A time-hopping dramedy that’s often fun and insightful.
In Blaisdell’s debut SF novel, time travel becomes commonplace—and then unexpected flaws emerge.
With the invention of “digitime™” in the 2020s, traveling into the past becomes possible, as well as widely accessible. Transportation services called TimeLiners take passengers to various times in history, although no further back than 1850. The trip can be personal—one may see one’s late mother as a child, for instance, or watch one’s first kiss; alternatively, some wish to see a particular historical moment unfold live, such as a notorious criminal’s shootout. For some people, the nostalgia quickly wears off, as visits to the past tend to put its worst elements into sharp relief, such as racism and sexism. For others, though, the past offers a place to hide. Purple-haired stand-up comedian Casey Clement, for instance, has dealt with her share of turmoil in her life, and, in order to avoid her ex-husband, she escapes into yesteryear. Around the same time, Guy McGee, after learning a secret about his parents, goes on a quest to 1955. Much of Blaisdell’s story has a tongue-in-cheek tone, as when time-travelers experience turbulence when passing through “turbulent years.” However, the ensemble cast is seriously engaging; it includes Casey’s physicist mother, who searches for her missing daughter; fans who literally chase after such celebrities as Albert Einstein; and the Timemaster, the creator of the time-travel tech, who has a personality and social-media presence that the public generally despises. Many readers will appreciate when characters reluctantly acknowledge that memories don’t always accurately represent the past. The author aims to simplify the story’s time travel elements, essentially disregarding the famed butterfly effect to allow for mass, worry-free travel. “Disruptions,” however, remain possible, which raises questions than aren’t satisfactorily answered. A plot turn in the final act, although predictable, begets a fantastic ending.
A time-hopping dramedy that’s often fun and insightful.Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2025
ISBN: 9798307134436
Page Count: 402
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.
A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.
Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.
Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.Pub Date: July 26, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
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Buckle up—fans of page-turning SF may find themselves binge-reading this novel in one butt-numbing marathon session.
Like a truck with no brakes speeding down a steep mountain road, Islington’s latest is an adrenaline-fueled SF thrill ride that follows a biomechanically enhanced assassin as he tries to understand his mysterious origins.
The chaotic opening scene gives readers a clear indication of what they’re in for: Contract killer Azure, attempting to complete a mission, is involved in a life-or-death battle with a multieyed biomachine called an Argos. “The thing’s bipedal but has six gorilla-like arms that end in half-metre-long claws,” he complains. After Azure barely dispatches the monster and kills his target, his AI assistant, Atti, informs him of his next job: protecting an elderly—and incredibly rich—woman living in a sprawling underground bunker in the middle of nowhere. “Old Woman,” as Azure calls her, isn’t forthcoming with personal details; all Azure can suss out is that she may be the target of a powerful organized crime syndicate—the same organization that employs him! Is Azure’s ultimate goal to save her or kill her? Although the worldbuilding could’ve been more comprehensive, Islington’s editing choices are brilliant—he strips away the insignificant narrative content to create a streamlined, action-packed adventure with seemingly one goal: to keep the reader furiously turning pages. The various mysteries—Azure’s murky beginnings, the tragic death of his best friend years earlier, Old Woman’s true identity, etc.—maintain the momentum and intensity. The takeaway here is the narrative potential of the characters as well as the plethora of subjects that could be explored more deeply, like immortality for the rich, cloning, and the potential to create bioengineered nightmares for “security.” Islington leaves the conclusion tantalizingly ambiguous. This novel could be the jumping-off point for a memorable series.
Buckle up—fans of page-turning SF may find themselves binge-reading this novel in one butt-numbing marathon session.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2026
ISBN: 9781668239247
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Saga/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2026
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