Special introductory low price!‘Finished it in less than four hours…so engrossed I felt I was living it.’—L. Bakke Amazon VINE VOICE reviewerWhen Connie Silverstein agreed to babysit her friend’s four-year-old son, she never dreamed it would end in disaster. Now the usually dependable medical student finds herself responsible for the boy’s near drowning and subsequent brain damage.Connie is … drowning and subsequent brain damage.
Connie is desperate to help the boy recover, but the grieving mother no longer trusts her. Consumed by guilt, Connie attempts to deaden her pain with alcohol. But there’s not enough vodka in the world to right the wrong she’s done. Family and friends attempt to intervene in her downward spiral, assuring her that tragic accidents can happen to anyone.
But only Connie knows the terrible secret that what happened was no accident.
What readers are saying about One Slip:
‘Like a riptide, this book pulls you in—and under.’—Kindle Customer
‘hooked from the start’—Staci
‘…had me in knots…pushing throughout the night to find out what happened next…it felt heartbreakingly real’—Craves the Angst Book Review Blog
‘Fantastic! Grabs you right from the get-go and never lets go.’—Lisa
‘…over the edge with wonderment at how someone could capture my attention any better’—Deb H
‘…an emotionally charged roller coaster of a read’—Shannon Fetters
‘…emotionally charged’—Amazon Customer
‘…gripping, thought-provoking, emotional story’—Saundra Wright
‘The ending is totally unexpected’—PTB
‘…incredible…makes you think, what would happen if you made one mistake in life’—Sofia Danokaras
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One Slip by Gregg Bell will have you turning pages and holding your breath. This is not a book to start reading in the evening because you will loose sleep reading it until you finish! Connie is a medical student at the top of her class. She answers her friend Miranda’s request for help and agrees to watch her four-year old boy while Miranda’s daughter is undergoing surgery. Things do not go well for Connie and Todd nearly drowns, and now has brain damage.
This story takes you through drug abuse, alcohol abuse, emotional issues and so many other emotions that will have you on a roller coaster. The plot and characters are well developed and you will feel everything they are experiencing. Be prepared to lose sleep once you start reading. I highly recommend this book.
This is a very powerful piece of writing detailing a young woman’s mistake and the terrible consequences it causes. The lead character, Connie, seems to be very believable, although I have never had any experience of anyone who abuses drugs or alcohol to compare her with, so this is a subjective assessment.
The portrayal of her decline as she simultaneously tries to hide in a bottle; rectify the results of her mistake and deal with her demanding sister and controlling father is very convincing.
Although Connie’s character is laid out very clearly, I did feel that the other characters were a little two dimensional, and I didn’t really feel that I knew them, even by the end of the book.
I would have given this 5 stars, but even though I thought that it was extremely well written, I just didn’t really enjoy it, it is what I would call a ‘worthy’ book, a cautionary tale about, in particular, alcohol dependance, something that is definitely worth reading, but not necessarily enjoyable for me.
I received an advance copy of the book from the author, but have voluntarily written this honest review.
THINK BEFORE YOU ACT, COWARDICE CAN RUIN LOTS OF LIVES
This story tore me apart. Mr. Bell got into Connie’s sadness and frame of mind like no other author I’ve read before. The guilt rolled of the pages and into my heart. I felt as if I was Connie. A more consuming story has never been written. I enjoyed the way that Connie’s every thought and decision was played out to the fullest. One Slip makes you think over the decisions you have made in your life and ones that you may make.
This was an emotional and sad story! It deals with one woman’s tragic mistake when babysitting her friend’s four-year-old son. The guilt for Connie was all consuming! If only she didn’t agree to watch the little boy, if only she didn’t smoke a laced joint before agreeing to take him, if only…. this story is of Connie’s guilt and how she can’t deal with it. This once promising too of her class medical students guilt slowly destroys her life. This book is about guilt and grief and how people deal with it and eventually come out the other side. It was a very emotional and sad story with a spark of hope in the end.
4.5 Stars!
The Review:
This read made me feel, made me think and had me pushing forward throughout the night to find out what happened next. The story was real and emotionally compelling, and the characters were well developed.
I enjoyed this one a lot!
Story/Characters…
Connie Silverstein is a normal college girl in her fourth year at medical school. She studies hard. She lives a regular life. She’s on track. That is until one slip changes everything forever.
While waiting for her boyfriend to show up, she’s digging through her dresser and discovers a joint left over from her old partying days. Deciding to be adventurous and a little daring, she smokes it. Unfortunately, her best friend Miranda calls with an emergency and needs her to watch her four-year-old son. Thinking she’s okay, she decides she’ll just stay alert and help her friend in need.
But tragedy strikes. The unthinkable happens. And Connie is left with the grim fall-out from one very big mistake.
This story was so well told. It felt heartbreakingly real and truly made me think. There have been times when we’ve all made choices that could have lead to something more extreme. Connie was a good person. She had her whole life ahead of her. But she made a bad choice, and the unintentional results were disastrous. This read was filled with apprehension right from the start. You know right away that something dreadful is about to happen and the author does a brilliant job slowly laying out a road filled with angsts and hardship.
