Life Out of Order, Love Out of Time

Life Out of Order 

 By Audrey Niffenegger

 

Gripping from the first sentence, even if you've never read 'The Time Traveler's Wife'. 

From a mere heavily policed 2022 with curfews and at-risk groups and circling black helicopters to a future significantly more challenging, and back again and forward again, it's a sign of this author's mastery that readers are always immediately anchored in the who, the where, the when. Alma and Zach and their friends and co-resisters are quickly drawn and instantly engaging. We want so much for them to have happiness but as their lives tangle and the threads of Fate spool out, we can never be sure of anything more than their present. It's an emotional roller coaster with intermittent coasting, just enough to catch our breath before the tension climbs again. 

There's familiar ground here for science fiction readers too: not only the time travel but interfaces and uploads and tech taking directions unintended by its creators. But ultimately it's about the characters, their lives and lies, their loves and friendships.

The early chapters seem particularly timely (pardon the reference) for the fall of 2026 when ICE operates unchecked in American cities and the word 'antifa' is hurled like a grenade at anyone left of Attila the Hun (much like Al Qaeda used to be in the 2000s)  Zeigeist is an overused concept but captures the spirit of resistance so cleverly woven in all its hope and despair and dogged determination. I had to ask myself if I'd have been as entranced if the menace of the early fascist elements was less, but I don't have a clear answer. I had to read on, though, to learn if the characters escaped - kind of like in The Handmaid's Tale - and was gradually drawn into their ongoing emotional lives beyond the sociopolitical threat. 

Well worth a read today and any day, but not for those looking for a cosy time-traveling mystery, romance, or fantasy novel like the Jodi Taylor St Mary series. This is more like Aimée & Jaguar if Michael Crichton had collaborated with Erica Ficsher: beautiful, haunted, hopeful, fatal.

#LifeOutOfOrder #Niffenegger #PenguinRandomHouse #timetravel #romance #love #loss #death #resistance #implants #AI #politics #marriage #divorce 

All the holiday heart of “Miracle on 34th St.“ but with homicide

Murder on 34th Street
by Mariah Fredericks 

OCTOBER 6, 2026

Does anybody invoke the spirit of 1930s New York City as well as this author does?

As an editor, I often I’m forced to tell authors some variation of “ get the reader grounded in the scene.” and I am seldom wowed by a description of setting. But in this book, navigating the largest department store in the world (as of 1932)  with Miss Grace Verlander, assistant to the personnel manager, made me "Wow!" out loud. Macy’s department store was huge, covering nearly an entire city block, and the statistics that follow are enough to make anybody gasp. They include not only the number of employees but the fact that it takes 270 people just to clean the place. 

 

This setting not only serves to give the reader a sense of how big the place is and how complex, but it also sets up our narrator's job: Grace is assistant to the head of personnel. She solves problems all over this immense building, for its thousands of staff and millions of customers. And she very subtly works in how the Great Depression is affecting shoppers and threatens jobs, even though she avoids mentioning the word depression or indeed much about the external economy or political situation. At least until they become relevant to the unfolding mystery. A promising start, for sure.

I also admire the way, with so many peripheral characters named in those early pages, we always know which ones will be important: they’re the ones she stops for conversations with on her way through the memorable store, those who do and say memorable things; those who stand out from the throngs. The detective, the juggler, the gorgeous perfume counter woman who will be throwing candy canes to children during the Macy’s Santa Claus parade. 

 

Oh, and Santa himself, who has just received a threatening letter he wants Grace to deal with....

All that said, there is quite a lot of set up. It is entertaining, and Miss Verlander voice is lively, consistent, a combination of competence, irreverence, and generally good-natured snark, but this is not a high tension opening. The pace picks up satisfactorily and the sleuthing is smart. The characters all feel very real and their stories go straight to the heart of life in 1932 New York City.

If you want to start this in October as a means of avoiding Halloween saturation, you won't regret the hours spent with Grace. She's also good company for November reading, when you’re just getting your holiday spirit revved up and aren’t completely flattened by the overload of carols and baking and shopping. Highly recommended.

 

#Netgalley #Minotaur #MiracleOn34thStreet #MakeItMurder #MurderForChristmas #Holidays #Christmas #MiracleOn34thStreet #amreading #bokreview #NewRelease #CandyCanes #MacysParade #SantaClaus #SantaParade #sleuthing #amateurdetective #cops #WindowDressing #nativityscene #NewYorkCity #NYC #KissTheGuy #Family