In this new series by Kelley Armstrong, Mallory Atkinson, a Vancouver police detective, is in Edinburgh, Scotland to be with her beloved grandmother who is dying. When she goes out for a jog, she hears a noise and believing that someone is in distress, unwittingly almost becomes the victim of a murder. However, a rift in the seam (my words) throws her back 150 years as a young housemaid, Catriona Mitchell, is being assaulted in the same alleyway and Mallory changes bodies with Catriona in A Rip Through Time.

How much did I love this book? Let me count the ways, or rather nights that I stayed up far too late reading. As usual, Armstrong’s writing flows and the novel is well-paced without any boring parts, at least for this reader.

The characters of Gray, the funeral director/body examiner, and his older sister, Isla, who longs to be more in a male-dominated world but must settle for doing chemistry as a hobby, are well-drawn. Gray’s choice of profession as well as his brown skin have made him almost an outsider while Isla’s superior brain power sometimes makes her feel like an outsider.

I enjoyed the character of Mallory who is attempting to be the best Catriona she can be although she comes to find out that Catriona is not a very nice person. This fact makes her wonder if Catriona has become her in present times and what exactly this person might be doing to or with Mallory’s family. I have to admit that I wonder too and would love glimpses as to how Catriona is getting along in modern day Edinburgh.

The mystery is well-plotted and the reader is there every step of the way with Mallory. Armstrong has penned enough mysteries that she knows how to keep the reader swishing the pages.

I found A Rip Through Time to be thoroughly enjoyable and am eagerly awaiting the next installment. I do hope, however, that Armstrong gives us a view of the fish out of water that Catriona Mitchell must be.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Strangled in the same alley that a woman was strangled 150 years before, a woman police officer suddenly finds herself back in that time and in the woman’s body. Talk about exciting premises, right? After reading several thrilling books from this author, I was keen to pick up this first in a new series and explore the idea of a modern woman adjusting to the past and, as a police officer, adjusting to investigating a crime old-style.

Mallory is in Edinburgh struggling to say goodbye to a beloved grandmother on her deathbed. In need of a bit of air, she finds herself in Old Town at night in time to hear a woman struggling nearby. Her cop instincts kick in and she rushes to the rescue only to encounter a killer. She wakes up in 1869 and discovers she is now Catriona, a disreputable woman given a new chance as a housemaid in an undertaker’s home. However, Dr. Gray is not just a funeral home owner. He studies forensic science and one of the police investigators has just brought him a new body to help offer clues about the murder. While adjusting to her new incredible circumstances, trying to figure out how to get back to her own time, and more than curious about Catriona’s attack and her past, she can’t help herself from getting involved in the police investigation and Gray’s work.

I love the idea of bringing a modern police detective into Victorian Scotland and seeing her work through the whacked out idea that she just traveled back in time, the world of being a woman and a serving class person with criminal history, and having her land fortuitously in a progressive man’s home and work. I say progressive because Dr. Gray can empathize with the frustration she feels as a woman denied certain things of his race. He and his sister, Isla, are looked at askance because they are educated, own a business, and have a comfortable income when most people of color were servant class. His personality and interests are not unlike a certain famous fictional detective by the name of Holmes and his sister is a chemist and atypical of her time as well.

Kelley Armstrong took the time to sketch in how it all felt for Mallory to go through such an experience. I liked that Mallory wasn’t some special snowflake who instinctively knew her history and how to fit in, but neither was she arrogant about it. She tries to fit in and respect that people of the past weren’t stupid. Her attempt to talk ‘historical’ based on a vague knowledge from historical romance books was hilarious.

That said, I did get antsy to come to the moment when she got settled in and we could get on to the fun part. Solving crime old-style with her knowledge from the future that would help the investigation. I was sympathetic that she left things unfinished with her grandmother and she had a life back in the present, but I enjoyed her in the past. It was fun seeing how her secret about being a time traveler and also the surprise twist figuring out how she ended up there spins itself out.

Mysteries abound from the serial killer in the present, the killer in the past, how the time slip worked, and coloring in Catriona’s story. It was interesting seeing the extra twist of her being ‘Catriona’ in 1869 and everyone else knows more about Catriona than she does so she must learn as she goes and it turns out Catriona was as much a mystery as the investigation into murder. I liked Gray and McCreadie, but was happy to see them show up the other arrogant police and pathologist, but Mallory’s time with Isla was also pretty great.

All in all, this was a good start to a series, building the background and slowly getting going to a steady, suspense-building book that left me satisfied with what I got and ready for what comes next in the series.

