ARC REVIEW: The Psychology Of Time Travel – by Kate Mascarenhas

Title: The Psychology Of Time Travel
Author: Kate Mascarenhas
Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery
First published: August 9th 2018
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Finished reading: January 23rd 2019
Pages: 336

“Life’s better with a few risks than a lot of regrets.”

*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***

I have heard lots of great things about The Psychology Of Time Travel in the last couple of months, so I was excited to be finally reading it myself. The first thing that stood out for me was the fact that the most important characters are all female. This doesn’t happen too often in the sci-fi genre (that I’m aware of) and it’s good to see female scientifics in the spotlight. This story present time travel in a very interesting way. It was fascinating to see how they first developed the machine and how the company has grown over time, making time travelers into an elite group with their own slang and views on life. The psychological aspect behind time travel is intriguing and The Psychology Of Time Travel will definitely leave its mark and make you wonder how you would react to the effects of time travel. It’s interesting that they cannot go to the distant past; only to when machine was invented onwards. The whole seeing past and future selves does sound a little disturbing though… I think I would go mad myself even though I would probably be aware time travel exists in that situation. This is partly where I had some doubts: the way that so-called ‘one-way travelers’ accept the sudden appearance of time travelers that easily without going crazy. The plot is intricate and constructed in quite a complex way, making sure you will have to pay attention to the different characters and timelines to be able to put together the full puzzle. The mystery around the death in the toy museum and the different characters and their futures are intertwined, and you will slowly learn how everything fits together. The Psychology Of Time Travel is a fascinating debut that left me wondering about how I would react to such situations. Surprisingly low on the sci-fi and high on the psychology, this story is perfect even for those who are not really into the sci-fi genre.

Back in 1967, four female scientists are able to build the world’s first time machine. Just as they are about to present their invention to the world, one of them has a breakdown and the other three exile Barbara from the team… Fifty years later, time travel is a successful business and the three remaining scientists are thriving. Barbara has never forgotten her time as part of the team though and even though her daughter wants to forget that time forever, her granddaughter Ruby feels different. Ruby knows that her grandmother was one of the pioneers… And when Barbara receives a mysterious message about the murder of an unidentified woman in the near future Ruby is determined to find out what will happen.

This story is part sci-fi, part psychology, part murder mystery, part family drama and part romantic fiction. There are a lot of different elements involved in The Psychology Of Time Travel, and somehow they all manage to work together and create a very fascinating debut. The complex plot will have you on your toes as you try to fit everything together, but only in the most positive way. It was interesting to see the different characters evolve over time and the psychology behind time travel is simply intriguing. I loved the details of the time traveler’s slang as well! This book definitely left a mark and will stay with me for quite some time.