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13:55 Eastern Standard Time
Alice looks at the phone and then glances at the clock. 13:55 EST makes - she counts on her fingers - about 6pm in Berlin. He'll be on his way home. Alice settles into the armchair and dials the number... If Alice hadn't bumped into Will then she would probably never have phoned that afternoon. And if Alice hadn't called, then Michael, poor Michael, might still be alive today. In a digital age of world-spanning communications and easy travel these stories explore how interconnected and yet fragmented our lives have become, and how - no matter where we live or what we do, no matter how different our lifestyles - the universal desires for love and happiness draw us ever onward.
- GenresFiction
162 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2007
136 people are currently reading
63 people want to read
About the author
Nick Alexander
32 books661 followersMy novels:
Where Do We Go From Here (2025)
The Imperfection of Us (2023)
Perfectly Ordinary People (2022)
From Something Old (2021)
The Road to Zoe (2020)
You Then, Me Now (2019)
Things We Never Said (2017)
The Bottle of Tears (2016) (also published as Let the Light Shine).
The Other Son (2015)
The Photographer's Wife (2014)
Two novels featuring Hannah:
- The Half-Life of Hannah.
- Other Halves (Dec 2013)
Two novels featuring CC:
- The Case Of The Missing Boyfriend
- The French House (May 2013)
The Fifty Reasons Series, following the life of lovelorn Mark
- 50 Reasons to Say Goodbye
- Sottopassaggio
- Good Thing, Bad Thing
- Better Than Easy
- Sleight Of Hand
And the standalone novel
- 13:55 Eastern Standard Time
The Case Of The Missing Boyfriend, The French House, and The Half-Life of Hannah have all been huge kindle hits, reaching number #1 in Amazon's kindle chart.
I live in the southern French Alps with three mogs (Mangui, Pastel & Pedro) and a very special ferret.
Where Do We Go From Here (2025)
The Imperfection of Us (2023)
Perfectly Ordinary People (2022)
From Something Old (2021)
The Road to Zoe (2020)
You Then, Me Now (2019)
Things We Never Said (2017)
The Bottle of Tears (2016) (also published as Let the Light Shine).
The Other Son (2015)
The Photographer's Wife (2014)
Two novels featuring Hannah:
- The Half-Life of Hannah.
- Other Halves (Dec 2013)
Two novels featuring CC:
- The Case Of The Missing Boyfriend
- The French House (May 2013)
The Fifty Reasons Series, following the life of lovelorn Mark
- 50 Reasons to Say Goodbye
- Sottopassaggio
- Good Thing, Bad Thing
- Better Than Easy
- Sleight Of Hand
And the standalone novel
- 13:55 Eastern Standard Time
The Case Of The Missing Boyfriend, The French House, and The Half-Life of Hannah have all been huge kindle hits, reaching number #1 in Amazon's kindle chart.
I live in the southern French Alps with three mogs (Mangui, Pastel & Pedro) and a very special ferret.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 31, 2013
I think this is a special book, which is interesting as going by other recent reviews I'm in a minority. I read this after a couple of Nick Alexander's other books and enjoyed each one more than the last, this being my favourite by far. I've reviewed two of the three which is a ringing endorsement from me as a book must be either spectacularly good or spectacularly bad for me to go through the pain of reviewing it!
I read this book again immediately after I finished it, it was that good. I wish I was sufficiently eloquent to express clearly what I found so engaging about it but sadly I know that I am not. Each of the stories in this book stands alone. I found them all beautifully written and most of them thought-provoking. Even though there are numerous characters in the book, most of whom appear briefly, they all lived for me which I find no small feat given that I've read great tomes in which few, if any, of the characters came alive. The fact that the stories are all tied together, sometimes in subtle ways, is the icing on the cake.
Warning - there is some sexually explicit material in this book and (as with all Nick Alexander's books) gay relationships are a feature, so it may not be to everyone's taste.
