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The Third Rule of Time Travel
Rule One: Travel can only occur to a point within your lifetime.
Rule Two: You can only travel for ninety seconds.
Rule Three: You can only observe.
The rules cannot be broken.
In this riveting science fiction novel from acclaimed author Philip Fracassi, a scientist has unlocked the mysteries of time travel. This is not the story you think you know. And the rules are only the beginning.
Scientist Beth Darlow has discovered the unimaginable. She's built a machine that allows human consciousness to travel through time—to any point in the traveler's lifetime—and relive moments of their life. An impossible breakthrough, but it's not perfect: the traveler has no way to interact with the past. They can only observe.
After Beth's husband, Colson, the co-creator of the machine, dies in a tragic car accident, Beth is left to raise Isabella—their only daughter—and continue the work they started. Mired in grief and threatened by her ruthless CEO, Beth pushes herself to the limit to prove the value of her technology.
Then the impossible happens. Simply viewing personal history should not alter the present, but with each new observation she makes, her own timeline begins to warp.
As her reality constantly shifts, Beth must solve the puzzles of her past, even if it means forsaking her future.
Rule Two: You can only travel for ninety seconds.
Rule Three: You can only observe.
The rules cannot be broken.
In this riveting science fiction novel from acclaimed author Philip Fracassi, a scientist has unlocked the mysteries of time travel. This is not the story you think you know. And the rules are only the beginning.
Scientist Beth Darlow has discovered the unimaginable. She's built a machine that allows human consciousness to travel through time—to any point in the traveler's lifetime—and relive moments of their life. An impossible breakthrough, but it's not perfect: the traveler has no way to interact with the past. They can only observe.
After Beth's husband, Colson, the co-creator of the machine, dies in a tragic car accident, Beth is left to raise Isabella—their only daughter—and continue the work they started. Mired in grief and threatened by her ruthless CEO, Beth pushes herself to the limit to prove the value of her technology.
Then the impossible happens. Simply viewing personal history should not alter the present, but with each new observation she makes, her own timeline begins to warp.
As her reality constantly shifts, Beth must solve the puzzles of her past, even if it means forsaking her future.
325 pages, Paperback
First published March 18, 2025
266 people are currently reading
18.3k people want to read
About the author
Philip Fracassi
73books1,558followersPhilip Fracassi is an award-winning author and screenwriter living in Los Angeles.
His debut collection of short horror, BEHOLD THE VOID, won "Story Collection of the Year" award from both This Is Horror and Strange Aeons Magazine.
His new collection, BENEATH A PALE SKY, arrives June, 2021, and his debut novel, BOYS IN THE VALLEY, comes out on Halloween day, 2021.
His stories have been printed in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Best Horror of the Year, Black Static, Cemetery Dance, and Nightmare Magazine. His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, LOCUS Magazine, Rue Morgue and many others.
His screenplays include the Lifetime thriller Girl Missing and Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups, from Disney. Both are available as VOD.
Follow Philip on Facebook and Twitter (@philipfracassi), or visit his website at .
His debut collection of short horror, BEHOLD THE VOID, won "Story Collection of the Year" award from both This Is Horror and Strange Aeons Magazine.
His new collection, BENEATH A PALE SKY, arrives June, 2021, and his debut novel, BOYS IN THE VALLEY, comes out on Halloween day, 2021.
His stories have been printed in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Best Horror of the Year, Black Static, Cemetery Dance, and Nightmare Magazine. His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, LOCUS Magazine, Rue Morgue and many others.
His screenplays include the Lifetime thriller Girl Missing and Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups, from Disney. Both are available as VOD.
Follow Philip on Facebook and Twitter (@philipfracassi), or visit his website at .
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 419 reviews
March 22, 2025
A tour de force in time travel fiction.
"There's something awe-inspiring about being able to stand beneath this metal monster that is waiting to turn my brain, my humanity, into bits and bytes, then suck the whole thing away, beam it to another time, another place."
I'm going to be honest, I came into this read not expecting too much. I had previously read one of Philip Fracassi's novels and although I didn't hate it, it certainly wasn't a book that left me in awe. This book was a completely different kettle of fish. Put it this way, I devoured this within a 24-hour period. That is unheard of for me unless I'm reading a short story, which this certainly isn't.
The book follows our main character (Beth) during the testing of a scientific device that for all intents and purposes is a time travel machine. Yes we are treading ground that has been well trodden over the years and some might say is rather cliche or even so overused that it's boring, but that's where they're wrong.
Philip Fracassi has somehow managed to create something that flows effortlessly and pulls the reader in every step of the way. Yes there are some common tropes and the language isn't overly elaborate but this doesn't detract from what is a thoroughly engrossing, emotional and sometimes shocking story.
"..humans are made up of memories. It's the constitution of who we are. Our minds hold the reflections of a billion lives, infinite parallel worlds...but only fate can decide which of those we are allowed to see and touch."
Ultimately what I'm trying to say is that it was an amazing read and a testament to the author's ability to tell a great story.
Read this on sight!
I received an advanced copy for free and I'm leaving this unbiased review voluntarily.
"There's something awe-inspiring about being able to stand beneath this metal monster that is waiting to turn my brain, my humanity, into bits and bytes, then suck the whole thing away, beam it to another time, another place."
I'm going to be honest, I came into this read not expecting too much. I had previously read one of Philip Fracassi's novels and although I didn't hate it, it certainly wasn't a book that left me in awe. This book was a completely different kettle of fish. Put it this way, I devoured this within a 24-hour period. That is unheard of for me unless I'm reading a short story, which this certainly isn't.
The book follows our main character (Beth) during the testing of a scientific device that for all intents and purposes is a time travel machine. Yes we are treading ground that has been well trodden over the years and some might say is rather cliche or even so overused that it's boring, but that's where they're wrong.
Philip Fracassi has somehow managed to create something that flows effortlessly and pulls the reader in every step of the way. Yes there are some common tropes and the language isn't overly elaborate but this doesn't detract from what is a thoroughly engrossing, emotional and sometimes shocking story.
"..humans are made up of memories. It's the constitution of who we are. Our minds hold the reflections of a billion lives, infinite parallel worlds...but only fate can decide which of those we are allowed to see and touch."
Ultimately what I'm trying to say is that it was an amazing read and a testament to the author's ability to tell a great story.
Read this on sight!
I received an advanced copy for free and I'm leaving this unbiased review voluntarily.
Want to read
November 12, 2024I won a giveaway! WOOHOO!
March 17, 2025
As you can tell from the title, this is a time travel sci-fi thriller. Something different to the usual horror that I have read by Fracassi and not a genre I read much of, but I really enjoyed this! This was exciting and fast paced. The chapters were short and I just wanted to keep reading to see what would unfold next. Each time the main character travelled back in time it was having a butterfly effect on
the present timeline. I enjoyed noticing the subtle changes that were happening throughout the story as well as some big, disastrous changes and hoping that it would all work out in the end! I think if you enjoy Blake Crouch kind of books, you will enjoy this.
the present timeline. I enjoyed noticing the subtle changes that were happening throughout the story as well as some big, disastrous changes and hoping that it would all work out in the end! I think if you enjoy Blake Crouch kind of books, you will enjoy this.
January 19, 2025
3.0 Stars
I have read and enjoyed this author's horror books so I was eager to read hid take on science fiction. This was a reasonably engaging work but it didn't feel like the author was writing to his strengths. As a piece of science fiction, I found this one very surface level. Given the subgenre, I didn't expect it to be grounded in much science. I would primarily recommend this one to thriller readers who are open to a time travel element.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
I have read and enjoyed this author's horror books so I was eager to read hid take on science fiction. This was a reasonably engaging work but it didn't feel like the author was writing to his strengths. As a piece of science fiction, I found this one very surface level. Given the subgenre, I didn't expect it to be grounded in much science. I would primarily recommend this one to thriller readers who are open to a time travel element.
Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
March 30, 2025
“I am just not in your world anymore..or..I don’t know, your version of it. So you’re talking about dimensions? He thinks about this. Yes and no. Like I said it’s impossible to put it into a scientific construct you’d understand, that any human mind could even remotely comprehend.�
April 16, 2025
Time Travel. If it was actually possible, and at points in this novel Fracassi makes it feel that it truly could be, would you do it? In the majority of the stories I've read, the characters travel backwards into the past. The past is where our mistakes and wishes lie so that makes perfect sense. It's how most of us readers connect with a book about time. Whereas a other books disobey certain realities, or simply ignore them, the time travel here in this book is limited to a 90 second window. Science will not allow a longer travel. Rules cannot be broken, or can they? Philip Fracassi creates something original by balancing both the feasibility of technology with a thoughtful, character driven story. The human side of this story wins of course, meaning it's what I enjoyed most, and I believe it's where the author shines. In the past books of his I've read the same can be said � emotion and connection are the strengths of the plot.
The antagonist position didn't work as well, possibly by coming on too strong. And although I felt the main character's (Beth) losses as true pain, I wanted to know certain characters with more depth. Other readers may not say the same, so read the book. This is the fourth Fracassi book I've read. Horror, Sci-fi, and a mix of straight up fiction. The dude kinda writes it all.
The antagonist position didn't work as well, possibly by coming on too strong. And although I felt the main character's (Beth) losses as true pain, I wanted to know certain characters with more depth. Other readers may not say the same, so read the book. This is the fourth Fracassi book I've read. Horror, Sci-fi, and a mix of straight up fiction. The dude kinda writes it all.
August 4, 2024
GIVE
IT
TO
ME
RACHEL
PLEASEEEE
IT
TO
ME
RACHEL
PLEASEEEE
March 16, 2025
Philip Fracassi’s The Third Rule of Time Travel isn’t your typical time travel story. It doesn’t get bogged down in the mechanics of quantum physics or paradoxes. Instead, it leans into something much more unsettling: the emotional weight of revisiting the past and the creeping horror of realizing you might not be as powerless as you thought.
Beth Darlow’s invention—a machine that allows people to relive moments from their own lifetime—was never supposed to change anything. She and her husband, Colson, designed it, but it came with strict rules: you can only go back within your own lifespan, you can only stay for ninety seconds, and you can only observe. No interacting. No influencing. No do-overs. But after Colson’s sudden death, Beth becomes consumed by her grief, using the machine not just as a scientific breakthrough, but as a lifeline to the past. Then, things start shifting. Subtly at first. But soon, her present is unraveling in ways she can’t explain—and the past might not be as fixed as she once believed.
Fracassi masterfully blends science fiction with a hint of both thriller and horror. The rules of time travel create a fascinating constraint, but it’s their gradual unraveling that fuels the book’s tension. There’s something deeply eerie about memory being the conduit for time travel—especially when trauma is involved. The novel taps into the universal human experience of looking back on pivotal moments, wondering what might have been different. But here, Beth isn’t just wondering—she’s watching. And watching isn’t as harmless as she once thought.
Beth is a compelling character: brilliant, grieving, and increasingly desperate as she realizes the machine isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. The real horror isn’t just in the shifting timeline; it’s in the psychological toll of Beth’s obsession and the chilling realization that she might not be just looking back.
Fracassi’s prose is brilliant and deliberate, slowly ratcheting up the suspense. The novel’s slow-burn pacing allows tension to simmer before delivering a gut-punch of a climax. While there are thriller elements, the novel is more about emotional stakes than high-speed chases or explosive action. It’s about grief, regret, and the terrifying possibility of inadvertently changing what lies in the past.
Would you relive a moment from your past if it meant risking everything in your present? The Third Rule of Time Travel dares to ask—and the answers are more terrifying than you think.
Fans of psychological sci-fi and horror, this book is both thought-provoking and unsettling. It’s a read that lingers, not just because of its clever premise, but because of the raw emotion woven into its pages.
Thank you to Orbit Books for providing me with an advanced copy of this book for review.
Beth Darlow’s invention—a machine that allows people to relive moments from their own lifetime—was never supposed to change anything. She and her husband, Colson, designed it, but it came with strict rules: you can only go back within your own lifespan, you can only stay for ninety seconds, and you can only observe. No interacting. No influencing. No do-overs. But after Colson’s sudden death, Beth becomes consumed by her grief, using the machine not just as a scientific breakthrough, but as a lifeline to the past. Then, things start shifting. Subtly at first. But soon, her present is unraveling in ways she can’t explain—and the past might not be as fixed as she once believed.
Fracassi masterfully blends science fiction with a hint of both thriller and horror. The rules of time travel create a fascinating constraint, but it’s their gradual unraveling that fuels the book’s tension. There’s something deeply eerie about memory being the conduit for time travel—especially when trauma is involved. The novel taps into the universal human experience of looking back on pivotal moments, wondering what might have been different. But here, Beth isn’t just wondering—she’s watching. And watching isn’t as harmless as she once thought.
Beth is a compelling character: brilliant, grieving, and increasingly desperate as she realizes the machine isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. The real horror isn’t just in the shifting timeline; it’s in the psychological toll of Beth’s obsession and the chilling realization that she might not be just looking back.
Fracassi’s prose is brilliant and deliberate, slowly ratcheting up the suspense. The novel’s slow-burn pacing allows tension to simmer before delivering a gut-punch of a climax. While there are thriller elements, the novel is more about emotional stakes than high-speed chases or explosive action. It’s about grief, regret, and the terrifying possibility of inadvertently changing what lies in the past.
Would you relive a moment from your past if it meant risking everything in your present? The Third Rule of Time Travel dares to ask—and the answers are more terrifying than you think.
Fans of psychological sci-fi and horror, this book is both thought-provoking and unsettling. It’s a read that lingers, not just because of its clever premise, but because of the raw emotion woven into its pages.
Thank you to Orbit Books for providing me with an advanced copy of this book for review.
March 15, 2025
After reading BOYS IN THE VALLEY and not fully clicking with it, I knew my instincts were right - I LOVE this author’s writing style, the topic of that novel just wasn’t something that particularly interested me. But time travel? Sign me up!
This was an incredibly engaging sci-fi story with a focus on your main character’s experience vs an overwhelming science-based story, so don’t be too intimated by the time travel/multi-universe of it all.
While at times I felt the pacing to be a bit slow, I was very connected to Beth as a main character and rooting for her through her struggles and grief. As her timeline begins to warp, the story takes on a slight horror-like quality as well that I appreciated. The ending has some interesting reveals and an emotional resolution that even made me tear up a bit. I will definitely be exploring more from this author!
Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions remain my own.
This was an incredibly engaging sci-fi story with a focus on your main character’s experience vs an overwhelming science-based story, so don’t be too intimated by the time travel/multi-universe of it all.
While at times I felt the pacing to be a bit slow, I was very connected to Beth as a main character and rooting for her through her struggles and grief. As her timeline begins to warp, the story takes on a slight horror-like quality as well that I appreciated. The ending has some interesting reveals and an emotional resolution that even made me tear up a bit. I will definitely be exploring more from this author!
Thank you to the publisher for granting me access to an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions remain my own.
March 19, 2025
Update 3/18/25: Reposting my review to celebrate that today is publication day!
Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for sending me an ARC of The Third Rule of Time Travel in exchange for an honest review.
Beth Darlow and her husband Colson built an actual time machine, one that allows the traveller to travel anywhere within their own lifetime, to only observe, for up to 90 seconds. But Colson died in a tragic car accident almost a year ago, leaving Beth not only to raise their 4-year-old daughter, but also to try to protect their invention and solve how the machine determines the arrival point in the past she travels to. It’s a delicate balance, and it’s not clear she’s succeeding, but when Beth begins to believe that—impossibly—her travels to her past are changing her present, everything in her life threatens to unravel �.
