Red Moon Rising by JT Brannan

review by Maryom

Once a high-powered New York Assistant DA, Jessica Hudson's career came to an end when she was hit by a would-be-assassin's bullet. After months in a coma, she's trying to build a new life, almost as far away as she can get, in the wilds of Alaska. Then late one night a naked, battered girl staggers up to Jessica's door, and her refuge becomes the centre of a murder investigation, with police and on-lookers swarming about ... until Jessica wakes next morning and finds no traces of the previous evening's events. Has she really jumped in time while she slept? woken BEFORE the girl was abducted and tortured? if so, is there a way she can prevent the crime happening? 

It's a bit difficult to know how to describe Red Moon Rising  - is it time travel? psychological thriller? murder mystery? It's probably best to say 'a bit of all',  but it's definitely a story that had me hooked as, along with main character Jessica, I tried to find out exactly WHAT was happening. 
I don't normally read/review self-published books, but I've read JT Brannan's previous novels - Origin and Extinction - published through Headline, and enjoyed both of them (and the Mole has also read Brannan's self-published Stop At Nothing), so I was happy to read Red Moon Rising when approached by the author.  
As I say, the story's a mix of crime thriller and time travel, with Jessica moving backwards and forwards trying to prevent the murder of a teenage girl, while coping with her own personal demons. Obviously things don't go as simply as nipping back a day or so and altering the course of events, but the author's thought through the advantages and drawbacks to travelling through time, knowing what will happen before anyone else, and affecting events, and doesn't leave loose ends (a bugbear of mine). The story is fast-paced, sometimes leaving the reader wondering what's going on - but Jessica's in the same position and as she figures things out, so does the reader - and, while she's wondering whether everything is really happening or some coma nightmare she's trapped in, Jessica has a crime to solve and a would-be murderer to catch. There are plenty of suspects, from her callous ex-boyfriend to locals with prior convictions, and a twist to catch you unaware. 
A bit of warning that the violence and injuries are described a bit too graphically, and may prove unsettling for some readers, otherwise it's an enjoyable, gripping read.

Maryom's review - 4 stars 
Genre - adult, crime thriller, time travel

The Door That Led To Where by Sally Gardner

review by Maryom

AJ has left school with just one GCSE and isn't expecting to find work anywhere, so he thinks he's struck lucky when he gets a job at the Gray's Inn law-firm that used to employ his mum. He doesn't realise the full extent of his luck though, for he's about to discover something that will change his life - a key that will take him back in time to London in 1830, and lead to a series of murders spanning both time-periods, and the unravelling of the mystery surrounding his father.
 Meanwhile in modern London, AJ's mates Leon and Slim have their own troubles, with police, drug dealers and gang leaders looking for them - maybe AJ's key could offer them a hiding place in a safer world, and maybe even a new start?

Now ok, this is meant to be a teen/YA read but I don't care, it had me absolutely hooked from page one! It's a slippery, twisty sort of plot with time travel, a murder mystery, the clearing up of a forgery case, and the tiniest bit of romance - added together they make a brilliant, compelling read.
Told in the third person, but from AJ's point of view, it captures the sort of language and words that you'd expect from a modern teenager (though maybe edited for swearing!) and lets the reader slip right into the action. The action is fast-paced but with time enough to let the atmosphere of early nineteenth century London seep through. Despite the lack of mod-cons - from mobile phones to proper toilets - all three young men appreciate the charm of London before high-rise developments and the promise that it holds for them; unlike the present day, which has them labelled and written-off as 'teens in hoodies'.
I particularly liked the friendship between AJ, Slim and Leon. It's often seen as cool to be tough and uncaring but these three share an unbreakable bond; none seem to have family to care for them so they look out for each other and are there to help when things get tough - it's good to have friends like that!

All in all this is a riveting read that fits such a lot of genres that it must almost suit everyone. The only puzzle I was left with was - which time would I have chosen to remain in? Today with all its conveniences or 1830 with a more leisurely paced life but decidedly dodgy hygiene?


Maryom's Review - 5 stars
Publisher - Hot Key Books
Genre - teen/YA fantasy murder mystery time-travel

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

review by Maryom

Harry August's first life was fairly uneventful, much like any other life - until he died and found himself re-born, back exactly where he was the first time. As an adult trapped inside a child's body, he didn't find his second life much fun...but then he started to understand, found there were others like him, and settled into a pattern of being born, living seventy years or so, then dying only to be re-born.
Now at the end of his eleventh life, a warning has been passed back from the future that the world is in danger. Its life too is ending, as it is bound to one day, but at an unprecedented early era.

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August has been cropping up regularly on social media any time the book-conversation has touched on time travel and/or reincarnation, so, spotting it at my library, I thought it was time to check it out myself.

In a similar vein to Kate Atkinson's Life After Life it's not about time travel as such, but reincarnation into the same body. Harry is one of the "kalachakra" who return time and again to re-live their lives. Having discovered that major events can rarely be changed, most of them have adopted a hedonistic lifestyle funded by time-traveller's style insider dealing and bet-placing, leaving global events to play out on their own. Some though like Harry have acquired over their many lives a mass of scientific knowledge spread over many fields - and one rogue kalachakra is placing everyone and everything in danger by his pursuit of knowledge and power.
This mix of philosophy, sci-fi and thriller makes for an amazing read. It stretches the reader's imagination in the way that Life After Life did, raising thoughts of what would it be like to live an infinite number of times, to have the opportunity to try on different careers, loves, or lifestyles, against a race-against-time "will the hero save the world' backdrop. It starts excellently, grabbing the reader's attention instantly with hints of the catastrophe that must be averted, and continues well, darting back and forth across Harry's lives, building a personal rivalry between him and the 'villain'. The only slight let down, hence not quite the full 5 star read, was the ending, with the said villain changing from a believable searcher for truth and power into a Bond-style bad guy caricature, lacking only the swivelling chair and a white cat.

Definitely a book that deserves a re-read to see how the plot elements slot together, though I suspect knowing the ending may detract from it.

Maryom's review - 4.5 stars

Publisher - Orbit

Genre - Adult, sci-fi, time travel, thriller

Time and Time Again by Ben Elton

review by Maryom

For over 300 years, the Masters of Trinity College, Cambridge have been closely guarding a secret - that on a certain date in 2024 a loop in time will allow someone to travel back 110 years... to June 1914 a few weeks before the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand sparked a war that engulfed the whole of Europe. If only someone could be sent back in time to alter events and prevent the devastation that is to come ... but that person would be trapped back in 1914 as a new page of history was written...and their family and friends back in the 21st century would cease to exist. Enter retired army captain Hugh Stanton, a man with few friends and, following a tragic car accident, no family. Still mourning his wife and children he has nothing to lose, so when approached by his old professor, now the Master of Trinity, he agrees to this unusual 'mission'.

Following his last novel set in 1930s and 40s Berlin, Ben Elton takes us further back in time to the crucial months in 1914 when Europe was balanced on the brink of war.....and maybe the right man in the right place could have prevented it. Hugh of course is aware that all of his actions, no matter how insignificant, will change history as he knows it - but he can't help but intervene from time to time, with potentially disastrous results. As he seeks to fulfil his mission Hugh saves lives, takes lives and still finds time to fall in love.

It's not an unknown premise for a story - from Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, to Stephen Fry's Making History, or even a Star Trek film - but Elton pulls it off in an original and entertaining way. As a thriller, it didn't really keep me on the edge of my seat, as I fully expected Hugh to complete his task, but the real plot twists come after that.
It's a book which will have you wondering - if I could change history, what would I change, what were the truly pivotal moments, does history turn on the actions of one man or the mass consciousness of nations?

Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Bantam Press
Genre - adult, thriller, time travel, historical fiction

Other reviews; For Winter Nights

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

review by Maryom

Harper is a serial killer with a difference - he's discovered the key to never being caught; the key to a house which enables him to travel through time to commit his atrocious acts and slip away into the past to avoid discovery.
But just once he makes a mistake.... Kirby has survived one of his horrific attacks but feels that there must be women out there who weren't as lucky - and for them as well as herself she wants the attacker brought to justice.

I'd heard a lot of praise being heaped on this book, seen it nominated for awards, praised by other crime writers etc, so when I spotted it at the library I decided it was time to read it. It's certainly an original take for a crime thriller - how can anyone track down a man who can effectively disappear at will? - and raises lots of side-questions particularly about free will, and cause and effect; would Harper have become such a monster without the house? was he lured into committing these murders because of the 'memorabilia' he found in the house or would he have acted this way regardless? 
Even without getting into such muddy waters, it's a compelling read, one which gives as much thought to the victims as to the perpetrator. All of Harper's 'shining girls' have special qualities, something that makes them stand out from the crowd, which makes their deaths seem even more tragic.

As with any good time travelling novel, there's a satisfying tying off of loose ends, a joining-up of the little random-seeming events to make a closed loop. In a way though this took away some of the tension from the novel - Harper himself notices that there are a finite numbers of victims featured among the house's 'memorabilia', so the reader knows that sooner or later he'll be caught - though the 'how' remains a mystery.

Maryom's review - 4.5
Publisher - Harper Collins (Harper)
Genre - Adult crime thriller