Scan barcode
A review by jenibus
Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Firstly, minor semantic quibble here, but this book is not a "time loop." It is not Groundhog Day, it is not Russian Doll, we are not reliving the same day over and over trying to fix things, we are going backwards in time to meaningful days to try to avert the murder from occurring.
There are so many themes within this book that I wholeheartedly disagree with. The idea that people who are in love are destined to fall for each other and that no matter what the universe will put them together. The idea that lying for decades is justified if the intention was averting hurt. The idea that a mother's love is this magical transcendent concept that will literally bend time and space to fix things if it means keeping her child safe. The last point I might admittedly disagree with in part because I am not a mother and have not experienced that overwhelming sense of ultimate adoration for a person you helped give life to. But a lot of Jen's motherly narration regarding how she feels about her son and how wonderful and perfect he is rubbed me the wrong way. It didn't get into Freud "Boy Mom TM" levels ever, but I did find it rather difficult to understand or relate to. I do suspect that mothers might feel differently.
I wish we had kept this plot smaller, focused on a smaller time scale to try to stop Todd (the son) from stabbing a seemingly random man on his 18th birthday. Instead the book turns into this decades long family drama of lies and betrayal. The time travel aspect is wholly under utilized in my opinion. That might sound strange since literally the whole book is Jen living in reverse to find out what lies have been told and how it affects the present, but it was less time travel shenanigans and moreso looking back at one's memories and noticing things you didn't before. The beginning of the book did more with Jen trying to figure out the time travel stuff, sorting out what exactly she could do and how she could gain information, but after we start getting further and further out, she stops pushing the boundaries and lives each day pretty much as normal until she can figure out why that day was important. Did that strategy make logical sense? Yeah, but it was also slow and somewhat boring for me as a reader.
I am going to end the review here because I don't want this to be a rant, I can do that in my own time to my husband. Needless to say, I very much did not like this book and would not recommend it to others, even though I'm in the minority of readers by disliking it.
There are so many themes within this book that I wholeheartedly disagree with. The idea that people who are in love are destined to fall for each other and that no matter what the universe will put them together. The idea that lying for decades is justified if the intention was averting hurt. The idea that a mother's love is this magical transcendent concept that will literally bend time and space to fix things if it means keeping her child safe. The last point I might admittedly disagree with in part because I am not a mother and have not experienced that overwhelming sense of ultimate adoration for a person you helped give life to. But a lot of Jen's motherly narration regarding how she feels about her son and how wonderful and perfect he is rubbed me the wrong way. It didn't get into Freud "Boy Mom TM" levels ever, but I did find it rather difficult to understand or relate to. I do suspect that mothers might feel differently.
I wish we had kept this plot smaller, focused on a smaller time scale to try to stop Todd (the son) from stabbing a seemingly random man on his 18th birthday. Instead the book turns into this decades long family drama of lies and betrayal. The time travel aspect is wholly under utilized in my opinion. That might sound strange since literally the whole book is Jen living in reverse to find out what lies have been told and how it affects the present, but it was less time travel shenanigans and moreso looking back at one's memories and noticing things you didn't before. The beginning of the book did more with Jen trying to figure out the time travel stuff, sorting out what exactly she could do and how she could gain information, but after we start getting further and further out, she stops pushing the boundaries and lives each day pretty much as normal until she can figure out why that day was important. Did that strategy make logical sense? Yeah, but it was also slow and somewhat boring for me as a reader.
I am going to end the review here because I don't want this to be a rant, I can do that in my own time to my husband. Needless to say, I very much did not like this book and would not recommend it to others, even though I'm in the minority of readers by disliking it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent