaking floorboard in my house and on the page. This is sure to be a teen thriller classic!

ALA Booklist

Praise for TEN: “In the esteemed tradition of teen horror fiction, TEN hits all the high notes: a stormy night, illicit liaisons, cut phone lines, suspicious disappearances, double-crosses, secret histories, and plenty of twists.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

A book that will set science geeks’ hearts aflutter.

Booklist

McNeil’s movie-quick setup speed and humorously inventive language…make her a very welcoming author who succeeds at injecting fresh verve into some stalwart sci-fi concepts.

Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

This book is scientifically action-packed, complete with monsters and drama. Teens who are fans of the ever-popular Dr. Who television series will love this book.

VOYA - Julia Bowersox

Josie's life is falling apart. Her parents are in the midst of a divorce, her mother is burying herself in work and is standoffish when around, and Josie's boyfriend, Nick, cheated on her with her best friend on their anniversary. When Josie starts having visions of a perfect version of her life in her mirror, she plunges through the mirror portal and switches places with her doppelganger, Jo, from a different dimension. Josie quickly finds out this world is nightmarish with large invisible predatory birds, called lox, which lurk at dusk and hunt humans. Josie also finds her real mother is stuck in this strange world too, only her mother is treated like a prisoner in an asylum and is tortured by lox. Josie uses her smarts to befriend the doppelganger, and convince Nick and a few other schoolmates that she is not really the evil Jo they fear and dislike. Together, they continue working on a scientific solution to get rid of the lox, as well as return Josie and her mother back home to their own world. However, Josie has to be careful who she trusts in this world as it is full of character twists. This book is scientifically action-packed, complete with monsters and drama. Teens who are fans of the ever-popular Dr. Who television series will love this book. Reviewer: Julia Bowersox

School Library Journal

11/01/2013
Gr 9 Up—Josie Byrne, a brainy prep school junior, has been brought up to trust in science. Her AP physics project examines the Penrose Interpretation, which hypothesizes that objects can exist in more than one space at the same time. Josie's mind isn't always on science, however: her job at Coffee Crush, her parents' separation, and her painful breakup with Nick, not to mention mysterious deaths in the neighborhood, occupy her thoughts. When an unusual set of events line up precisely at 3:59 a.m., Josie finds a door that opens to a parallel universe, but only for a moment and only twice a day. In this other world, steadfast Josie exists as Jo, a spoiled young woman who still appears to have Nick's love. But Jo's existence is far from fun and games, despite expensive clothes and a BMW. While the same people live in both worlds, their personalities are different. Even worse, Jo's world is inhabited by Nox, creatures that make it deadly to be out at night. The story focuses primarily on Josie, Nick, and the Nox in one dimension, along with people who have transferred between the two universes. Parental love, double-crossing, and the nature of friendship all have a place in the plot. To fully move into Josie's world, readers need to embrace quasi-scientific jargon and believe that teens could construct and operate a version of a multimillion-dollar, top-secret government laser, in a basement, using mirrors held by hand. Those looking for romance/adventures set in parallel universes will come away satisfied.—Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX

Kirkus Reviews

2013-08-15
In this quasi–science-fiction novel, doppelgangers Josie and Jo agree to temporarily trade places after their mothers' scientific experiments accidentally open a portal between their parallel worlds. The situation soon spirals out of control as Jo's mother (who also secretly traded worlds) attempts to make the trade permanent by destroying the portal. McNeil deserves credit for writing science fiction featuring women scientists. Josie and her lab partner, Penelope, as well as Penelope's parallel-world other, Pen, all casually drop quantum-mechanics and parallel-universe theories and use the scientific method to understand the portal between their worlds. However, the devil is in the details, and offering little explanation of the scientific theories under discussion compromises the novel's scientific tenor. Further stretching the science is the improbable existence of the laser that is used to create the portal. Readers must accept that an X-FEL laser, "one of the most high-tech, cutting-edge pieces of equipment in the world," whose production at a lab required "millions in funding, a team of A-list scientists and engineers, top secret specs no one had ever seen," was secretly recreated out of scraps in a residential basement. Also implausible is the half-baked insta-romance (true love after four days, really?) that fails to create romantic tension. The patchy science, though hastily injected with romance, makes for an unsatisfying read. (Science fiction. 12-18)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170382491
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	09/17/2013
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

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From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

Editorial Reviews

Praise for POSSESS: “With demons, secrets, and a butt-kicking heroine, POSSESS is a whole lotta dark and twisted fun!

