It took me a couple days after finishing In Time for Revenge by Jasper T. Scott to decide what I really thought about it. As the title lets you know right away, it is a story driven by revenge which can be a dark theme. I can’t speak for anyone else, but the idea of revenge sends my thoughts to a darker place than I normally live. And while reading this book, I had no choice but to go there.
I won’t lie, it took me some time to really get into the story. I didn’t like the characters much and there was no time travel for several chapters. On top of that, the author chose to write in first person, present tense. For me, that is always going to be a tough read. But I hung in there and by the time the story really rolling, I was fully invested. Despite starting slow, once the action kicks in, it never stops.
When the story opens, billionaire Byron Gaines and his assistant Grant are in the process of testing their time travel theory, with Byron’s trophy wife, Allison, as witness. Byron’s plans are to offer time travel trips as a product for sale and even though their test is successful, they need more power to really make it work and someplace private to work on it. Even though, Byron suspects his wife and assistant of having an affair, he knows that if they do anything while he’s away, she will lose any money in a divorce thanks to a prenup. Unfortunately for Byron, if he cheats, Allison gets half of his fortune.
While on a trip, she sets him up and gets evidence that he cheated first. But Byron’s trusted butler Theo informs him that Allison and Grant are together in his mansion. Byron is just arrogant enough to assume that whatever happens, he has the money and lawyers to beat Allison in court and heads home. But that is when things get dicey for our not so likeable hero. Byron arrives and is picked up from the airport by his driver, Alex. On the way to his mansion, Byron, suffering from lack of sleep and insomnia, has a drink of rum. He holds himself together long enough to stagger into his mansion and confront his wife and assistant before promptly passing out. When he wakes, Allison and Grant are dead and he’s convinced that he is at fault.
I think that’s all I’ll share with you about the plot. Suffice it to say, Byron’s life goes to pot.
In Time for Revenge is a twisty murder mystery, sci-fi time travel, character driven novel. Some of the twists will be predictable if you’ve read at least a dozen mysteries. I had a few things figured out fairly soon and had to wait for Byron to catch up. But it’s the sci-fi elements that draw you in and keep you going. The time travel descriptions sound science based which is good enough for my un-science oriented brain. I have no idea if any of it is accurate, but that’s okay. Do any of us really expect a time travel novel to 100% proven science?
Byron as the hero is smug and arrogant for the better part of the book. Revenge motivates him through most of his actions but it’s his actions that aren’t related to his revenge plans that show his growth as a man. The real star of this novel, though, is Byron’s dreams of revenge. It drives the whole narrative from chapter 4 to the end. Almost everything that happens to Byron and every one of the supporting characters is a direct result of those revenge plans. Once put into motion, Byron couldn’t stop them if he wanted, so driven to see them through as he was. Which brings to mind this question: If you could time travel for revenge, would you? If someone did something so heinous to you and you had access to time travel, would you go to get some twisted justice?
For me personally, and without going into detail, I’ve had a hurt bad enough that made me fantasize about revenge. It wasn’t fun and it took a lot of love in my life to get past it which is something Byron doesn’t have in the story. While reading the book, I really had to think about what I would have done with access to time travel when I was mid-revenge fantasy? As tempting as it might be, I just can’t see, even in retrospect, how it could’ve ended well. Ultimately, for me then, the answer would have been no. I wouldn’t have time traveled for that reason. To meet someone who was gone before my time, like Marilyn Monroe, sure. But for revenge, definitely not.
There is a quote from the British poet George Herbert that says, “Living well is the best revenge.” It’s something that I learned years ago but it takes Byron Gaines years of bitterness to figure that out.
Maura Goode
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