I really felt for this character. The author takes us down a path of deep emotion, strangling guilt and bleak anguish. Connie’s despair grows stronger each day, her cloud of depression darkening with each passing moment. Added on top, was some well-placed family drama that sinched the conflict. The notable tension-filled writing really gives you the sense you can’t trust anyone, right alongside Connie, as she desperately searches for a bit of light in the deep, dark hole she finds herself in. The true-to-life circumstances the author paints for the reader were riveting and kept me absorbed, anxious to see what happened next.
The Wrap Up:
I enjoy Gregg Bell’s stories. They are a step outside of my usual reading sphere, so it’s always a treat to see what he’s got brewing between the pages. One Slip was another well written, beautifully told story to add to his storehouse. It had a great deal of angsts and drama, which I love. It had great conflict, lots of emotion and feels. It had me in knots until the conclusion. And it had an ending that felt hopeful.
Just a wonderful read all around.
Everyone has regrets. Have you ever done something that you knew you shouldn’t have done? Even though, you had the best of intentions for doing it? This is the premise of One Slip, Gregg Bell’s newest book. The main protagonist, Connie Silverman, is a hardworking med student. She seems to have charmed life .She had some problems during high school, but believes that she has conquered them. She tries to be a consequential thinker, but she has a tendency to talk herself into doing what she really wants to do. She makes a very poor decision to smoke a joint, just this one last time; hoping that no one finds out. Unfortunately, an emergency arises and Connie goes against her own judgment to help out a friend. Her just this one time leads to devastating consequences.
One Slip is one of the most intriguing books that I have read lately. I downloaded it and was finished in less than for four hours. The plotline was mindboggling. Mr. Bell did a fantastic job with character development. I was so engrossed in this story that I felt that I was living it. My emotions were all over the place. At times, I wished someone would just jack-slap Connie to knock some sense into her. As the story progressed, I wondered if she had lost all traces of sanity.
If you enjoy a good mystery/ thriller, then One Slip is the book for you.
One Slip is a bittersweet, psychological thriller that travels deep into the heart and mind of Connie Silverstein. A 4th year medical student at Rush medical school in Chicago, her future is looking bright. She had some difficulties in the past and what she doesn’t count on is that her rebellious side of dabbling in drugs would come back to haunt her. In a drawer, tucked away, she finds an old joint that must have been there forever. Just one won’t hurt, will it? The inner argument she has whether to smoke it or not is perfectly vivid. Connie’s friend, Miranda, calls from the hospital where she’s with her daughter who had an accident with a scissor. Can she come and pick up her son, Todd, and watch him until she leaves the hospital? Sure, but she’s starting to feel a little odd. Even so, she and Todd find a spot on the beach to enjoy the day. Soon, everybody’s laughing at her and they’re sounding really strange! Where’s Todd? What do you mean he may not survive?! What did she do! She makes a bold plan to have him see the neurologist she admires most from her medical school classes, but it means that she has to carry it out by herself. What she does is frantic, desperate and an ultimate disappointment. That was her final shot at redeeming herself and she’s consumed by guilt. There’s no reason why she should live, when she killed Todd. The ending is perfect and can best be described as an act of grace. Gregg Bell created a story with great character development and a captivating mystery/plot throughout. Well done!
This is an incredible book. One that I couldn’t put down.
Connie agrees to babysit for her very best friend. She is feeling overwhelmed and decides that the joint she found won’t hurt anything if she smokes it. What can it hurt, right, it’s just one joint. She takes Todd to the beach and things go very, very wrong. She is the only one who knows that the “accident” really wasn’t and the guilt is eating her up inside. She turns to the bottle for relief but that only makes thing worse.
You can’t go wrong reading this one!!
Einstein said that God did not gamble. Pascal’s Wager though suggests that if one bets one the existence of God, then eternal salvation can be won – if there is no God, then it is no loss. Not taking the chance that there is a God means there is no chance to win salvation.
Connie Silverstein is the pampered daughter of a prominent Jewish politician. Both seem to bend the rules a bit, and not always for righteous causes.
Part of Connie’s long struggle with drug use, especially opiates, is an accidental drowning of the child of a friend – while Connie was stoned. No proof exists after the fact, but serious depression and survivor’s guilt are certainly a problem.
This is a far cry from the many ironic / humorous novels I have grown accustomed to by Bell – and it hits very close to the heart of many things – great pain and struggles that are more than skin deep when dealing with addiction , for example, are a big part of that.
relative cost of an action is an issue as well – Connie can do more as a future physician for the long term welfare of others – but would she have gotten off with self inflicted punishment alone if she had been just a nanny or other low paid non-native?
justice, pain and suffering are all relative in this story – and the mother of the toddler who slips away finds peace she so wants to share with Connie.
a moving yet painful read!