I adore Kelley Armstrong and worship the ground she walks on. This was such a brilliant start to a new series. I cannot wait to see where she takes this one. The time travel element in a historical fiction is always one of my favourites, and add in mystery and you have the perfect book for me. I loved Mallory/Catriona, Isla, and Duncan. They were each such fascinating characters with interesting backstories. I’m sure they’ll only get richer as time goes on. I binged this book while on a plane, but didn’t finish it then and was disappointed to have to go through customs without the story’s resolution. I was hooked from start to finish and am still hooked for more.

What’s it about (in a nutshell):
A Rip Through Time by Kelly Armstrong is the fun and thrilling first book in the Rip Through Time series. Mallory Atkinson is a police detective in current-day Vancouver, Canada. She’s in Scotland visiting her Nan, who only has days to live when she captures the attention of a serial killer. On her daily run, Mallory is attacked by the serial killer. She is transported back to 1869 and Catriona Mitchell’s body, who is also being attacked in the same way and in the very same alley. She hopes that catching the Victorian serial killer will transport her back to her current time. Still, she faces many challenges along the way and many dangerous situations.

Initial Expectations (before beginning the book):
I love, love, love time travel stories, and one with a mystery going back 150 years is just too delicious of a tale for me to pass up. The cover encompasses both periods, and the Sherlock Holmes feel of the past depiction makes me particularly excited. The Victoria period is my past favorite era, and I can’t wait to go back in time with the main character.

Actual Reading Experience:
As I mentioned in my initial expectations, I love the Victorian era – the time of Sherlock Holmes and unrelenting social norms. I found it fascinating to follow Mallory/Catriona as she navigated a world where women were the “angels of the hearth” and much too delicate for detective or forensics work. The real challenges she would have faced are all covered expertly and with superb attention to detail. I also loved all the twists and turns that held me absolutely riveted from beginning to end. Lastly, that ending was not the old tried-and-true time travel ending – instead, it left lots of questions, and I absolutely enjoyed that, especially knowing there is more to come.

Characters:
The story is told by Mallory in the first-person narration, which makes the tale very relatable. She reacts to Victorian Scotland as any of us would, allowing me to suspend disbelief easily. She is intelligent, determined, capable, and very adaptable and resilient. She has excellent people skills and is a keen observer of what’s going on around her. Her narration flowed exquisitely and kept the suspense high at all times.

To Read or Not to Read:
If you love crime thrillers and time travel, particularly to the Victorian era, you will not want to miss this fun and thrilling story!

This review was originally posted on <a href="https://booksofmyheart.net/2022/06/02/%f0%9f%8e%a7-a-rip-through-time-by-kelley-armstrong/" target="_blank"> Books of My Heart</a>
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<i>Review copy was received from NetGalley, Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i>

I have always enjoyed this author and was excited to start a new series.  I was a little hesitant because time travel is not my favorite thing.  <strong>A Rip Through Time</strong> is where a modern day police detective ends up 150 years earlier.  So the story is primarily set historically.

Mallory thinks she dies but wakes up as Catriona.  She struggles to figure out who she is now and what is appropriate for this time period.  Obviously, women are not police detectives or doing many other things in this time.  There is also the lack of devices we use regularly today.

I found the beginning a little slow, and frankly, felt irritated at the treatment of women.  As the story continued into the mystery and scientific aspects I was engaged and could barely put it down.  Mallory is fortunate to end up in a household with more leniency for diversity and a strong interest in science.   The mystery is fascinating and takes a while to get sorted.

I finished with many remaining questions though this was not a cliffhanger. My questions are more ones as to how things will go on in the series, and what inventions were discovered when. I would have liked to get McCreadie's reaction to everything though.   I am now very excited for more.

There was a point in the first 150 pages or so where I wavered between wanting to put this book down. A gothic time travel mystery/crime book sounded amazing, but the protagonist kept forgetting about the fact that she was in the Victorian era, then reminding the reader through the first person narration. "Why is that so weird? Oh right, I'm int he past." or "Why are they looking at me funny? Oh right, I'm in the past". (Those are absolutely paraphrased, but I felt like the same thing kept happening for too long).

Once we get over the fact that we're in the past (for the most part), some secrets get unveiled, and the crime investigation takes off, this suddenly becomes a page-turner! Very strong in the crime investigation parts. And the characters are intriguing, if the protagonist can be a bit naive for a hardened Vancouver detective. I'm most intrigued by the brother and sister in the Victorian era - early forensic specialist and a chemist of sorts. I'd like to see them more in the future.

But then. . . the ending was a bit of a letdown. I expected a full wrap-up of all elements and instead only the crime in question gets wrapped. But I only realized upon reaching the end that it is labelled as the first of a series - and there's a comparison to Outlander (which, I admit, I didn't like). So I'm expecting further crime solving and going back and forth in time. When it comes out, I will read the next in the series for the crime and the characters - and hope there's not too much dwelling on the differences in time periods.