The Third Rule of Time Travel does a good job of slowly ratcheting up the tension in Beth’s life so that it’s not clear what is real and what she may be imagining. As it built towards its climax, it was pretty clear how the story was going to end, though her final trip in the machine was a good bit � weirder than I expected based on the rest of the book. A solid, though not spectacular, time travel story. Recommended. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
This time she gets the look she expected. Lucy goggles at her. “No way.�
Beth nods. “Yes way. Been working on it for a decade. Got a big lab, a giant machine, the whole nine frickin� yards. Obviously, there are limitations, and it’s not what you think, or what you’ve read in books or seen in movies. But still, it’s pretty damn cool.�
Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for sending me an ARC of The Third Rule of Time Travel in exchange for an honest review.
Beth Darlow and her husband Colson built an actual time machine, one that allows the traveller to travel anywhere within their own lifetime, to only observe, for up to 90 seconds. But Colson died in a tragic car accident almost a year ago, leaving Beth not only to raise their 4-year-old daughter, but also to try to protect their invention and solve how the machine determines the arrival point in the past she travels to. It’s a delicate balance, and it’s not clear she’s succeeding, but when Beth begins to believe that—impossibly—her travels to her past are changing her present, everything in her life threatens to unravel �.
The Third Rule of Time Travel does a good job of slowly ratcheting up the tension in Beth’s life so that it’s not clear what is real and what she may be imagining. As it built towards its climax, it was pretty clear how the story was going to end, though her final trip in the machine was a good bit � weirder than I expected based on the rest of the book. A solid, though not spectacular, time travel story. Recommended. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
February 20, 2025
The nitty-gritty: An intriguing mystery that focuses on the emotional relationships between the characters, The Third Rule of Time Travel is a different take on the time travel trope.
Philip Fracassi, who is known for writing horror, turns to science fiction in his latest, a twisty, thought provoking time travel story. Time travel is a tricky subgenre to tackle, so I was a little wary going into this story, but I loved the author’s take on it, especially the strong emotional elements.
Beth Darlow is a physicist who, along with her late husband Colson, invented a time travel machine that allows a “traveler� to revisit a moment in their past, but only for ninety seconds at a time. Through use of a powerful laser, the subject’s consciousness is transported through a wormhole, while the physical body remains in the machine. Several years before, Beth and Colson decided to sell their technology to a tech company called Langan Corporation, which gave them the opportunity to continue their work with salaries and benefits, not to mention that Langan would supply the funds needed for such an expensive endeavor.
But Beth’s life changed forever when Colson was killed in a car accident, leaving her to continue their work alone. Now, on the anniversary of his death, Beth is told by the company’s owner Jim Langan that funding for the project is running out. Jim insists on bringing a journalist in to write an article about the machine, hoping to attract investors.
Beth agrees to demonstrate how she travels with the journalist present, but when she returns from her trip, everything begins to unravel. She thinks she sees Colson in the park—impossible since he’s dead—and of course, no one believes her. Past memories are haunting her, but she can’t make sense of them. Beth needs to find out the truth about what happened to her before she cracks—and before Jim decides he doesn’t need her anymore.
Fracassi builds his time travel theory around memories, especially emotional ones, and every time Beth travels, the machine takes her back to a traumatic moment in her past—and she’s had a lot of them. One of the “rules� of time travel is that the arrival points are random and the traveler doesn’t get to pick where they go. I loved this idea because it gives the story a sense of uncertainty. Maybe you want to go back and experience meeting your husband for the first time, but instead the machine takes you to the day your father died, for example. One of the things that Beth and her assistant Tariq are trying to figure out is how to control the machine, otherwise it won’t have any value for commercial use.
This idea of memory makes the story very emotional, especially for Beth, who is the one doing the traveling. Fracassi knows how to tug at the reader’s heartstrings as poor Beth is forced to relive several very painful memories from her past. Beth’s four year old daughter Isabella is also central to the story, and there’s a interesting twist involving Isabella that makes the emotions run even higher.
Fracassi also includes some thriller elements, as Beth is pitted against Langan Corp and finds herself in danger. But don’t expect “thriller� on the level of Blake Crouch, for example, as the focus is mostly on Beth’s journey to find the truth.
The author does a great job of dropping hints about what’s happening to Beth, and you have to read carefully to catch them. Eventually he touches on things like alternate realities and dimensions, giving the reader lots to think about.
There were a couple of things that didn’t work for me, though. First, I didn’t believe for a second that Beth was a brilliant scientist who invented a time travel machine. The author doesn’t go very deep into the ins and outs of how the machine works or what sort of professional experience Beth and Colson have, and adding more technical talk about the machine and the process of traveling would have helped in that respect. Beth is an emotional wreck for most of the story, which doesn’t really say “brilliant scientist� to me, and she also gets angry quite easily, yelling at her boss and coworkers when she doesn’t agree with them.
The science was on the light side as well, and I would have liked more depth in that area to make the time travel more believable. Beth and her assistant Tariq are constantly “analyzing data� from her trips through time, but they never really do anything else. I also found it odd that such a big, important project wouldn’t have more people working on it. As far as I could tell it was just Beth and Tariq—Beth doing the traveling and Tariq monitoring her while she was hooked up to the machine. It just didn’t make sense to me.
I loved the ending, though, which wraps up Beth’s emotional journey in a very satisfying way. I had plenty of theories as I was reading about how the story would end, and I sort of got the the ending I hoped for, but somehow it was even better than I imagined. Even if you balk at time travel stories, Fracassi fans will not want to miss The Third Rule of Time Travel, and new readers should try this if you love emotional, character driven sci-fi mysteries.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
Philip Fracassi, who is known for writing horror, turns to science fiction in his latest, a twisty, thought provoking time travel story. Time travel is a tricky subgenre to tackle, so I was a little wary going into this story, but I loved the author’s take on it, especially the strong emotional elements.
Beth Darlow is a physicist who, along with her late husband Colson, invented a time travel machine that allows a “traveler� to revisit a moment in their past, but only for ninety seconds at a time. Through use of a powerful laser, the subject’s consciousness is transported through a wormhole, while the physical body remains in the machine. Several years before, Beth and Colson decided to sell their technology to a tech company called Langan Corporation, which gave them the opportunity to continue their work with salaries and benefits, not to mention that Langan would supply the funds needed for such an expensive endeavor.
But Beth’s life changed forever when Colson was killed in a car accident, leaving her to continue their work alone. Now, on the anniversary of his death, Beth is told by the company’s owner Jim Langan that funding for the project is running out. Jim insists on bringing a journalist in to write an article about the machine, hoping to attract investors.
Beth agrees to demonstrate how she travels with the journalist present, but when she returns from her trip, everything begins to unravel. She thinks she sees Colson in the park—impossible since he’s dead—and of course, no one believes her. Past memories are haunting her, but she can’t make sense of them. Beth needs to find out the truth about what happened to her before she cracks—and before Jim decides he doesn’t need her anymore.
Fracassi builds his time travel theory around memories, especially emotional ones, and every time Beth travels, the machine takes her back to a traumatic moment in her past—and she’s had a lot of them. One of the “rules� of time travel is that the arrival points are random and the traveler doesn’t get to pick where they go. I loved this idea because it gives the story a sense of uncertainty. Maybe you want to go back and experience meeting your husband for the first time, but instead the machine takes you to the day your father died, for example. One of the things that Beth and her assistant Tariq are trying to figure out is how to control the machine, otherwise it won’t have any value for commercial use.
This idea of memory makes the story very emotional, especially for Beth, who is the one doing the traveling. Fracassi knows how to tug at the reader’s heartstrings as poor Beth is forced to relive several very painful memories from her past. Beth’s four year old daughter Isabella is also central to the story, and there’s a interesting twist involving Isabella that makes the emotions run even higher.
