The Raven Sound

On October 17, 2024, Jack, the 60-year-old narrator of this convincing time-travel novel from British author Derrick (Man in the Bath), is told by a “twinkly man” he meets at a pub that he has at most 16 hours to live. Suddenly, Jack finds himself on a park bench in Liverpool, England, missing both his wallet and his phone. Jack’s disorientation becomes even more severe when a newspaper he spots leads him to realize that he’s somehow been sent back in time to October 17, 1964, when he should have been a year old. Baffled, Jack works his way through all the possible explanations for the time shift, including that he’s dreaming or muddled by alcohol, only to find that he’s on the same month and day in 1994. Aware from time-travel fiction he’s read, Jack is concerned that a misstep could alter the future and perhaps even cause the prophecy of doom he was told at the beginning. His plausible reactions to incredible circumstances lend credence to the story as he jumps around further in time. Fans of Robert J. Sawyer’s Flashforward will be intrigued. (Self-published)