I read this book again immediately after I finished it, it was that good. I wish I was sufficiently eloquent to express clearly what I found so engaging about it but sadly I know that I am not. Each of the stories in this book stands alone. I found them all beautifully written and most of them thought-provoking. Even though there are numerous characters in the book, most of whom appear briefly, they all lived for me which I find no small feat given that I've read great tomes in which few, if any, of the characters came alive. The fact that the stories are all tied together, sometimes in subtle ways, is the icing on the cake.
Warning - there is some sexually explicit material in this book and (as with all Nick Alexander's books) gay relationships are a feature, so it may not be to everyone's taste.
March 18, 2021
13:55 Eastern Standard Time, is quite different from Nick Alexander's previous series of novels centred on the loveable character Mark. 13:33 EST could be read as a collection of shorts, but in fact it is much more than that. It all starts with OK Sticker, when a disgruntled factory worker in China, more concerned about her private life, knowingly passes a batch of defective iPods as OK. In the second story of the title, 13:55 EST, we move to the USA and meet some new characters as we follow the course of the defective iPods, and begin to pick up on the consequences of the young Chinese worker's actions. And so the subsequent stories follow in similar vein, as we see how seemingly simple, sometimes deliberate, often innocent actions have far reaching consequences, at times good, but at others bad or even tragic, and how individuals can affect the lives of others who may or may not be in any way connected, often continents apart.
As geographically the successive stories take us around the world, the range of characters is wide, from poorly paid and struggling workers in China to successful and wealthy near celebrities in the West, and an array of individuals and families or couples in between, and unsurprisingly with Nick Alexander, straight and gay characters. Some are likeable, even endearing, others we quite happily observe as they receive their comeuppance. Some characters we encounter just the once, others we return to again and again.
The book does repay careful reading in order not to miss the connections between (and so the consequences of) the different events and actions; and perhaps to detect the parts that maybe unrelated the rest. A most enjoyable and tantalising read; a worthy successor to God Thing, Bad Thing, and something to keep us happy until Nick Alexander gets around to giving us further adventures of our old hero Mark.
As geographically the successive stories take us around the world, the range of characters is wide, from poorly paid and struggling workers in China to successful and wealthy near celebrities in the West, and an array of individuals and families or couples in between, and unsurprisingly with Nick Alexander, straight and gay characters. Some are likeable, even endearing, others we quite happily observe as they receive their comeuppance. Some characters we encounter just the once, others we return to again and again.
The book does repay careful reading in order not to miss the connections between (and so the consequences of) the different events and actions; and perhaps to detect the parts that maybe unrelated the rest. A most enjoyable and tantalising read; a worthy successor to God Thing, Bad Thing, and something to keep us happy until Nick Alexander gets around to giving us further adventures of our old hero Mark.
November 13, 2015
Do not waste your time
The problem with ebooks is that anyone can sit and write out a stream of rubbish and call it a book. This is not a book. I don't even know what this is. Every few pages the characters change to different characters and a different storyline. I wouldn't normally mind this except all the way through I kept thinking "they will tie together soon, the story will make sense soon" IT NEVER DOES. It is just a book filled with half stories. There is no ending for any of the half plots within the book and at no point does the "author" tie any of the storylines together or attempt to provide justification for flitting from idea to idea like a demented weasel. Wasted hours of my life that I can never get back.
The problem with ebooks is that anyone can sit and write out a stream of rubbish and call it a book. This is not a book. I don't even know what this is. Every few pages the characters change to different characters and a different storyline. I wouldn't normally mind this except all the way through I kept thinking "they will tie together soon, the story will make sense soon" IT NEVER DOES. It is just a book filled with half stories. There is no ending for any of the half plots within the book and at no point does the "author" tie any of the storylines together or attempt to provide justification for flitting from idea to idea like a demented weasel. Wasted hours of my life that I can never get back.
