Quick-take: Good premise. Broken plotlines.

Dan's Review

False memory syndrome has taken hold in New York City. It starts with Barry, a NYC detective, investigating a jumper. She claims to have 2 distinct lives trapped in her mind. Barry fails to save her. So many lives seem to be turned upside down by this "disease" and nobody really knows the cause.

What follows next are 4 distinct stories badly intertwined. There is a time loop mechanic in this book that has very strong promise. It is a very interesting design, but the weak story design are too much for me to ignore.

Warning: this review has some slight spoilers, but I don't know how else to voice my complaints.

First story: The accidental death of Barry's daughter.

I actually consider this to be the best written one. Via the time loop mechanic, Barry manages to travel back in time to save her. The author very skillfully portrays the excitement, the confusion, and the raw emotion of Barry being able to fix the biggest regret of his life. Then the book accurately portrays him continuing to live his life waiting to wake up from what must be a dream, and that there must have been some kind of consequence for this reward. If the book stuck with this story, I would have enjoyed it far more. My only complaint here is the book never actually described why Barry was even sent back. He truly seemed like people were being sent back purely for the lulz.

Second story: The invention of the time chair.

There is an interesting twist in here that I must avoid, but overall, this second story was written decently. Like most great discoveries of nature, the invention was a bit of an accident. Through experimentation, we learned the "rules" of the time mechanic, how to use it, and the after effects. It was all surrounded by some technobabble, but I was down with it.

Third story: The tech is seized by the government.

This part was so bad. Really. It is just too cliche. The government agents want to adjust time to benefit the USA, and Helana is screaming that the tech is too powerful to be trusted. There are colorful speeches about humans progressing and adapting to new wonderful technologies. This storyline has been played out ad nasueum. The author has nothing new to add here, and you can predict what will happen once the speeches start. This whole section could've been scrubbed and nothing would be lost.

Fourth story: Save the world.

I will leave this one without comment for the sake that I may have gone too far in spoiler land. The author does a good job of portraying the frustrations of Barry and Helana, particularly Helana. However, I take severe issue with how completely dumb they seem to be at times. They know a certain event is going to happen, so why aren't they better prepared for it?

Score 3/5. Despite the lack of focus, if the ending was better, this book would've gotten a 4. At least 1 critical "rule" of the time mechanic was broken. Time loops are full of contradictions. The author should have figured out another way to solve the problem. Yes, the book was entertaining, but I was screaming at these idiots too much to fully enjoy it.

If you want a read a better time loop story, I highly recommend Replay by Ken Grimwood.