Written by Gillian McAllister, published 2022. Summary, review, and spoilers ahead.
Wrong Place, Wrong Time is a singular story of a mother witnessing her son murder a stranger. Only to wake up every morning further and further into the past and continuously uncover more about her family, how little decisions may have big effects, and dive into the backstory of her family.
Ultimately, I did enjoy this book, but perhaps I used to multiple story arcs intersecting and connecting throughout vast worlds and times that this book felt a little… simple? That perhaps is not a fair portrait of this book, as it does dive into some fun thought experiments – time travel, the butterfly effect, and undoing or redoing your past. A different type of Groundhog Day (which I appreciated the reference made within this book).
Overall, a pretty quick read with a solid, linear (reverse linear?) story to track. You learn as Jen learns though perhaps you may pick up on some of the clues before she does?
Mainly, we follow Jen, a lawyer by trade, wife to Kelly (her husband), and mother to Todd (her son). Right out of the gate, Jen witnesses her son engage with a stranger on the street and rushes out to him upon Todd stabbing said stranger in the street. Her son insists it had to be done and confesses, much to his lawyer mother’s dismay.
From there we get a Tarantino-style, Memento-type story arc that moves backwards in time each chapter (excluding the chapters on Ryan, a young cop that dies). Jen basically becomes a Time Cop, living in an alternate universe where, she decides, she must uncover the truth and save her son in order to restore order to her existence (and perhaps time itself).
Jen learns more and more about her son, seemingly with a spotless track record (yet knowing he commits murder in the “future”) and her husband, Kelly, who has more to him than she initially believes.
Jen learns of a crime ring that operates through a network of bad guys who steal cars, smuggle them through ports and ships, and trade in drugs. And we learn that one particular car that was stolen per this operation, had a baby (Eve) in the backseat (unbeknownst to the thieves) and thus we add a layer of urgency, complexity, and up the stakes. But how does it all fit in? Why does this lead to Todd killing an old man in the street?
Throughout her backwards time traveling, Jen talks with various people and continually tries to explain her situation. We have Andy, a physicist, who helps Jen understand her predicament. We have Cleo, the girlfriend of Todd and niece of the dead guy. We have the dead guy, Joseph, who is the leader of the crime ring. We have Nikola, an undercover agent working “with” the crime ring and friend of Kelly’s. We have Jen’s father and partner in her law firm. And we have Ryan, the young cop that dies.
Major Spoilers Ahead.
While much of the story has us wondering why Todd killed Joseph and painting a darker and darker picture of her husband Kelly, who seems to have plenty of skeletons in his closet, we come to learn that Ryan (the dead cop) is actually Kelly. Kelly was Ryan, a cop in his previous life, working undercover with the Joseph crime ring.
Nikola, his partner (and not secret lover) was doing the same. 20 years prior to the day of the murder, Ryan/Kelly met Jen and had to make a choice. Give up his cop career and life as he knew it to be Kelly (safe in the eyes of crime-lord Joseph) and literally become his alter ego. And since he met Jen as Kelly… his fate was sealed.
Kelly has been living a lie throughout the entirety of his relationship with Jen… but he was doing it out of love.
Jen’s father got in deep with Joseph by providing him addresses for cars that could be stolen. Imagine shock!
It seems Jen’s mission wasn’t to stop Todd from murdering Joseph in the streets, but to uncover the clues that would lead to the safety of baby Eve. In her time travels she uncovers the full story and tips off to Ryan/Kelly which house baby Eve is at the night of the theft. So instead of the car getting stolen with the baby on board, the thieves are nabbed.
And instead of Joseph going to jail and ultimately coming back into their lives, he escapes never to be heard of again.
Finally, things are returned to order. Jen still meets and marries Ryan/Kelly though she is aware of the undercover components. With Joseph out of the picture and Ryan’s cover not blown, he can stay his true self – Ryan.
They still grow older together and have their boy Todd, who still has a girlfriend in the current. But it’s not Cleo, it’s Eve! And we learn that Cleo IS Eve! I’ll admit, I did love that twist.
We end with a clear cliff hanger that the same type of story is about to play out with Todd’s friend Conner and his mother. It seems the butterfly effect may have worked out well for Jen and her family, but perhaps caught Conner in the crosshairs. Too bad… not her problem.
TLDR: A decent story (Reese is a fan) but one that didn’t quite “wow” me. That said, a solid read. 3/5 Stars.
Fin.