Fracassi also includes some thriller elements, as Beth is pitted against Langan Corp and finds herself in danger. But don’t expect “thriller� on the level of Blake Crouch, for example, as the focus is mostly on Beth’s journey to find the truth.
The author does a great job of dropping hints about what’s happening to Beth, and you have to read carefully to catch them. Eventually he touches on things like alternate realities and dimensions, giving the reader lots to think about.
There were a couple of things that didn’t work for me, though. First, I didn’t believe for a second that Beth was a brilliant scientist who invented a time travel machine. The author doesn’t go very deep into the ins and outs of how the machine works or what sort of professional experience Beth and Colson have, and adding more technical talk about the machine and the process of traveling would have helped in that respect. Beth is an emotional wreck for most of the story, which doesn’t really say “brilliant scientist� to me, and she also gets angry quite easily, yelling at her boss and coworkers when she doesn’t agree with them.
The science was on the light side as well, and I would have liked more depth in that area to make the time travel more believable. Beth and her assistant Tariq are constantly “analyzing data� from her trips through time, but they never really do anything else. I also found it odd that such a big, important project wouldn’t have more people working on it. As far as I could tell it was just Beth and Tariq—Beth doing the traveling and Tariq monitoring her while she was hooked up to the machine. It just didn’t make sense to me.
I loved the ending, though, which wraps up Beth’s emotional journey in a very satisfying way. I had plenty of theories as I was reading about how the story would end, and I sort of got the the ending I hoped for, but somehow it was even better than I imagined. Even if you balk at time travel stories, Fracassi fans will not want to miss The Third Rule of Time Travel, and new readers should try this if you love emotional, character driven sci-fi mysteries.
Big thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.
March 4, 2025
�...humans are made up of memories. It’s the constitution of who we are. Our minds hold the reflections of a billion lives, infinite parallel worlds…but only fate can decide which of those we are allowed to see and touch.�
This gripping sci-fi thriller had me locked in!!!
Husband and wife scientist duo Beth and Colson Darlow create a time machine that allows the traveler (or rather their mind) to briefly go back in time. However, unlike your stereotypical time machine, there are 3 rules travelers must follow:
(1) Travelers cannot travel outside of their own memories or timeline. No catapulting into the future, no free-falling backwards into the French Revolution. (2) Travel only lasts for 90 seconds, and (3) the traveler can only be an observer.
These rules end up being a cocktail for trouble when Beth’s husband dies suddenly in a terrible accident. She’s left alone to raise their young daughter while continuing the daunting research required to perfect the operation of time travel for her employer–Langan Corp. Being the only human trial subject allowed to test the machine, Beth starts to worry the effects of time travel are tearing her mind apart—she’s experiencing troubling hallucinations--and therefore doubts it's safety for public use. To make matters worse, the time machine only takes her to the most traumatic events in her past. What’s going on???
At this point, I don’t think I can ever pass up a book from author , and after absolutely loving his last book�Boys in the Valley—I knew I was in for a nail-biting ride. While this book ventures away from Fracassi’s usual horror genre, there are suspenseful elements of anxiety and unease that will have the reader fully absorbed!! You won’t want to put this book down, y’all!!!
(Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Orbit Books for this early digital review copy!)
This gripping sci-fi thriller had me locked in!!!
Husband and wife scientist duo Beth and Colson Darlow create a time machine that allows the traveler (or rather their mind) to briefly go back in time. However, unlike your stereotypical time machine, there are 3 rules travelers must follow:
(1) Travelers cannot travel outside of their own memories or timeline. No catapulting into the future, no free-falling backwards into the French Revolution. (2) Travel only lasts for 90 seconds, and (3) the traveler can only be an observer.
These rules end up being a cocktail for trouble when Beth’s husband dies suddenly in a terrible accident. She’s left alone to raise their young daughter while continuing the daunting research required to perfect the operation of time travel for her employer–Langan Corp. Being the only human trial subject allowed to test the machine, Beth starts to worry the effects of time travel are tearing her mind apart—she’s experiencing troubling hallucinations--and therefore doubts it's safety for public use. To make matters worse, the time machine only takes her to the most traumatic events in her past. What’s going on???
At this point, I don’t think I can ever pass up a book from author , and after absolutely loving his last book�Boys in the Valley—I knew I was in for a nail-biting ride. While this book ventures away from Fracassi’s usual horror genre, there are suspenseful elements of anxiety and unease that will have the reader fully absorbed!! You won’t want to put this book down, y’all!!!
(Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Orbit Books for this early digital review copy!)
April 13, 2025
A few weekends ago, I discovered the first season of Halo was on Netflix and virtually binged it. It was better than I expected—for my expectations were low—and exactly what I craved: something visually stimulating, with a clear story, yet ultimately not all that � meaningful, I guess? “Mid� is probably the right term all the kids are using these days. Anyway, The Third Rule of Time Travel is just like that. Like the Halo series, its production values are too high to be called “pulp”—this is a book that takes itself seriously both as science fiction and literature—yet its execution is decidedly mid. That’s no shade to Philip Fracassi, who has clearly taken the time (pun intended) to craft a fun little time travel story. I received an eARC from NetGalley and Orbit in return for a review.
Beth Darlow is a physicist carrying on the project she began with her late husband, Colson: a time machine. So far, the machine can send a traveller mentally into their own past for ninety seconds. Still grieving and under pressure to deliver something marketable, Beth subjects herself to the stress of reliving some of her worst moments in her life. Then, things start going wrong.
We love to see a woman in STEM as the protagonist! The Third Rule of Time Travel also reminds me of Boss Level on Netflix, a time-loop movie. Both have about the same level of character depth, especially when it comes to their villains. Both have the protagonist somewhat motivated by the death of their significant other, who is a physicist working on a time machine of sorts. Yet Boss Level unapologetically embraces trite action-hero tropes with a fridged damsel and a buff, macho male protagonist. In contrast, Fracassi here has killed off the husband, and Beth is every bit the physicist and hero this book needs.
Now, Beth is a little spiky and seems to have traits of a male author trying to write his breast. Lots of emphasis on Beth’s maternal drive, her Power of Love for Isabel overcoming some of the worst shenanigans of the book. Similarly, constant allusion to how Beth is isolated at work, the only woman in STEM there apparently, and she has to keep her temper under control lest she be seen as a hotheaded and irrational lady scientist by all the men! It’s not subtle at all and feels very much like a man trying to telegraph, far too loudly, “Look, women readers, I too have empathy for your struggle against patriarchy.� Thanks, I guess?
I assure you, however: I mock out of love. The Third Rule of Time Travel has a lot to recommend it. Although I won’t go so far as to describe any of its time-travel mechanics as original or particularly mind-bendy, Fracassi overall makes use of some interesting ideas. The debriefing mechanic in particular is one that, once explained in the story, initially sounds really impossible but is actually based on fairly simple ideas about light cones and worldlines. I don’t know, I’ve read quite a few literary time-travel novels that are apathetic to how their time travel actually works, so it’s nice to see one that at least pretends to care.
Other than that, this book follows much the same arc as most of those novels: main character can travel through time; main character discovers time travel kind of sucks and is really dangerous; main character deals with fallout of time travel, usually by seeking to undo damage; main character discovers the real family is the family she had at home all along. If you’ve read The Time Traveler’s Wife or Oona Out of Order or watched About Time or any such movies with pretensions to Big Ideas But Make It Timey-Wimey, then you get the vibe.
However, Fracassi also can’t resist shoehorning in a thriller subplot with delightfully cartoonish characters. I kept laughing every time the evil boss shows up because he’s so transparently inconsistent and exists solely to make Beth’s life worse. The climax of the novel feels very forced and awkward as the story contorts itself from psychological thriller into action thriller, almost s if its own timeline is being rewritten.
