The Third Rule of Time Travel
Philip Fracassi
Rule One: Travel can only occur to a point within your lifetime. Rule Two: You can only travel for ninety seconds. Rule Three: You can only observe. The rules cannot be broken. In this riveting science fiction novel from acclaimed author Philip Fracassi, a scientist has unlocked the mysteries of time travel. This is not the story you think you know. And the rules are only the beginning. Scientist Beth Darlow has discovered the unimaginable. She's built a machine that allows human consciousness to travel through time—to any point in the traveler's lifetime—and relive moments of their life. An impossible breakthrough, but it's not perfect: the traveler has no way to interact with the past. They can only observe. After Beth's husband, Colson, the co-creator of the machine, dies in a tragic car accident, Beth is left to raise Isabella—their only daughter—and continue the work they started. Mired in grief and threatened by her ruthless CEO, Beth pushes herself to the limit to prove the value of her technology. Then the impossible happens. Simply viewing personal history should not alter the present, but with each new observation she makes, her own timeline begins to warp. As her reality constantly shifts, Beth must solve the puzzles of her past, even if it means forsaking her future.
Publication Year: 2025
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4.5 stars
This book was so much fun. The mix of time travel, corporate secrecy, and unraveling mysteries created a story that was hard to put down. The entire time, it had the eerie, unsettling vibe of The Truman Show, with that creeping sense that something was just off.
Beth’s distress felt so real as everything unraveled. She's grieving, lost, and trying to make sense of a world that suddenly felt unfamiliar. The limited settings worked perfectly, adding to the drama and making it feel like everything was closing in. The secrecy, the paranoia, the feeling that something was lurking just out of reach—it was all done so well.
The writing was smooth and engaging. The scientific details were balanced perfectly, just enough to keep things semi-believable without bogging down the pacing. Towards the ending, I was just as shocked as the characters. The little clues scattered throughout were so well done. I picked up on a few of them, but probably not all of them.
By the 40% mark, the book had its claws in me. The last 20% had me sneaking in pages at work, desperate to see how it would all play out. The tension kept building, and the final moments hit hard. This was such an exciting read. That said, I do have some lingering questions, mostly about Langon Corporation and some of the bigger picture logistics. I don’t need every answer tied up in a neat little bow, but I do wish there was a little more clarity on certain things.
Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for this eARC! All opinions are my own.
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