A Rip Through Time
A Novel
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4.4 • 36 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
In this series debut from New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong, a modern-day homicide detective finds herself in Victorian Scotland—in an unfamiliar body—with a killer on the loose.
"A great read." —Charlaine Harris
MAY 20, 2019: Homicide detective Mallory Atkinson is in Edinburgh to be with her dying grandmother. While out on a jog one evening, Mallory hears a woman in distress. She’s drawn to an alley, where she is attacked and loses consciousness.
MAY 20, 1869: Housemaid Catriona Mitchell had been enjoying a half day off, only to be discovered that night strangled and left for dead . . . exactly one hundred and fifty years before Mallory is strangled in the same spot.
When Mallory wakes up in Catriona’s body in 1869, she must put aside her shock and adjust quickly to her new reality: life as a housemaid to an undertaker in Victorian Scotland. She soon discovers that her boss, Dr. Gray, also moonlights as a medical examiner and has just taken on an intriguing case, the strangulation of a young man, similar to the attack on herself. Her only hope is that catching the murderer can lead her back to her modern life . . . before it’s too late.
In A Rip Through Time, New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong introduces a brand-new series mixing mystery, romance, and fantasy with thrilling results.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When the Scottish grandmother of Vancouver police detective Mallory Atkinson, the narrator of this inventive series launch from bestseller Armstrong (the Rockton novels), enters hospice care, Mallory flies to Edinburgh for one last visit. After a difficult day at Nan's bedside, Mallory jogs through the Grassmarket, where she spies a flickering female figure in Victorian garb calling for help. When Mallory stops to assist, a man ambushes and chokes her. Mallory wakes in 1869 Edinburgh, her consciousness trapped in the bruised body of the woman she tried to save—an illiterate housemaid named Catriona Mitchell. Mallory tries to keep a low profile lest Catriona's employers—undertaker Duncan Gray and his widowed half-sister, chemist Isla Ballantyne—fire or institutionalize her before Mallory finds a way home, but when she realizes Duncan is a forensics pioneer working with a forward-thinking cop to solve a bizarre murder, Mallory can't resist getting involved. Armstrong puts a fresh, fun spin on an age-old premise. Mallory's snarky narration complements the delightfully preposterous plot, and the vividly sketched cast is studded with charming iconoclasts. Readers will eagerly anticipate future installments.
Customer Reviews
4.25stars-fascinating, captivating, intriguing
4.25 stars—A RIP THROUGH TIME is the first instalment in Kelley Armstrong’s adult A RIP THROUGH TIME time travel, mystery series focusing on thirty year old, Vancouver, Canada Police Detective Mallory Atkinson, and undertaker/investigator Dr. Duncan Gray.
Told from first person perspective (Mallory) A RIP THROUGH TIME follows Detective Mallory Atkinson on a journey through time. In the spring of 2019 while visiting her ailing grandmother in Edinburgh Scotland, thirty year old, Vancouver British Columbia, Canada police detective Mallory Atkinson is attacked in an alley only to wake up as a nineteen year old housemaid in the year 1869, a housemaid who was also attacked and left for dead in the same alley where Mallory was found. Not only has our heroine time travelled back one-hundred and fifty years but she is no longer physically the same woman she was just minutes before. Working as a housemaid for Dr. Duncan Gray and his sister Isla, realizing life as she knew it was no longer under her control, Mallory must assume the position of nineteen year old Catriona Mitchell, a young woman whose history is questionable and dark. A serial killer has set his sights on Edinburgh Scotland, and ‘Catriona/Mallory’ has been targeted for sins of the past but more importantly, targeted for sins of the future. As the investigation begins to unfold, Catriona’s knowledge of investigative procedures stirs the interest of Isla and Duncan, an interest such that Mallory is going to have to explain the circumstances surrounding Catriona’s new insights and change in personality.
We are introduced to Dr. Gray’s sister Isla, their housekeeper Mrs. Wallace, stable hand Simon, housemaid Alice, as well as Inspector Hugh McCreadie and Constable Findlay.
A RIP THROUGH TIME is a fascinating story of mystery and suspense with a little bit of paranormal, time travel added to the mix. Having worked most of her adult life in the Vancouver police department, Mallory aka Catriona is the perfect foil for Dr. Gray, an undertaker and amateur investigator, who with the help of our heroine, begins to break down the clues and mystery surrounding a potential serial killer. The premise is intriguing and captivating; the characters are dynamic; the romance is virtually non-existent. My only complaint, is the easy and immediate acceptance, by the main characters, of time-travel and physical possession of some one else’s body.
Awesome
I love Kelley’s style of writing. This book takes you to a different time and has so many twists and turns as you are trying to figure out who the murderer is. Can’t wait for the next book in the series
Couldn’t put it down!
I’ve never been the biggest history buff, but Kelley Armstrong’s, A Rip Through Time has made me want to lean more about the Victorian era.
The characters are witty and relatable while also unexpected.
The plot was full of education, humor, suspense and plenty of plot twists.
Can’t wait for the next one!