Review of: Deja Vu by Ian Hocking (#1 in the Saskia Brandt series)

Genre: Sci-fi, Time Travel

This book was sent to me by the publisher for review for no compensation.  All opinions expressed are my own.

When Saskia Brandt arrives in her office after a depressing long weekend and breakup with her boyfriend, she finds her secretary dead and the blame about to be pinned on her.  With only 12 hours to prove her innocence, she sets about unraveling the mystery, only to arrive at a shocking conclusion.  David Proctor is a renowned professor, but when he gets a call telling him that his intelligent computer is the only one left, it seems he has no choice but to go back to the place where his wife was killed in a bombing twenty years earlier. As the mysteries tighten around Saskia and David, slowly pulling them into the same circle, they must both abandon everything they thought they knew about the events of their lives to discover the truth of their fates.

Sci-fi isn’t one of my usual genres, but time travel fascinates me, particularly when it is complex and very well thought-out. Deja Vu qualified.  From the very first chapter, I felt like it was a roller coaster of action and revelation.

To some extent, it was really difficult to keep up with what was going on in the book.  There were so many little nuances related to the time travel that didn’t make sense until the end.  I think if I had some time to reread it, it’s one of those books that would make more sense on the second time through.

It did read a bit like a brain teaser at points,  but extremely engrossing with some really well thought out, believeable characters.  Since I haven’t read a whole lot of the sci-fi time travel genre, I don’t have anything to really compare it to.  It really doesn’t compare to the historical fiction type time travel novels, because they don’t really focus on the actual act of the time travel or the ramifications of changing the past.  Deja Vu was much more technical and philosophical than that.  So, all I can say is, with my limited experience, I loved it, and I recommend you try it, even if sci-fi time travel isn’t a genre you ever thought you’d enjoy.

I loved it: 5 out of 5 stars.