Nine Minutes

By Beth Flynn

Synopsis

On May 15, 1975, fifteen-year-old Ginny Lemon is abducted from a convenience store in Fort Lauderdale by a member of one of the most notorious and brutal motorcycle gangs in South Florida.

From that moment on, her life is forever changed. She gets a new name, a new identity and a new life in the midst of the gang’s base on the edge of the Florida Everglades—a frightening, rough and violent world much like the swamps themselves, where everyone has an alias and loyalty is tantamount to survival.

And at the center of it all is the gang’s leader, Grizz: massive, ruggedly handsome, terrifying and somehow, when it comes to Ginny, tender. She becomes his obsession and the one true love of his life.

So begins a tale of emotional obsession and manipulation, of a young woman ripped from everything she knows and forced to lean on the one person who provides attention, affection and care: her captor. Precocious and intelligent, but still very much a teenager, Ginny struggles to adapt to her existence, initially fighting and then coming to terms with her captivity.

Will she be rescued? Will she escape? Will she get out alive—or get out at all? Part psychological thriller, part coming-of-age novel, filled with mystery, romance and unexpected turns, Nine Minutes takes readers into the world of one motorcycle gang and inside the heart of a young girl, whose abduction brought about its fall.

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Michel’s Review

Nine Minutes is one of the books that stunned my senses and left me with a major book hangover.  I read this book over a month and half ago.  After I finished the book I had to gift this book to several of my friends because it is the kind of book you “have” to read.  Each and every friend that has read this book had the same kind of reactions that I had to it.

This more than a typical biker romance.  It is a story that renders a very real look into a lawless lifestyle.  Although many of the characters are hardened criminals with ethics that are horrendous, they are also very human.  Their emotions and feelings are just as valid as anyone else emotions.  Their methods of dealing with their emotions are just as valid as how anyone else deals with their own.  We all have insecurities, we all have hopes and dreams, we all want the ones we love to have the best we can give, and we all have our own ways of protecting our deepest emotions.

The background for this story is so true to it’s portrayal.  I grew up in that area of south Florida in that exact timeframe.  I am very close to the same age as the heroine in this story.  The existence of this kind of MC club was in fact present in that area at that time.  As I was reading this book I had chills from the in depth descriptions.  I felt like I was walking back in time to my younger years and looking at it through different eyes.  It is was mind blowing.  When my mother, who has lived in south Florida for over fifty years,  and raised her family there, read this book she was just as stunned as I was.

The story itself was captivating.  It is a story of a lawless life, a story of a stolen life, and a story of unconditional love.  Although Grizz lived in a very violent world and delivered his own kind brand of justice, he also had a sense of honor and heart of gold.  For those he loved, he gave his all.  For those that betrayed his love and trust, he dealt with in a very gruesome violent manner.  In the end he paid for his love.  In the end he paid for his sins.  He did it with honor for those he loved.  He accepted the punishments for the crimes he committed.  He protected his family from suffering the repercussions of his crimes.  He gave those he loved the ultimate gift.  He gave them the gift of love and happiness.

Ginny was a young teenage girl when she was abducted.  She was just beginning her journey into womanhood.  Although she was taken, manipulated, and molded into a different kind of person, she was also given the gift of unconditional love.  Her life may have turned out very differently had she not been abducted.  Would she have had a better life? Most likely not.  Her childhood was not sunshine and roses.  Her life was not full of love.  She was forced to grow up at an early age.  She was forced to become responsible and self reliant.  She was a survivor.  She used her intelligence to guide her.  I think that is one of the reasons she was abducted.  One person saw the uniqueness and inner strength she possessed.  One person saw her value as a human being.  One person loved her for everything she was.  One person valued her enough to steal her away.  In the end that one person almost destroyed her life.  Through it all that one person also gave her more than his love, he gave her a love that would last a lifetime and always be there for her. He gave her a new love story to live.

Nine Minutes is not a forever love story.  Nine Minutes is breathtaking story of unconditional love and strength of the human spirit.  Nine Minutes is two beautiful love stories that intwine one woman into a person of strength, compassion, and beauty.  Two love stories that show her how by just being herself is more valuable than anything else in this world.

Nine Minutes is a powerful story.  Although Nine Minutes ends with a cliffhanger, it is not one that will have readers in an emotional uproar.  Nine Minutes has a resolution to that part of Ginny’s story.  It ended the only way it could.  The cliffhanger is more about the secrets that will be revealed.  It is about the other love story in the book.  It is the path to Ginny’s forever love story.

Read Nine Minutes! It is exceptional!

Author Bio:

Beth Flynn is a fiction writer who lives and works in Sapphire, North Carolina, deep within the southern Blue Ridge Mountains. Raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Beth and her husband, Jim, have spent the last 16 years in Sapphire, where they own a construction company. They have been married 30 years and have two daughters (the youngest in high school) and two dogs. In her spare time, Beth enjoys writing, reading, gardening, church and motorcycles, especially taking rides on the back of her husband’s Harley. She is a four-year breast cancer survivor.

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