Kimberly Derting

Praise for TEN: “TEN is a real page turner! Gretchen McNeil knows how to plot a thriller: Her setup is flawless and the suspense kept me on the edge of my seat.

Christopher Pike

Gretchen McNeil’s TEN is my new number one! I jumped at every creaking floorboard in my house and on the page. This is sure to be a teen thriller classic!

Nancy Holder

Praise for TEN: “In the esteemed tradition of teen horror fiction, TEN hits all the high notes: a stormy night, illicit liaisons, cut phone lines, suspicious disappearances, double-crosses, secret histories, and plenty of twists.

ALA Booklist

A book that will set science geeks’ hearts aflutter.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

McNeil’s movie-quick setup speed and humorously inventive language…make her a very welcoming author who succeeds at injecting fresh verve into some stalwart sci-fi concepts.

Booklist

This book is scientifically action-packed, complete with monsters and drama. Teens who are fans of the ever-popular Dr. Who television series will love this book.

Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)

Josie's life is falling apart. Her parents are in the midst of a divorce, her mother is burying herself in work and is standoffish when around, and Josie's boyfriend, Nick, cheated on her with her best friend on their anniversary. When Josie starts having visions of a perfect version of her life in her mirror, she plunges through the mirror portal and switches places with her doppelganger, Jo, from a different dimension. Josie quickly finds out this world is nightmarish with large invisible predatory birds, called lox, which lurk at dusk and hunt humans. Josie also finds her real mother is stuck in this strange world too, only her mother is treated like a prisoner in an asylum and is tortured by lox. Josie uses her smarts to befriend the doppelganger, and convince Nick and a few other schoolmates that she is not really the evil Jo they fear and dislike. Together, they continue working on a scientific solution to get rid of the lox, as well as return Josie and her mother back home to their own world. However, Josie has to be careful who she trusts in this world as it is full of character twists. This book is scientifically action-packed, complete with monsters and drama. Teens who are fans of the ever-popular Dr. Who television series will love this book. Reviewer: Julia Bowersox

VOYA - Julia Bowersox

11/01/2013
Gr 9 Up—Josie Byrne, a brainy prep school junior, has been brought up to trust in science. Her AP physics project examines the Penrose Interpretation, which hypothesizes that objects can exist in more than one space at the same time. Josie's mind isn't always on science, however: her job at Coffee Crush, her parents' separation, and her painful breakup with Nick, not to mention mysterious deaths in the neighborhood, occupy her thoughts. When an unusual set of events line up precisely at 3:59 a.m., Josie finds a door that opens to a parallel universe, but only for a moment and only twice a day. In this other world, steadfast Josie exists as Jo, a spoiled young woman who still appears to have Nick's love. But Jo's existence is far from fun and games, despite expensive clothes and a BMW. While the same people live in both worlds, their personalities are different. Even worse, Jo's world is inhabited by Nox, creatures that make it deadly to be out at night. The story focuses primarily on Josie, Nick, and the Nox in one dimension, along with people who have transferred between the two universes. Parental love, double-crossing, and the nature of friendship all have a place in the plot. To fully move into Josie's world, readers need to embrace quasi-scientific jargon and believe that teens could construct and operate a version of a multimillion-dollar, top-secret government laser, in a basement, using mirrors held by hand. Those looking for romance/adventures set in parallel universes will come away satisfied.—Maggie Knapp, Trinity Valley School, Fort Worth, TX

School Library Journal

2013-08-15
In this quasi–science-fiction novel, doppelgangers Josie and Jo agree to temporarily trade places after their mothers' scientific experiments accidentally open a portal between their parallel worlds. The situation soon spirals out of control as Jo's mother (who also secretly traded worlds) attempts to make the trade permanent by destroying the portal. McNeil deserves credit for writing science fiction featuring women scientists. Josie and her lab partner, Penelope, as well as Penelope's parallel-world other, Pen, all casually drop quantum-mechanics and parallel-universe theories and use the scientific method to understand the portal between their worlds. However, the devil is in the details, and offering little explanation of the scientific theories under discussion compromises the novel's scientific tenor. Further stretching the science is the improbable existence of the laser that is used to create the portal. Readers must accept that an X-FEL laser, "one of the most high-tech, cutting-edge pieces of equipment in the world," whose production at a lab required "millions in funding, a team of A-list scientists and engineers, top secret specs no one had ever seen," was secretly recreated out of scraps in a residential basement. Also implausible is the half-baked insta-romance (true love after four days, really?) that fails to create romantic tension. The patchy science, though hastily injected with romance, makes for an unsatisfying read. (Science fiction. 12-18)

Kirkus Reviews