This culminates in a classic kind of resolution for this type of science-fiction-by-association: the What the Bleep Do We Know?–style syncretic speculation that it’s all connected, man, and if we could slip the bonds of our linear temporal existence we would, like, see the time knife. The moment between Beth and Colson is meant to be incredibly emotional, a fulfillment of hundreds of pages leading up to it � and yet.
So here’s the bottom line: this book is fine. I came to it off of DNFing a different book that was dull. So yes, I’m critical of The Third Rule of Time Travel’s overall quality as a story. Yet I’ll happily share that I devoured this book in a single day over about two sittings. Like that first season of Halo, this book is flashy and easy on the eyes and aspires to be more than it is. That doesn’t mean it succeeds. But it’s fun to watch it try.
Originally posted on .
Beth Darlow is a physicist carrying on the project she began with her late husband, Colson: a time machine. So far, the machine can send a traveller mentally into their own past for ninety seconds. Still grieving and under pressure to deliver something marketable, Beth subjects herself to the stress of reliving some of her worst moments in her life. Then, things start going wrong.
We love to see a woman in STEM as the protagonist! The Third Rule of Time Travel also reminds me of Boss Level on Netflix, a time-loop movie. Both have about the same level of character depth, especially when it comes to their villains. Both have the protagonist somewhat motivated by the death of their significant other, who is a physicist working on a time machine of sorts. Yet Boss Level unapologetically embraces trite action-hero tropes with a fridged damsel and a buff, macho male protagonist. In contrast, Fracassi here has killed off the husband, and Beth is every bit the physicist and hero this book needs.
Now, Beth is a little spiky and seems to have traits of a male author trying to write his breast. Lots of emphasis on Beth’s maternal drive, her Power of Love for Isabel overcoming some of the worst shenanigans of the book. Similarly, constant allusion to how Beth is isolated at work, the only woman in STEM there apparently, and she has to keep her temper under control lest she be seen as a hotheaded and irrational lady scientist by all the men! It’s not subtle at all and feels very much like a man trying to telegraph, far too loudly, “Look, women readers, I too have empathy for your struggle against patriarchy.� Thanks, I guess?
I assure you, however: I mock out of love. The Third Rule of Time Travel has a lot to recommend it. Although I won’t go so far as to describe any of its time-travel mechanics as original or particularly mind-bendy, Fracassi overall makes use of some interesting ideas. The debriefing mechanic in particular is one that, once explained in the story, initially sounds really impossible but is actually based on fairly simple ideas about light cones and worldlines. I don’t know, I’ve read quite a few literary time-travel novels that are apathetic to how their time travel actually works, so it’s nice to see one that at least pretends to care.
Other than that, this book follows much the same arc as most of those novels: main character can travel through time; main character discovers time travel kind of sucks and is really dangerous; main character deals with fallout of time travel, usually by seeking to undo damage; main character discovers the real family is the family she had at home all along. If you’ve read The Time Traveler’s Wife or Oona Out of Order or watched About Time or any such movies with pretensions to Big Ideas But Make It Timey-Wimey, then you get the vibe.
However, Fracassi also can’t resist shoehorning in a thriller subplot with delightfully cartoonish characters. I kept laughing every time the evil boss shows up because he’s so transparently inconsistent and exists solely to make Beth’s life worse. The climax of the novel feels very forced and awkward as the story contorts itself from psychological thriller into action thriller, almost s if its own timeline is being rewritten.
This culminates in a classic kind of resolution for this type of science-fiction-by-association: the What the Bleep Do We Know?–style syncretic speculation that it’s all connected, man, and if we could slip the bonds of our linear temporal existence we would, like, see the time knife. The moment between Beth and Colson is meant to be incredibly emotional, a fulfillment of hundreds of pages leading up to it � and yet.
So here’s the bottom line: this book is fine. I came to it off of DNFing a different book that was dull. So yes, I’m critical of The Third Rule of Time Travel’s overall quality as a story. Yet I’ll happily share that I devoured this book in a single day over about two sittings. Like that first season of Halo, this book is flashy and easy on the eyes and aspires to be more than it is. That doesn’t mean it succeeds. But it’s fun to watch it try.
Originally posted on .
December 3, 2024
Those of you who know me know how much I love Fracassi’s books. He is primarily known for his horror books, which feature strong characters, great pacing, and very memorable horror scenes. When I heard he wrote a science fiction novel, I was very excited to see what he would do!
This novel is both exactly what I expected from a Fracassi sci-fi novel and also so much more. The main character, Beth, is a scientist grieving her husband (and partner)‘s untimely death, as she is developing technology that allows a person to “time travel� back to a point during their lifetime, with the caveats that they can only observe and it’s only for 90 seconds.
This book is thrilling, has some really excellent thoughts on what it is to be human, memory, and the important things we have in our life. And also some really mind blowing discussions on physics and existence and so much more. Beyond the thrilling conceit and the science is the heart of this book - the characters, especially Beth, our protagonist. She has a great character arc in this and she feels like a real, flawed human (which many sci-fi authors either struggle with or leave out - many scientist characters are flawless caricatures but Beth is not).
This is an absolute recommend from me!
Thank you to Orbit for sending me an ARC and the author for an eARC on NetGalley.
This novel is both exactly what I expected from a Fracassi sci-fi novel and also so much more. The main character, Beth, is a scientist grieving her husband (and partner)‘s untimely death, as she is developing technology that allows a person to “time travel� back to a point during their lifetime, with the caveats that they can only observe and it’s only for 90 seconds.
This book is thrilling, has some really excellent thoughts on what it is to be human, memory, and the important things we have in our life. And also some really mind blowing discussions on physics and existence and so much more. Beyond the thrilling conceit and the science is the heart of this book - the characters, especially Beth, our protagonist. She has a great character arc in this and she feels like a real, flawed human (which many sci-fi authors either struggle with or leave out - many scientist characters are flawless caricatures but Beth is not).
This is an absolute recommend from me!
Thank you to Orbit for sending me an ARC and the author for an eARC on NetGalley.
March 22, 2025
If you prefer watching videos, I've posted a full, spoiler-free discussion about my experience with THE THIRD RULE OF TIME TRAVEL on my !
Philip Fracassi soared his way up the ranks of favorite horror authors after I read both BOYS IN THE VALLEY and A CHILD ALONE WITH STRANGERS. As soon as I saw his newest title land on NetGalley and available to request, I had to get in on it, even though this one is labeled as a sci fi thriller instead of the horror I was accustomed to from this author.
After having read this one, I'd say it was on the softer side of sci fi, meaning it doesn't get too lost in the weeds of the scientific explanations, instead keeping it where the average joe(like me) can keep up. I felt the primary focus was the thriller aspect and once it got rolling, I was strapped in, no choice but to see where it was going to take me.
What I loved most about this book is its unique approach to time travel. If your mind immediately turns to shows/movies such as Doctor Who, Back to the Future or 11/22/63 - you're on the wrong track. In this gem, the time machine is the person. There is a machine involved, of course, but it's simply the doorway, the conduit. As you learn from the opening pages, there are three rules regarding this method of time travel:
1) Travel can only occur at (random)destination points during the previous lifetime of the traveler.
2) The traveler can only maintain contact for 90 seconds.
3) The traveler may only observe, as they have no ability to interact with the world they've traveled to.
You might be thinking that sounds a bit underwhelming. You physically go no where. Your mind is all that is able to travel....for a paltry 90 seconds into your own stinking lifetime AND you don't even get to choose which memory you go to!
Friends, this is where Fracassi put all the thrills, chills and intrigue.
