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ashpson 's review for:
Wrong Place Wrong Time
by Gillian McAllister
The story had an interesting premise, and I thought the concept of jumping backward in time at seemingly random intervals was fairly unique. Initially, I thought this was going to be a Groundhog Day type of story, but I was pleasantly surprised when it took a different direction. That said, I felt that the pacing was a bit off throughout.
There are some lingering questions and grievances that I can’t overlook. For example, we are frequently reminded that Jen is a lawyer, and therefore very analytical and observant. But multiple days are essentially wasted at the beginning because she spends a ton of time doing things like taking notes or explaining (or re-explaining) her situation that will not survive her “resets”.
Regarding pacing, the subplot with Andy, the physics professor, was revisited several times but did not add anything to the story or advance the plot in a meaningful way.
I also found Ryan/Kelly’s decision to completely abandon his role as a police officer after only having known Jen for a few days didn’t seem plausible at all. His justification for illegally keeping his persona didn’t seem well thought out and I had trouble buying into it.
Most importantly, we never really get a valid motivation behind Todd stabbing Joseph Jones - the crime that set everything in motion! Jen even admits at one point that “protecting Kelly” was a flimsy reason, and we never really got a better explanation. Given that Todd is described as smart and logical, I struggle to understand why he believed that this was the only possible solution.
There are some lingering questions and grievances that I can’t overlook. For example, we are frequently reminded that Jen is a lawyer, and therefore very analytical and observant. But multiple days are essentially wasted at the beginning because she spends a ton of time doing things like taking notes or explaining (or re-explaining) her situation that will not survive her “resets”.
Regarding pacing, the subplot with Andy, the physics professor, was revisited several times but did not add anything to the story or advance the plot in a meaningful way.
I also found Ryan/Kelly’s decision to completely abandon his role as a police officer after only having known Jen for a few days didn’t seem plausible at all. His justification for illegally keeping his persona didn’t seem well thought out and I had trouble buying into it.
Most importantly, we never really get a valid motivation behind Todd stabbing Joseph Jones - the crime that set everything in motion! Jen even admits at one point that “protecting Kelly” was a flimsy reason, and we never really got a better explanation. Given that Todd is described as smart and logical, I struggle to understand why he believed that this was the only possible solution.