Book Review: The Third Rule of Time Travel by Philip Fracassi

 

 The Third Rule of Time Travel by Philip Fracassi

336 pages, Paperback
Expected publication March 18, 2025 by Orbit

Certain authors gain respect and become immediate commitments from me. As in I am reading whatever the heck they put out. I have not read everything by Philip Fracassi yet, but he won me over with a short story, and last year Boys in Valley did an amazing job grabbing me with one of the subgenres I am not a huge fan of - the possession novel. When I interviewed him for that book he was talking about working on this one, and I was excited that he was doing Science Fiction.

I have to be a little careful as the book is not out until March.  My mission is to get you to pre-order this bad boy. This review will avoid spoilers but the deeper into this review you get the more risk there is, that I will accidentally let something slip.

Philip Fracassi recently posted an article about Richard Matheson, and I was not shocked. As I was reading this one I kept thinking about Matheson. The Third Rule of Time Travel is the most Matheson novel I have ever read, that didn’t have his name on it.  It is an emotionally driven drama built out of a fantasy concept, that flirts with Science Fiction. An emotional story that can’t happen without the gee-whiz, but the fantasy is less of the point.  It doesn’t waste any time on world-building or SF conventions and is 200% focused on the emotional heartbreak at the center. It will be tear-inducing for readers who allow it into their hearts.

Trust me yet? Pre-order. Maybe come back in March…

“Rule: Travel can only occur to a point within your lifetime.

Rule: You can only travel for ninety seconds.

Rule: You can only observe.

The rules cannot be broken.”

It is not really a spoiler that the rules are broken eventually, but how it happens is of course part of what makes the book work. I love the premise and the set-up. Colson and Beth Darlow are the inventors who invented this time machine. The story takes more than a couple of decades in the future and it is a bold and interesting choice, that PF doesn’t write about this world. It is focused entirely on the characters. In most writer’s hands that would have annoyed and distracted me. In this case, it worked just fine.

When the novel opens Beth is trying to hold it together for her daughter Isabella, because they lost Colson in a car accident.  Of course, she blames herself and you could imagine wondering how a couple entangled in time travel could be so connected to an accident and howthat relates to rules.  

The novel does work to help the reader understand how time travel works…

“Remember I’m The Time Machine. That thing (Darlow points to the actual machine)  is a conduit. A doorway. An expansion of the hippocampus. So no, I can’t travel outside of my own memories my own timeline. It’s just not possible theoretically or otherwise. Since it’s my consciousness going through the wormhole, I can only travel where I existed. Period. That wormhole leads to another part of me.”

Time travel in this novel is not controlled, you travel back to moments in your own life. Your brain chooses this, you can’t set a target. This results in Beth or the traveler going back to tragic moments.  This means Fracassi can use his strength as a horror writer.  It is most on display when Colson the dead father starts appearing to Isabella and the reveal is excellent.

“But I'm not asleep. When I see him, I mean. I'm only pretending. And it's not in a dream.”

Eyes adjusting to the dim light, Beth sees that Isabelle is now sitting up, pointing to the foot of her bed.

“He stands right there.”

Beth does her best to ignore the chill crawling up her spine.

No. No more.

That is when Beth starts to suspect that a future her, or Colson in another timeline have broken the rules and this is where the novel comes to life.

“Think about this, Beth. What if these tragedies in your life, the ones you're forced to replay in the present, what if they aren't be our true past at all?

Beth shakes her head. “what are you talking about?”

I'm saying, what if the tragedies aren't something you simply experience when you travel? What if they were caused by your travel?”

The Third Rule of Time Travel by Philip Fracassi is as Matheson in tone and nature as many Lovecraftian authors representing Howie. In all the right ways I felt the influence dripping off every page. Still it is a Philip Fracassi novel, a master of the craft who always makes the right call for the narrative.  I don’t know that I give a better compliment, than this. I read books I enjoyed more than this one this year, but this might be the most solidly written NEW book I read this year. I read most of it on a flight back from Portland and had a Detroit Lions Sunday night football game. That made me smile, as the author is a Lions guy. While his Detroit Lions were coming from behind to beat the Texans I was experiencing an author pulling a perfect game. No dropped passes, a perfect Quarterback rating.