For those of you with overactive imaginations, like me, then your mind might already be racing with all of the ways this could be terrifying. The couple have been unable to determine how the arrival points are determined. The method used for this time travel - what could be long term effects? And if there is anything effected, how would they know? What if something occurs and a traveler's mind is somehow untethered and lost? What if there's a power glitch? (Important note here: some of these questions were those running through my mind while reading, not actual events you would find fleshed out in the book)
So to be fair and give a reason why some readers may not like this book...it took a pretty sizable chunk before it went from good to great. I had full trust in the author from having read previous books by him, so I was going to hang in to the end no matter what. Readers who enjoy the harder side of science fiction may not appreciate the lack of in depth explanations of how this method of travel works. (Though to be fair, I think this was a great choice from the author - it added to the horror and intrigue that there were so many unknowns involved in this endeavor.)
I like when authors dip into other genres and add to their wheelhouse - it keeps things fun and fresh, especially for a reader like me who reads in a variety of genres. I'm chalking up another enjoyable win under Frascassi's name in my book - now to look forward to his next release!
I accepted a copy of the ARC from the publisher, Orbit Books, in exchange for consideration of a review. All opinions discussed are my own and are subjective to myself as a reader.
Special thanks to my wonderful Patrons for their support towards my enthusiasm for reading and reviewing: Ev, Sharon, Andrew, Star, Kate, Gail, Tara, John, Ann, Chad K., Wilbur & Heidi.
Philip Fracassi soared his way up the ranks of favorite horror authors after I read both BOYS IN THE VALLEY and A CHILD ALONE WITH STRANGERS. As soon as I saw his newest title land on NetGalley and available to request, I had to get in on it, even though this one is labeled as a sci fi thriller instead of the horror I was accustomed to from this author.
After having read this one, I'd say it was on the softer side of sci fi, meaning it doesn't get too lost in the weeds of the scientific explanations, instead keeping it where the average joe(like me) can keep up. I felt the primary focus was the thriller aspect and once it got rolling, I was strapped in, no choice but to see where it was going to take me.
What I loved most about this book is its unique approach to time travel. If your mind immediately turns to shows/movies such as Doctor Who, Back to the Future or 11/22/63 - you're on the wrong track. In this gem, the time machine is the person. There is a machine involved, of course, but it's simply the doorway, the conduit. As you learn from the opening pages, there are three rules regarding this method of time travel:
1) Travel can only occur at (random)destination points during the previous lifetime of the traveler.
2) The traveler can only maintain contact for 90 seconds.
3) The traveler may only observe, as they have no ability to interact with the world they've traveled to.
You might be thinking that sounds a bit underwhelming. You physically go no where. Your mind is all that is able to travel....for a paltry 90 seconds into your own stinking lifetime AND you don't even get to choose which memory you go to!
Friends, this is where Fracassi put all the thrills, chills and intrigue.
For those of you with overactive imaginations, like me, then your mind might already be racing with all of the ways this could be terrifying. The couple have been unable to determine how the arrival points are determined. The method used for this time travel - what could be long term effects? And if there is anything effected, how would they know? What if something occurs and a traveler's mind is somehow untethered and lost? What if there's a power glitch? (Important note here: some of these questions were those running through my mind while reading, not actual events you would find fleshed out in the book)
So to be fair and give a reason why some readers may not like this book...it took a pretty sizable chunk before it went from good to great. I had full trust in the author from having read previous books by him, so I was going to hang in to the end no matter what. Readers who enjoy the harder side of science fiction may not appreciate the lack of in depth explanations of how this method of travel works. (Though to be fair, I think this was a great choice from the author - it added to the horror and intrigue that there were so many unknowns involved in this endeavor.)
I like when authors dip into other genres and add to their wheelhouse - it keeps things fun and fresh, especially for a reader like me who reads in a variety of genres. I'm chalking up another enjoyable win under Frascassi's name in my book - now to look forward to his next release!
I accepted a copy of the ARC from the publisher, Orbit Books, in exchange for consideration of a review. All opinions discussed are my own and are subjective to myself as a reader.
Special thanks to my wonderful Patrons for their support towards my enthusiasm for reading and reviewing: Ev, Sharon, Andrew, Star, Kate, Gail, Tara, John, Ann, Chad K., Wilbur & Heidi.
April 7, 2025
Welp, I finished this within a weekend so I was definitely very intrigued.
In The Third Rule of Time Travel, Beth has invented time travel. Well, sort of. The traveler can only send their conscienceness back to their own timelines and revisit 90 seconds of their past through their own eyes.
Yes, there was science. And yes, I didn’t understand most of it. It didn’t matter though as there was more than enough story to keep me invested. I mean it’s time travel. Who can understand ANY of that science?
This definitely felt a bit like a Michael Crichton or a Blake Crouch story and I love both of those authors so I definitely recommend this book if you like that type of sci-fi.
*Thanks so much to partner Orbit Books and NetGalley for the gifted eARC!*
In The Third Rule of Time Travel, Beth has invented time travel. Well, sort of. The traveler can only send their conscienceness back to their own timelines and revisit 90 seconds of their past through their own eyes.
Yes, there was science. And yes, I didn’t understand most of it. It didn’t matter though as there was more than enough story to keep me invested. I mean it’s time travel. Who can understand ANY of that science?
This definitely felt a bit like a Michael Crichton or a Blake Crouch story and I love both of those authors so I definitely recommend this book if you like that type of sci-fi.
*Thanks so much to partner Orbit Books and NetGalley for the gifted eARC!*
March 19, 2025
3.5 � This was my first book by Fracassi. I don't read too much Sci-fi but I do love the time travel aspect in books and this definitely sounded so interesting. Dr. Beth Darlow and her husband, Colson, created a time travel machine. But there are three rules, a traveler can travel to a point that's only within their own lifetime, they can only stay for 90 seconds, and they can only observe, not interact. Beth is taking over the study of this time travel machine now, after her husband passed away and he was the one who was taking these trips into the past. His visits weren't very eventful. But when Beth begins her trips, it's taking her to very traumatic times in her past, and she doesn't understand why that's happening. Things in her actual life start to change, and I didn't know if she was imagining this, if it was really happening, or if she was in the time machine. It was pretty wild.
Beth's character, although unlikeable and flawed, I found her to be pretty bad ass. She says it like it is, and is very determined. The plot itself was based more on the emotions and travel adventure of the characters, and not too in depth in the science area of time travel, which was fine with because the mystery of Beth's experiences and her trying to figure out how to pinpoint the point of memories that the traveler can visit was intriguing.
Definitely a thought provoking, and suspenseful story and I'm happy I got the chance to read it!
Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Beth's character, although unlikeable and flawed, I found her to be pretty bad ass. She says it like it is, and is very determined. The plot itself was based more on the emotions and travel adventure of the characters, and not too in depth in the science area of time travel, which was fine with because the mystery of Beth's experiences and her trying to figure out how to pinpoint the point of memories that the traveler can visit was intriguing.
Definitely a thought provoking, and suspenseful story and I'm happy I got the chance to read it!
Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
April 18, 2025
Audiobook (10 hours) narrated by Abigail Reno
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Both the audio and narration are good
The Third Rule of Time Travel is a bit of a different time travel novel. Philip Fracassi played with a few different ideas to create a world that sits in a space that teases with fear in a thriller-horror type of way.
The characters, while not complex and full, aren't flat either. They aren't completely fleshed out, as the story relies more on the experience with the characters being more props than anything. I do think that the story could have used more character building as the attachment to the characters would give a more horror feel to the situations in the story. Browsing through some of the comments I have to wonder if having read as an audiobook gave me a fuller experience as I have a voice behind the character which actually lends more depth and realness to the characters, specifically our main character. Also with a narrator, Abigail Reno gives a chosen delivery of the words on the page whereas if I were to read them I choose the context, which could create a completely different meaning if I read with sarcasm or anger rather than tiredness or desperation, for example (just random example not actually relating to the situations in the book. no spoilers here!).
I did enjoy the story well enough. It was an easy read, and although I wouldn't say that there were surprises or that it was a page turner, it did hold my interest.
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Both the audio and narration are good
The Third Rule of Time Travel is a bit of a different time travel novel. Philip Fracassi played with a few different ideas to create a world that sits in a space that teases with fear in a thriller-horror type of way.