March 16, 2012
OMG! Really enjoyed this book. I loved the way all the stories tied together to sum up a story. Simple sweet and made me cry..... (In a good way). Chapters were short, ideal for my daily commute..... or 'just one more' before bed. Pick it up and enjoy yourself!
November 28, 2019
A chain of linked stories starting when Alice in New York phones her brother Michael in Berlin, calculating that at 13:55 her time it will be almost 6 pm there and a good time to call because he will have finished work. (In fact, Berlin is 6 hours ahead of NY, so it would be 8 pm, but neither Alice nor the author seem to be aware of this.) Anyway, Michael is indeed on his way home from work, but we learn later that she picked a really bad time to call.
From there we spiral off into the stories of other characters whose lives touch either closely or at the edges. In the end, we do come back to Alice, and although I enjoyed most of it in a mild way, I think her last episode is the only one that will stick in my mind.
From there we spiral off into the stories of other characters whose lives touch either closely or at the edges. In the end, we do come back to Alice, and although I enjoyed most of it in a mild way, I think her last episode is the only one that will stick in my mind.
January 8, 2018
Just didn’t get it at all. I’ve read several of Nick Alexander’s books and love the way he writes about characters feelings and deepest thoughts. This book just didn’t go anywhere. A different story in each chapter, sometimes going back to a previous character sometimes not. I thought all the stories were going to tie in somewhere along the line but they never did. Left me feeling completely disappointed and dejected.
December 15, 2023
My least favourite book by this author so far. I enjoyed all the stories from different people, at different times and how they fitted together for the last part, but some of it was a bit random and I felt like some just weren’t finished and were a bit too random with no continuity, like just random thoughts.
November 15, 2020
Rather than a collection of short stories in the traditional sense, this has different snippets of the lives of people who in most cases interlink. Some of the characters appear in more than one chapter. A good read.
October 23, 2021
Quite confusing
Started well with some links but I got confused with some random characters and unfinished storylines in the middle. I had to go back and forth a few times to try and find links and almost felt I needed a reference sheet of all the characters.
Started well with some links but I got confused with some random characters and unfinished storylines in the middle. I had to go back and forth a few times to try and find links and almost felt I needed a reference sheet of all the characters.
June 18, 2019
Abandoned....
August 13, 2019
Nick Alexander
Absolutely loved Bottle of Tears, so was looking forward to 13.55. Sadly it left me wondering, why!!!
Maybe, several sequels later, I will understand
Absolutely loved Bottle of Tears, so was looking forward to 13.55. Sadly it left me wondering, why!!!
Maybe, several sequels later, I will understand
July 25, 2020
An enjoyable collection of interconnected short stories
July 8, 2012
This was a strange one - and quite a departure from Nick's other books that I had read - but I wasnt disappointed.
It reads as a series of short stories - of incidents happing at the same time but the more you read the more you see how the lives of these people who have never even met are still cleverly linked together...
It reads as a series of short stories - of incidents happing at the same time but the more you read the more you see how the lives of these people who have never even met are still cleverly linked together...
June 21, 2015
I like Nick Alexander's writing style but found this book rather unsatisfying and unresolving. It is a story of coincidences, or slices of life chosen to illustrate the randomness of fate, but like life, it doesn't really have a satisfying ending! The stories are engaging but for me it didn't really work sadly.
December 12, 2013
my third book I have read by the author, I like interwoven stories but didn't really get this one, possibly because I had not long read the case of the missing boyfriend/ and it was very different from 13.55. I do really like this author and will try some of his other work
March 1, 2016
Some stories linked together well and gave great meaning, others were blah and forgettable. It was a very mixed bag, but I enjoyed some of the ideas - especially how everyone is linked in the vain of LOST...
December 30, 2016
Good
Ending felt a little abrupt but I really enjoyed the book. It kept me engaged throughout and I liked the variety of characters.
Ending felt a little abrupt but I really enjoyed the book. It kept me engaged throughout and I liked the variety of characters.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews