"One Split Second" by Caroline Bond

5 sets of parents are in the hospital waiting room after a car accident involving youths.

• Harry (driver? Or covering for someone else?). Minor injuries - parents divorced. Dom's the dominating father. He gets Harry a solicitor. Martha's his little sister.
• Jake. Broken leg but ok.
• Jess (Harry's girlfriend?). ICU. Injuries not very visible - Fran is her mother, Marcus her father
• Tish. ICU. Looks bad - Mother Sal. Has an on/off relationship with Jake.
• Mo - wasn't recovered from the scene, though he's missing. An academic high-flier. He's found at home having been left at MacDonalds by the others. His Asian parents are worried that he's been drinking, or that he's not popular.

Peter (loner divorce) could see the crash scene from his house opposite. When the police visit he gives an account. Did his cat cause the accident?

Who's going to stick up for whom when the police ask questions? Are the parents going to fall out? There's speculation on social media. There are interviews on TV.

Jess's life-support is turned off. The parents grieve, dealt with by the author in a standard way. She becomes a multi-donor. Marcus regularly goes to her room to talk to her. He goes through her phone. Fran wants to talk to Harry. Tish is released from hospital. Once a pretty girl, she's now disfigured, shy. Mo befriends her. Jake's worried that his broken leg will stop him playing football and having girlfriends. He fades from the story. It's unclear why he was ever in it. Charges are pressed. A deal is offered to Harry - careless rather than dangerous driving. Fran doesn't like it. Harry pleads guilty yet is sentenced to 4 years.

When Tish meets Harry in prison we learn that they'd been sleeping together secretly (even from the police), though Jess had remained Harry's true love. Tish and Mo are openly sleeping together. It's doing them both good.

Marcus doesn't go with Fran to visit Harry (restorative justice). She slaps Harry. She returns home realising she'd neglected Marcus. Eventually Fran, Marcus and Harry make up. Fran collects him from prison because Dom's too busy. At the end, back in time, we're with parents of a girl who's about to get a transplant.

The plot's full of emotive events. Consequently the writing can afford to be restrained. There are some inevitable set-pieces.