The characters, while not complex and full, aren't flat either. They aren't completely fleshed out, as the story relies more on the experience with the characters being more props than anything. I do think that the story could have used more character building as the attachment to the characters would give a more horror feel to the situations in the story. Browsing through some of the comments I have to wonder if having read as an audiobook gave me a fuller experience as I have a voice behind the character which actually lends more depth and realness to the characters, specifically our main character. Also with a narrator, Abigail Reno gives a chosen delivery of the words on the page whereas if I were to read them I choose the context, which could create a completely different meaning if I read with sarcasm or anger rather than tiredness or desperation, for example (just random example not actually relating to the situations in the book. no spoilers here!).
I did enjoy the story well enough. It was an easy read, and although I wouldn't say that there were surprises or that it was a page turner, it did hold my interest.
February 12, 2025
Having read (and loved) Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi, I was chuffed to receive an ARC copy of The Third Rule of Time Travel. Whilst this is more sci-fi than horror, it's an excellent read and one I couldn't put down.
Our main protagonist, Beth, is struggling to deal with grief while working on a top secret time machine, created by herself and her late husband. Her character arc is very well written, with a solid supporting cast, plenty of twists and turns, and flaws that make her all the more relateable. I enjoyed the unpredictability and felt that things could've ended in a number of ways.
This felt fresh, with a well-constructed mix of familiar tropes but also some original ideas that worked really well for me. What really stood out was the underlying message of what actually matters in life and that being put into perspective.
Overall, a very good sci-fi novel, though it could've gone a bit deeper.
Thank you, NetGalley and Orbit!
Our main protagonist, Beth, is struggling to deal with grief while working on a top secret time machine, created by herself and her late husband. Her character arc is very well written, with a solid supporting cast, plenty of twists and turns, and flaws that make her all the more relateable. I enjoyed the unpredictability and felt that things could've ended in a number of ways.
This felt fresh, with a well-constructed mix of familiar tropes but also some original ideas that worked really well for me. What really stood out was the underlying message of what actually matters in life and that being put into perspective.
Overall, a very good sci-fi novel, though it could've gone a bit deeper.
Thank you, NetGalley and Orbit!
March 22, 2025
The Third Rule of Time Travel was an excellent sci-fi thriller (a la Crichton and Crouch) that explores the complexities of time travel, and what means the most to us.
While exploring the moral and emotional consequences of time travel and altering the past, Fracassi gives us an engaging plot with a unique take on the time travel all the while building suspense until the satisfying conclusion.
I flew through this book. The science was accessible, the thrills were engaging, and the story was tight. Fracassi always delivers and this one is no different.
While exploring the moral and emotional consequences of time travel and altering the past, Fracassi gives us an engaging plot with a unique take on the time travel all the while building suspense until the satisfying conclusion.
I flew through this book. The science was accessible, the thrills were engaging, and the story was tight. Fracassi always delivers and this one is no different.
April 13, 2025
3.5 stars
So here I just finished and my next pick is another time travel thriller! Where Dissolution gave me feels, The Third Rule of Time Travel is more . I do love the storytelling heft of Claire North, but Blake Crouch is good for pacy entertainment.
This is an entertaining book that will keep you turning the pages. It doesn’t provide a lot of meaningful character development but there’s enough to hang the story on and keep you interested. If you like time travel stories and seeing the lab rats push back on their corporate overlords then you will enjoy it.
So here I just finished and my next pick is another time travel thriller! Where Dissolution gave me feels, The Third Rule of Time Travel is more . I do love the storytelling heft of Claire North, but Blake Crouch is good for pacy entertainment.
This is an entertaining book that will keep you turning the pages. It doesn’t provide a lot of meaningful character development but there’s enough to hang the story on and keep you interested. If you like time travel stories and seeing the lab rats push back on their corporate overlords then you will enjoy it.
March 19, 2025
3.25 stars
An interesting concept. Major theme is that we are arrogant when we try to break the laws of the universe. It starts out by overly explaining the science fiction concepts then at the end it got a bit confusing for me. I did really like Beth, the main character, and the villain Jim was easy to hate. It was good on audio.
An interesting concept. Major theme is that we are arrogant when we try to break the laws of the universe. It starts out by overly explaining the science fiction concepts then at the end it got a bit confusing for me. I did really like Beth, the main character, and the villain Jim was easy to hate. It was good on audio.
April 5, 2025
one dimensional unlikeable characters. terrible pacing, ridiculous premise and even stupider explanations given for the science behind it. you can 100% skip this one.
December 24, 2024
An endless thank you to Orbit and Philip Fracassi for the ARC!
Pub Date: March 18, 2025
THE THIRD RULE OF TIME TRAVEL is sci-fi at its best. A book about time travel runs the risk of falling victim to likely tropes, but fortunately for us, Fracassi is behind the pen of THE THIRD RULE OF TIME TRAVEL and what results is suspenseful, unpredictable in the best way with themes of grief and horror throughout. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and couldn't put this book down. Incredible and thoughtful world building by Fracassi makes THE THIRD RULE OF TIME TRAVEL accessible for readers. Philip Fracassi is a must-read author for me.
Pub Date: March 18, 2025
THE THIRD RULE OF TIME TRAVEL is sci-fi at its best. A book about time travel runs the risk of falling victim to likely tropes, but fortunately for us, Fracassi is behind the pen of THE THIRD RULE OF TIME TRAVEL and what results is suspenseful, unpredictable in the best way with themes of grief and horror throughout. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and couldn't put this book down. Incredible and thoughtful world building by Fracassi makes THE THIRD RULE OF TIME TRAVEL accessible for readers. Philip Fracassi is a must-read author for me.
February 18, 2025
Yayyy, I finally won a giveaway!
Dr. Beth Darlow and her late husband, Colson, have created an actual time travel machine. The machine does not transport the individual as a whole through time, but instead it transports their consciousness to re-experience memories from the traveler's past. This method of time travel is constrained to three rules:
Rule One: Travel can only occur to a point within your lifetime.
Rule Two: You can only travel for ninety seconds.
Rule Three: You can only observe.
The rules cannot be broken.
Colson was the primary "traveler," but after his death this responsibility falls to Beth. In contrast to her husband's relatively uneventful trips, Beth repeatedly travels to the worst, most traumatic experiences of her life. The arrival points are supposed to be random, and now Beth must figure out why the machine is targeting these traumatic memories.
Despite the rules set in place, the more Beth travels the more she starts to realize how little she truly understands this machine she's created and the impact it's having on not just her life, but potentially time and space itself.
The first half of the book moved a little slow for me. It felt very uneventful, and there is a lot of exposition regarding Beth's current life, work, and the science behind the time travel machine. It's all very interesting, but also a little slow. Then around 45% there was a moment that had me thinking "wait a minute", and then very shortly after I had my "OH, SHIT" moment where things reached a major turning point. It's almost akin to the peak of a roller coaster, and after this moment the remainder of the book is the plummet and twists and loops of the rest of the ride.
There is so much mind-fuckery throughout, and it's so satisfying as the reader to pick up on all the little hints that are given. Some are so damn subtle, Fracassi you genius. So many times I found myself frantically flipping back to previous chapters to confirm what I already know! None of it is force-fed or made obvious, but is very rewarding for the careful reader who is actually paying attention. There's a lot of familiar time-travel tropes, but equally a lot of unique ideas that are explored that make this such a fresh take on a familiar plot. Also, even though this is primarily a science fiction book, Fracassi is a horror writer and there are a few incredibly creepy moments throughout.
Beth is not the most "likable" character, and yet I came to like her a lot! She can be pretty bitchy, impatient, and short tempered, but this also means she says it like it is and isn't afraid to tell someone (even her boss) when to fuck off when it needs to be said, regardless of the repercussions. I wish we had gotten a bit more from other characters, especially Tariq, but even still I enjoyed all the characters here (even the shitty ones).
