JUMPBACK

The opening act in a new SF thriller series about a time-traveling psychologist.

When Jackson Traine was 17, he naïvely tried to help his older brother Kenny get away from a vicious gang he was involved with. The unsuccessful attempt resulted in Kenny’s getting cut up, and Jackson was similarly scarred by trauma. Kenny’s family never saw him again, and they assumed that the gang members later killed him. Eighteen years later, Jackson is a well-established psychologist and professor who’s still reeling from his failure to save his sibling; he struggles with survivor’s guilt, PTSD, and social anxiety. However, he finds that his work and strict routines provide him with a sense of control. Then he meets two people who upend his life: Dr. Lena Cortland, a physicist experimenting with time travel, and a terrifying figure from his past. During a violent confrontation with the latter in Lena’s particle accelerator lab, Jackson finds that he’s suddenly able to jump back in time in 10-minute increments. This ability—if he can find a way to control it—could allow him to finally discover what happened to Kenny and perhaps save his sibling’s life. Hayman’s offering is a smart and unique take on time-travel tropes that combines a good SF foundation with a portrait of Jackson’s mental health. The work deftly uses Jackson’s constant alertness and fear as time-hopping catalysts. Along the way, the novel thoughtfully examines the protagonist’s PTSD and showcases his awareness of his own limits; it also highlights the likable character’s kindness toward his patients and students. Because he’s unable to move on, he keeps trying to use his newfound abilities—doing “whatever it takes”—to fix things, but every time he does so, it results in unpleasant physical and psychological consequences. This debut is further enriched by the budding romance between Jackson and Lena, the topical setting in a post-Covid Seattle, and the depiction of Jackson’s family dynamics. Overall, it’s a promising start to a planned series.

An entertaining, dynamic, and thoughtful time-tripping tale.