One in every of my favorite tropes of science fiction is the flexibility to time-travel and the results of such actions. I believe that it’s as a result of it offers us entry to that concept of “what-if?” and gives a wide range of totally different attainable futures. It could be as a result of I used to be introduced up on Physician Who and one of many first grownup science fiction novels I learn was H G Wells’ The Time Machine. It has clearly had a life-long impact on me – I nonetheless watch George Pal’s movie model (though very totally different!) yearly, over the Christmas season.
The saying goes you could’t hold a good suggestion down – and so I’ve learn many variations of that concept over the previous 50 years or so. Some are higher than others – I nonetheless have an ideal fondness for Connie Willis’ time journey tales from The Doomsday E-book to Blackout and All Clear, which I have a tendency to make use of as my benchmark to check all trendy time journey tales to. (And in the event you haven’t learn any, I completely advocate you do.) However you’ll be able to add work by Harry Turtledove (Crosstime Visitors collection), Stephen King (22/11/63), Audrey Nifenegger (The Time Traveller’s Spouse), Brandon Sanderson (The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, even Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander and lots of, many extra.
Ellery Lloyd (truly two writers) takes these concepts of time journey, that should be fairly well-known to even mainstream readers, and combines them with an selfish inventor/ entrepreneur Inigo Frank, who has invented time journey and turned journey right into a pastime for the very, very, VERY wealthy. (Be at liberty so as to add your individual egomaniacal entrepreneur right here for comparability.) The ability wanted to make the time journey work is a lot that it limits the variety of occasions folks can journey, though Frank hopes to make it extra industrial sooner or later together with his firm Tempus Excursions, who supply the rich an opportunity to witness pivotal moments in historical past.
To immortalise his achievement, Frank enlists award-winning filmmaker Phoebe Hunt to create a fly-on-the-wall documentary. About him and the work the corporate does. On her first day shadowing Inigo, she is about to witness the return of Harry Allen, a billionaire property developer and his household from their journey to London in 1941. However as a substitute of their awe-filled return, she captures the group arriving bloodied and traumatized, with one in all their quantity lacking.
Not solely that, however Phoebe acknowledges the lacking girl. She is aware of not solely that she’s not who she claims to be, however that the lady has each motive to harbour a grudge towards her. And as occasions start to unravel within the current day, it appears more and more clear that the lady had sinister motives for returning to the previous – and that individuals near Phoebe are in peril.
So: in essence, it is a homicide thriller wrapped round a time journey setting. As you would possibly due to this fact count on, all shouldn’t be what it appears. The excellent news for individuals who not often learn such tales is that the science component takes just about a again seat to the crime component. Time to Burn shouldn’t be a narrative of science however of the results of individuals travelling via time. Instructed from the main target of Phoebe, we learn of the results of this crime on the characters we meet.
A few of the characters are pretty stereotypical, with not an excessive amount of depth. Inigo Frank suits the mould of your typical company businessperson. Equally, Harry Allen is a typical blustery self-made millionaire with the grumpy berating angle as well; his son Luke is that younger grownup determined for his father’s consideration, while his spouse Sasha is an influencer, married maybe all-too-quickly. Phoebe and her fellow-journalist associate David are as good as you need them to be.
Because the ebook progresses although a lot of the ebook is concerning the level that not all is solely what it appears to be. Phoebe, for instance, has a secret connection to the Allen household via her previous. There’s a level of setting previous grievances to relaxation right here, as we uncover via the ebook.
In fact, one of many key parts of the novel for me is how a lot time journey is a crucial part of the plot. And there I discovered the outcomes somewhat muddled. For a lot of the ebook the science fiction component takes a again seat, the plot primarily focussing on the again story and flashbacks of the primary characters. The ebook’s energy is extra about the primary characters and fewer so concerning the science-fictional component – maybe unsurprising, as that’s what I perceive Lloyd’s earlier work has tended to give attention to.
I ought to add that the paradox of understanding concerning the future and utilizing that information to alter issues was necessary to the plot, though all of it appeared moderately handy and incidental in the primary. I did marvel what would occur if a whole lot, if not hundreds, of journeys again in time would change issues, though concepts appear to have been glossed over. (See Fritz Leiber’s The Large Time from 1958, for instance.) The creator right here has handled this somewhat by limiting such excursions to the completely wealthy, besides there have been issues that I believed may turn out to be huge points – a lot of this story may have been solved by time-travelling and resetting issues again to fundamentals, earlier than the life-changing occasions occurred, for instance – however would we even know?
On the constructive aspect, many (however not all) of the much-expected plot twists appeared attainable and never simply there for impact.
Fascinated about the ebook when completed, I need to admit that this one didn’t set issues alight for me (pun meant.) Nevertheless, I additionally get the sensation that that is going to be a kind of books that shall be fashionable with individuals who don’t learn a lot science fiction. (I’m imagining all of the “I don’t learn science fiction/time journey tales, however I favored this one!” feedback now….)
For me, Time To Burn was , strong, entertaining learn, but it surely wasn’t a ebook that made me wish to give it some thought an excessive amount of, nor was it notably complicated. While it was good to see a brand new(ish) author deal with among the science-fictional concepts, I couldn’t assist feeling that I’d learn higher, though not as up to date.
Having mentioned that, I believe that crime readers specifically will admire it – the science fiction component shouldn’t be too intimidating, and as is common in a criminal offense drama most parts are tied up conveniently and all is resolved on the finish. (There may be one twist that may very well be taken additional, ought to the creator want it, I believe.)
For me Time to Burn was a narrative that I loved while I learn it, however as soon as learn I think shall be pretty rapidly forgotten – or is that the impact of time journey, I ponder?
© 2026 Mark Yon
Hardback | Macmillan
TIME TO BURN by Ellery Lloyd
July 2026 | 320 pages
ISBN: 978 1035 020 997
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