I already loved Fracassi after Boys in the Valley, but after this novel he is firmly an author I will read anything from.
Dr. Beth Darlow and her late husband, Colson, have created an actual time travel machine. The machine does not transport the individual as a whole through time, but instead it transports their consciousness to re-experience memories from the traveler's past. This method of time travel is constrained to three rules:
Rule One: Travel can only occur to a point within your lifetime.
Rule Two: You can only travel for ninety seconds.
Rule Three: You can only observe.
The rules cannot be broken.
Colson was the primary "traveler," but after his death this responsibility falls to Beth. In contrast to her husband's relatively uneventful trips, Beth repeatedly travels to the worst, most traumatic experiences of her life. The arrival points are supposed to be random, and now Beth must figure out why the machine is targeting these traumatic memories.
Despite the rules set in place, the more Beth travels the more she starts to realize how little she truly understands this machine she's created and the impact it's having on not just her life, but potentially time and space itself.
The first half of the book moved a little slow for me. It felt very uneventful, and there is a lot of exposition regarding Beth's current life, work, and the science behind the time travel machine. It's all very interesting, but also a little slow. Then around 45% there was a moment that had me thinking "wait a minute", and then very shortly after I had my "OH, SHIT" moment where things reached a major turning point. It's almost akin to the peak of a roller coaster, and after this moment the remainder of the book is the plummet and twists and loops of the rest of the ride.
There is so much mind-fuckery throughout, and it's so satisfying as the reader to pick up on all the little hints that are given. Some are so damn subtle, Fracassi you genius. So many times I found myself frantically flipping back to previous chapters to confirm what I already know! None of it is force-fed or made obvious, but is very rewarding for the careful reader who is actually paying attention. There's a lot of familiar time-travel tropes, but equally a lot of unique ideas that are explored that make this such a fresh take on a familiar plot. Also, even though this is primarily a science fiction book, Fracassi is a horror writer and there are a few incredibly creepy moments throughout.
Beth is not the most "likable" character, and yet I came to like her a lot! She can be pretty bitchy, impatient, and short tempered, but this also means she says it like it is and isn't afraid to tell someone (even her boss) when to fuck off when it needs to be said, regardless of the repercussions. I wish we had gotten a bit more from other characters, especially Tariq, but even still I enjoyed all the characters here (even the shitty ones).
I already loved Fracassi after Boys in the Valley, but after this novel he is firmly an author I will read anything from.
February 27, 2025
Thank you Orbit books for an early copy of this book!
Publishes March 18 and follows Scientist Beth Darlow who has built a Time Machine that allows human consciousness to travel through time, but the traveler can only observe the past. When Beth’s business partner and husband passes away, she is forced to continue their work and raise their daughter on her own.
So throughout this story we learn about Beth and her day to day life as a grieving single mother and her research into time travel and how this work she’s doing affects her reality.
I am not a huge sci-fi reader so the only books I really have to compare to this one would be Dark Matter & Recursion by Blake Crouch. I found this book to be a more digestible read than either of those in terms of complexity and my ability to follow the science behind it.
I think this is a great introduction into the sci-fi genre for someone like me who enjoys thrillers & mysteries because it has the aspect of domestic drama I enjoy weaved into the mystery of this Time Machine.
I don’t really have anything negative to say about this book, I really enjoyed it.
Video review:
Publishes March 18 and follows Scientist Beth Darlow who has built a Time Machine that allows human consciousness to travel through time, but the traveler can only observe the past. When Beth’s business partner and husband passes away, she is forced to continue their work and raise their daughter on her own.
So throughout this story we learn about Beth and her day to day life as a grieving single mother and her research into time travel and how this work she’s doing affects her reality.
I am not a huge sci-fi reader so the only books I really have to compare to this one would be Dark Matter & Recursion by Blake Crouch. I found this book to be a more digestible read than either of those in terms of complexity and my ability to follow the science behind it.
I think this is a great introduction into the sci-fi genre for someone like me who enjoys thrillers & mysteries because it has the aspect of domestic drama I enjoy weaved into the mystery of this Time Machine.
I don’t really have anything negative to say about this book, I really enjoyed it.
Video review:
April 23, 2025
Check out my full thoughts on this book and more here:
Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
Review: I am pleasantly surprised by this. I've been trying to read more sci-fi but have not had much luck finding books that work for me. I LOVED this. The sci-fi elements were mostly easy to understand and anything that I maybe missed felt just just small details that were neat but not required to understand the story. Compared to other sci-fi books I've read recently, this one just had so much heart and story. I really loved the MC and felt worried about her throughout the book. They were plot twists I didn't expect and the ending almost made me tear up. It was just so good all the way around. For sci-fi beginners I would highly recommend this heartfelt story.
Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.
Review: I am pleasantly surprised by this. I've been trying to read more sci-fi but have not had much luck finding books that work for me. I LOVED this. The sci-fi elements were mostly easy to understand and anything that I maybe missed felt just just small details that were neat but not required to understand the story. Compared to other sci-fi books I've read recently, this one just had so much heart and story. I really loved the MC and felt worried about her throughout the book. They were plot twists I didn't expect and the ending almost made me tear up. It was just so good all the way around. For sci-fi beginners I would highly recommend this heartfelt story.
March 26, 2025
eARC by NetGalley and Orbit.
I’m sure a lot people will love this because it is an easy-to-digest sci-fi thriller that could work well for fans of Blake Crouch or Crichton. The pacing is great and the plot is decent, even if it feels unoriginal.
Everything that was good about this was marred by characters - including an unbelievably lame villain - who are so insufferable that it makes it pretty impossible to root for them.
I was expecting way more from this since I actually enjoyed Boys in The Valley, and while this wasn’t the worst thing I’ve read recently, it’s just a miss for me. I’ll keep reading Fracassi because he seems like a great dude and I know he can write fun books. Just not this one.
I’m sure a lot people will love this because it is an easy-to-digest sci-fi thriller that could work well for fans of Blake Crouch or Crichton. The pacing is great and the plot is decent, even if it feels unoriginal.
Everything that was good about this was marred by characters - including an unbelievably lame villain - who are so insufferable that it makes it pretty impossible to root for them.
I was expecting way more from this since I actually enjoyed Boys in The Valley, and while this wasn’t the worst thing I’ve read recently, it’s just a miss for me. I’ll keep reading Fracassi because he seems like a great dude and I know he can write fun books. Just not this one.
March 2, 2025
Philip Fracassi has earned himself a spot on my list of auto buy authors in the last few years. The Third Rule of Time Travel just cemented that spot. This book has a different tone from some of Fracassi's recent work, but his talent shines through on every page. I was immediately drawn into the world of Dr. Beth Darlow, her faults and flaws, her brilliance. I could read about this character reading the phone book and be fascinated! I love books about time travel, time loops, and time slips, and I especially love how Fracassi built his. The science isn't opaque and dull, it's incredibly accessible for someone with a horrible comprehension of math, like me. It made me want to research more about the topic, which is an incredible win for an author, right? Anyway, you should definitely read this book if you like any of the above tropes and previous work from Philip Fracassi. There are moments of tension and severe unease that made me feel like I was reading a Hitchcock movie. 4 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit Books for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.
March 5, 2025
Solid tale from Fracassi about a woman who, with her late husband, has created a time machine that takes you back to supposedly random points in a time in your life to relive ninety seconds of it, without being able to actually engage or participate, just observe. She tries to continue their work, but problems arise with the lab's owner and certain data from her trips which leads to some serious contemplation about the propriety of what they are doing. It's a different path for Fracassi, who normally dazzles in the horror field. This is definitely in the sci-fi thriller genre, and while I prefer his horror stuff more, I still enjoyed the journey and the philosophical ending. 3.5 stars bumped to 4 for the writing and ending. He remains one of my favorite authors writing today. Thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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