The Third Rule of Time Travel

By Philip Fracassi

Book Overview

Rule One: You can only travel 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 electrifying science fiction thriller 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.

"Tense, fast-moving, surprsing, and above all else, entertaining." - Owen King, New York Times bestselling author

"A clever premise digs its heels into a sci-fi thriller that breaks into a fast gallop from the first page - exciting, haunting, compelling stuff." - Chuck Wendig, author of The Book of Accidents

"Fracassi weaves a tightly plotted story... a solid new entry into the time travel genre." -- Kirkus

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.

"Part Crichton, part Bradbury, and all Fracassi, The Third Rule of Time Travel further demonstrates why Fracassi is one of the best writers working today, regardless of genre." - Tyler Jones, author of Midas

"Probes the endurance of grief, the importance of memory and the ultimate malleability of reality and perception." -- The Wall Street Journal

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316572519
• ISBN13: 9780316572514
• Release Date: March 2025
• Publisher: Orbit
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Wormhole time travel!

I have read dark horror by this author (Boys in the Valley), and also dark humor horror (The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre), which I enjoyed. This is a different touch and I enjoyed it quite a bit. There are many different ways that one could time travel and this was an interesting take on it, being an observer only with your mind set via a wormhole. Lots of ways things could go wrong with that! Beth was an interesting character and it was easy to feel for her, working on the project of time travel alone after her husband was killed in an accident a year ago and slowly coming to realize where she works has so many secrets being kept from her. Add in tiny wormholes and the time travel with side effects and you have a great story that I had to keep reading to find out how it was going to end (and really hoping it wasn't going to be a tragedy like all the events Beth always seemed to travel to.) Let's just say, the rules are meant to be broken! And I am pretty sure the ultimate science rule is even looking at an object is going to change things. This was a fast paced thrilling read that I enjoyed very much. Not quite as dark horror but still some scary bits that balance well with the science and the race to find out what is changing and how to fix it!