Welcome friend! I mentioned The Memory Collectors in my March wrap up and now that the book is out, here is my review for you. I love time travel and this book has technology that lets people go back in time for an hour. The day they arrive on is unknown and the future is of course, unchangeable. Let’s start at the synopsis:
Four strangers time travel to the past and find themselves stuck on the day all their lives were changed in this stunning speculative mystery from award-winning film and television producer Dete Meserve, perfect for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Wrong Place Wrong Time and The Paradox Hotel.
What would you do if you could spend an hour in your past? Four strangers in the beach town of Ventura, California are about to find out.
Elizabeth aches for one more precious hour with her son who died in a senseless accident. Andy is desperate to find his first love who vanished after a whirlwind romance. Logan craves the rush of surfing and mountain climbing, yearning to reclaim the freedom he lost after a misstep landed him in a wheelchair. Brooke is looking for an hour of relief from the guilt of an unforgivable mistake.
Enter Aeon Expeditions, the groundbreaking time travel invention of Mark Saunders—which allows some lucky clients the chance to spend an hour in their past. Even though Aeon’s technology ensures time travel can’t alter the future, all four clients, including Mark’s ex-wife Elizabeth, yearn to revisit the hour that changed their lives forever.
But when their “hour” extends beyond sixty minutes, they find themselves stranded in the past. As their paths intertwine unexpectedly, they unearth shocking secrets hidden in the shadows of their shared All their lives were shattered the same night on a secluded highway by the beach. As they delve into the hidden truths of that pivotal hour, a startling revelation emerges. They were not alone. Someone else was present, harboring deadly intentions.
The Memory Collectors is a heart-wrenching, genre-bending novel brimming with hope, grief and second chances.
The Memory Collectors – Review
The Memory Collectors is a thought provoking book about the choices we make in life, why we make them, how others may be affected by those choices and judge them without the full picture and which one of them we would do over if we had the chance.
As expected with a technology that allows people to go back in time, it is expensive and few people can afford it but chance brings these people together. The four central characters come from various walks of life.
Elizabeth is the ex-wife of Aeon Expeditions’ founder. The book begins with her visit back in time when her son was seven or eight years old. She has missed him. Though she is back in time, inhabiting her body of back then, her mind is trying to reconcile her grief of loosing her son with being with a younger version of him here. Her ex-husband has gifted with a second visit to the past that takes her to a few days prior to her son’s death and the end of her marriage.
Brooke is the owner of a popular restaurant in town. She had a lovely career and family life until a fateful accident when she killed a man and paralyzed another for life. She served some time in prison and her relationship with her daughter and husband have substantially deteriorated since her release. She can’t remember much about that accident but she knows for sure she was not under any influence.
Logan had a rough time growing up and after a close call with the law, he decided to give up drinking and drugs. His escape ended up being fitness and he would climb mountains, be on the ocean… adventure was his life. Until he was paralyzed by an accident and is now in a wheelchair. Logan returns to feel free again.
Andy is a best selling author. Unfortunately he is heartbroken. He met a girl at a party and they hit off and he knew she was the one for him. But a few days into their whirlwind romance, she disappeared. Andy returns to spend some more time with her.
Dete Meserve does a masterful job of giving all these perspectives and linking them together. Every character had a distinct believable voice. The writing is immersive and the mystery is very curious. The first three are obvious but Andy’s connection is comparatively obscure. As the four spend time in the past, they eventually cross paths and decide to confide in each other that they are actually from the future. Though they cannot change their lives there, maybe they can understand better what happened that night. Maybe with different actions, they can save a life and stop another from being ruined.
I could not stop reading this book and I will always fondly remember reading it with lights out as my baby slept. I was satisfied with how things concluded, new understandings that were reached and new friendships that were forged.
Cherry on the cake is how spending time in the past changed every single one of them. For example, while Logan returned to be in his healthy undamaged body, he found himself opening up to love. He had always been a loner and it was his trip back where he decided to try other ways of being happy, something he hasn’t considered while mourning the loss of his active life.
A fantastic book that readers who enjoy time travel will like! 🙂
Have you read The Memory Collectors or will you be adding it to your TBR?
If your have read it, what did you think of it? Tell me in the comments.
For more time travel reviews, check out this page. Find other new releases in May here!
Many thanks to the publisher for a digital review copy for my honest opinion.
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