Would prefer to listen? Click Here for Audio Podcast.
For Joseph Bridgeman, that was the evening when his sister
went missing.
She was only 7 year old. And like all 7 year old girls, she
was the apple of the eyes for her parents and her brother… in fact, she was an
adorable darling for everyone she met. And one day, while she was out at a
funfair with her brother… she … disappeared. Without a trace.
20 years down the line, her brother still blames himself….
Her father gave up on hope and committed suicide and her mother is battling
severe onset dementia. The family has lost most of their fortune, and are about
to lose the family house where Joseph still lives in. Joseph is on the verge of
severe depression, and is plagued by nightmares… He’s advised by his family’s
accountant and a good friend, Martin, to see a hypnotherapist. While Joseph
doesn’t believe in the therapy, he decides to give it a try only to appease
Martin. His first session with Alexia Finch, the hypnotherapist, is a novel
experience for Joseph. It doesn’t seem to have helped him, but when he gets
back home… he realised that he can time travel. As any rational human would,
Joseph FREAKS out.
However, since he’s obsessed with trying to find his sister,
he decides to use his abilities and save her. And what follows next is his
numerous attempts to go back in time, to understand and solve the mystery of
where his sister had vanished.
In his journeys, he enlists help from a bunch of people.
Alexia is one of them. So is Vinny, who is the only true friend he has. And
also from his old pal, Mark who is a professor of mathematical sciences. The
process to explain and bring these people on board with his claim of time
traveling, is rather interesting. And frankly, very believable. And it’s
fun.
The idea of time travel and its repercussions isn’t a new
one in the literary arena. However the way Nick Jones weaves the story about a
brother who wants to save his little sister, at all costs… is a very
heartwarming experience. You see the force of the sheer will that Joseph
wields. The process of his figuring out his abilities, and then honing them to
get better, while fantastical, is very believable. I guess that is the word
that keeps coming to my mind… even with the fantastical things in the novel, be
it the psychometric abilities of Joseph, or the time-travel… the way he handles
all these things, they all seem…. Realistic, believable. Like, If I get the
ability to time travel… I’ll probably do the same things he did. Go about
telling my friends, trying to fix some past mistake, make some money… etc etc.
but honestly, it’s not the time travel that kept me glued to the book. What
truly made me read / listen to the whole book, was Joseph as a character. His
love for his sister, and the sheer belief that he can save her, even after
facing failure after failure…. THAT made me stick to it all.
And then she vanished, is a beautifully written novel. It
was well developed characters, an interesting plotline and a very gripping
narrative. It also had one of the best Audible narrators, Ray Porter, narrating the story. But that’s just
a bonus point. Even without Ray, the book would have stood on it’s own two
legs. The story, with all it’s twists and turns, manages to keep you engaged
all through the book. At no point does the speed or the grip of the story loses
its reader. And the climax, and the twist… are both truly satisfying.
However, I must say that the book deals with depression,
loss of a child, suicide and mental illness issues. So if any of these are your
triggers, please be forewarned.
So in our, “let’s try something new this year” mode… a new
genre… time-travel has been added. I hope you give this a little gem a try. The
next two in the series are equally fascinating, though not a engaging. We will
talk about them some other time. Till the next time, thanks for listening. And
I hope, you keep reading.
Comments
Post a Comment
Have an opinion... Shout it out...