Blurb:
When Amzi Atkins wakes on a bench in downtown Huntsville, Alabama, he knows two things: he has been sent back from the future, and something terrible is coming.
His only guide is a strange watch, a hidden set of instructions, and the name of a scientist whose research may be connected to a disaster that will one day fracture the world. As impossible events begin appearing around the city, Amzi must convince strangers to trust him before time itself begins to break.
Part science-fiction mystery, part disaster thriller, The Dislocation is a story about grief, sacrifice, and the cost of trying to save a future that may no longer exist.
Review:
Jon Ross Aldridge’s debut work, The Dislocation, is a successful cross of a Soft Sci-Fi Time-Travel Thriller with a Contemporary Sci-Fi Mystery. Written in Third-Person Limited POV, Aldridge focuses on characters, plot, human stakes, and a race against time.
I flew through this one in a single afternoon. It comes in on the shorter side at around 255 pages. I’m going to try to do this review without spoilers.
I wasn’t sure about the opening scene where the reader meets Amzi Atkins, who shoulders the role of the time-traveling protagonist tasked with saving the future, specifically his future, including his wife and child. But as the pages turned, it became obvious Aldridge chose well. Opening the book, you already know it is about time travel. Aldridge takes a subtle, maybe even stark hand to the prose introducing Amzi. It fits with what I imagine a man finding himself in the past would experience and immediately work through.
No beating around the bush, the main characters are in the scene right from the start. With a seemingly minor interaction, Amzi successfully finds that the future can be changed. This is followed up with a serving of foreshadowing, so be on the lookout for it.
From the book blurb alone, we know about a strange watch, instructions without provenance, and the scientist. The fun parts revolve around how Aldridge allows the characters to piece it together a bit at a time. The watch poses a significant dilemma. The mysterious benefactors leaving instructions are a fat question mark. The nature of the disaster is utterly incomprehensible to the scientist who supposedly caused it.
It is easy to become invested in Amzi, while there is little need for suspension of disbelief regarding him being a time traveler. Move along, it’s just a fact. The focus is far more on the man and the mission than on the grandiose aspects of how he arrived. Supporting characters and role players provide a nice balance, with a particularly well-done twist on a potential antagonist. RAFO (Read And Find Out).
Timing and pace are well done. With each page, the author deliberately builds tension while working the reader toward the climax. Along the way, a revelation here and a twist there provide those moments where you find out if you guessed correctly or had absolutely no clue whatsoever. I must admit, I didn’t see some things coming.
With the climax, the reader is still left with unanswered questions. But Jon uses the device of denouement (I had to look that term up!) to close out the remaining loose ends. Yeah, most just call it an epilogue, and a particularly well-done one at that. Echoing the opening pages, Aldridge spills the beans and lets us know how it all really shook out. After a rough and exciting ride, I take genuine pleasure when an author takes time to wrap things up, trim the loose ends, and maybe tug at a few heartstrings. Aldridge does a bang-up job leaving me happy with the close.
If you are up for a debut I’d classify as low-risk, intriguing, and accessible, then this is for you. Science takes a backseat to an entertaining plot with no heavy mental lifting, just the right amount.
