The first Philip Fracassi book I read, The Boys in the Valley, was a terrifying and relentlessly-paced novel of horror set at the turn of the century in a rural Catholic orphanage for boys. It was equal parts Salem's Lot and Lord of the Flies and I tore through it in a single day.
Fracassi's newest book, The Third Rule of Time Travel, really couldn't be much more different from that one than it is. It's a sci-fi story, a gripping family drama about motherhood, and a tale of a shady capitalist trying to crush everyone in his path. But, you know what? I tore through this one in a single day, too. Fracassi is just that good.
The Third Rule of Time Travel follows Beth, a scientist who, with her late husband, has designed a time machine. Don't think H.G. Wells, though. What this machine actually does is send one's consciousness back to a point in that same person's life to witness it through their own eyes again, and then transmits a recording of that for analysis and review. Oh, and they only get 90 seconds. There are strict rules to follow, rigid guidelines in place to avoid (hopefully) theoretical consequences, and all of the other fun elements of any good time travel story. Things slowly, and inevitably, go wrong. That's why such stories exist, so don't take that as a spoiler of any sort.
The key to any good time travel story, I think, is that it sticks to its own rules and makes at least a passing attempt at an acceptable level of scientific "realism" (for what is, of course, a fictional concept). Fracassi absolutely lives up to the challenge here. One of the most exciting elements of this novel is when the reader starts to notice little changes that the book's characters maybe haven't caught yet. An example would be Beth sitting down and taking a drink out of a mug that we know shouldn't be available for her to do so. It's fascinating stuff that kept me turning page after page.
If the key to a good time travel story is adherence to its rules, the key to a good work of fiction is something simpler: Interesting characters. Beth is a fantastic protagonist. She's smart, angry when driven to it, laments missing the little moments she could be spending with her daughter as she toils on her science project, and is unfaltering in her devotion to her life's work that was created with her late husband Colson. There's also her coworker in the lab, Tariq, who isn't always as easy to get a read on but reveals himself to be more than just some lab assistant over time. The head honcho funding the project is Jim Langan, and you'll recognize him for what he is with quickly. He might be an archetype, but it's the kind that a story like this needs. Throw in other board members, a journalist pushing people's buttons, and a psychiatrist with motives that aren't always clear and there's precisely enough here to keep the story moving at as rapid a pace as it demands. Fracassi never takes his foot off the gas with this one.
There aren't many authors who can effortlessly drift from genre to genre. For every Stephen King there are unfortunately a handful of folks who fail to put the scares in their horror book or the laughs in their satire or the high stakes in their thriller. Luckily for us, Fracassi is proving himself to be one of those rare few walking a similar path as King. Considering the way the time machine in The Third Rule of Time Travel functions, maybe we could call that The Path of the Beam. Just a thought.
4.5/5
My thanks to Orbit Books, Philip Fracassi, and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book. THE THIRD RULE OF TIME TRAVEL will be available on March 18.
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