Book Review by Robert Wiersema by Kelley Armstrong Normally in this column, I try to limit myself to discussing a single book. This time, though, I’m going to be talking about a series, now up to three books. There are three good reasons for talking about this series as a whole: first, it’s summer. You deserve something you can really sink your teeth into. Second, the books are so closely linked, that it’s difficult to talk about one without talking about the others. And third, the books in Kelley Armstrong’s Rip Through Time series are so good, so compulsive, you won’t be able to stop with one. Kelley Armstrong is one of Canada’s best-selling and most prolific writers of the last quarter century. While her books tend to skew a little younger (she produced a number of young adult and teen works), she is comfortable in the fantasy, mystery and romance genres. And with the Rip Through Time series, she whips those genres together into an irresistible confection. Let’s start with the premise: A Rip Through Time begins in 2019 with Mallory Atkinson, a Vancouver homicide detective visiting Edinburgh to be with her dying grandmother. One evening, while jogging in the Grassmarket, Atkinson hears screaming down an alley. On rushing to investigate, she is attacked, strangled and wakes in the body – and time – of Catriona Mitchell, a comely 19-year-old housemaid who was attacked and left for dead in the same alley, in the very same spot, 150 years earlier. Yes, it’s now 1869 and our very contemporary heroine – sarcastic and smart – must adjust to life in Victorian Scotland, and quickly. She must also adjust to life in the household of Duncan Gray, whose official job as an undertaker allows him to pursue his scientific curiosity as an unofficial medical examiner working with the Edinburgh police, in particular, Hugh McCreadie, an earnest, open-minded detective. Gray’s sister, Isla, is a chemist (not a job usually undertaken by women in those times), who quickly comes to be a part of their informal investigative team. That teamwork is crucial, especially as it begins to seem as if Atkinson’s modern-day attacker may, like her, have been transported back in time to continue his killing spree in a world free of forensics and investigative science. The premise, though – compelling as it is (a time travel mystery series with romantic overtones? Sign me up!) – is just part of what makes these novels so irresistible. Armstrong has a deft hand with the characters, never allowing them to fall into cliché, preferring, instead, to highlight each person’s internal struggles. While Mallory, for example, is desperate to get home – she has a family and a career there, and is worried that Catriona, who is emphatically not the innocent one might expect, might be wreaking havoc on her modern life – she also finds much to endear her to the earlier time, including the closeness which develops between her and her intimates. The three novels are smart, well-plotted and gloriously imagined: they’re witty, often funny and genuinely surprising. The one caveat I have, though, is that you really need to start at the beginning, not just for narrative reasons (the books really are, in part, one long story), but because you won’t want to miss a single bit of this wonderful series. Perfect for summer reading. The series Book One: A Rip Through Time • Book Two: The Poisoner’s Ring • Book Three: Disturbing the Dead A Rip Through Time CSANews | SUMMER 2024 | 39
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