This was an enjoyable time travel, murder mystery set in Victorian Scotland.

I enjoyed following the main character Mallory - a modern detective, as she navigated the Victorian time period and their policing and forensic science practices.

The time travel aspect was a little different in this one as she actually swapped bodies with someone from the past and this added an additional layer to the normal time travel story.

This was an interesting and fast paced story that I really enjoyed.

Happy Dance! A new series from Kelley Armstrong! A Rip Through Time is the first book.
2019. Mallory is an American Homicide Detective who has travelled to Edinburgh to say goodbye to her dying grandmother. She goes out for a walk in the evening hours and is attacked and left for dead in an alleyway.

But, Mallory isn't dead. And here's where the title comes in - she wakes up in a hospital to find herself in the body of a housemaid, who was also attacked in the same alley. But.....in 1869. Oh, what a great set up!

I really liked Mallory as a lead character. The reader is privy to her inner thoughts as she tries to figure out what she's going to do in the here and now, even as she wonders how she can return home. She has to think of everything - what her behaviour should look like, the language she uses and how to navigate in a past she doesn't really know much about. The supporting cast is excellent - the master of the house and his sister have skills and interests that intersect with Mallory's talents. How can Mallory keep her façade up, while still offering suggestions to the Detective in charge of the cases?

I really enjoyed how the case was solved using deductions, legwork, suspicions, observations and more. Forensic science is it's infancy and it too adds to the tools used on this case. Armstrong always draws the reader with the thinking and deductions of the investigator. Mallory reminds me a bit of Casey from Rockton.

I also enjoyed the description of the settings and the depiction of the mores of the time.

Armstrong has given us a unique premise with characters you can't help but like. The mystery and the solving of, is excellent. The ending is satisfying, but there are still questions to be answered. The biggest being if Mallory can ever get back through the rip. But on the other hand...where is Catriona?

The premise of A Rip Through Time is a familiar trope. Through unexplained events, someone jumps into another person’s body. In this case, they just happen to jump into the body of someone living 150 years before their time. This creates an intriguing situation for Mallory, who finds herself forced to live as Catriona. Being a maid in Victorian era Edinburgh might sound like a relatively simple task for Detective Mallory Atkinson, but it turns out Catriona’s no mere maid. She’s a criminal and when Mallory starts trying to figure out who’d want Catriona dead, she soon learns there’s a long list of potential suspects.

The success of A Rip Through Time falls squarely on Mallory’s shoulders. She’s our sole POV character, and she must carry us through the entire story and convince us to share her journey. Mallory does this effectively. Perhaps because of the heightened emotions at the start, while she sat with her dying Nan on her own, it’s easy to empathize with her situation and understand why that prompts her to reflect on her life and her choices. Mallory’s coming to terms with losing someone she loves and with the fact she’s let her career become her whole life, rarely seeing friends or going on dates. You get the sense she’s about to make some changes when she’s attacked and knocked back 150 years.

It’s fun to watch her blunder her way through her situation. While many people have watched an historic movie or show from time to time, few could pinpoint the year and know exactly what phrasing to use and how to dress. Add in the fact that Mallory finds herself drawn into a murder investigation and soon realizes it connects with her assault, and you have an intriguing historical mystery with both police and amateur sleuths working the case.

To avoid spoilers, I rarely read much about arcs before I read them, so I was surprised by the ending. If I’d simply gone to the Amazon page, I would have expected it. Since it did catch me by surprise, I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. I’m not sure where Armstrong plans to take the series from here, but Mallory’s surrounded by an intriguing group of supporting characters and, as Dr. Gray’s assistant, she’ll be able to use her skills to solve crimes while trapped in the past. This series should definitely appeal to people who enjoy historic amateur sleuth stories. 4 out of 5 stars.

A Rip Through Time is a pretty straightforward time traveler novel. What sets this one apart from others is that detective Mallory is actually inhabiting someone else’s body instead of being transported in her own. Once she gets over the shock of what’s happened the story settles in to a bit of sleuthing. Of course, when your a house maid, your time isn’t your own and finding the time to sleuth becomes a bit difficult. Luckily for her, Dr. Gray isn’t just an undertaker, he is also interested in forensic science and has the imagination to listen to her evaluations and ideas. Not something that would normally happen in the Victorian era, prior to women’s rights. The arrival of Dr. Gray’s sister, Isla, a chemical scientist, is when the story takes off. Mallory finds someone she can trust and the story starts to move along a little quicker.

I’ll admit to loving time traveling novels. It’s always interesting to see how our main characters resolve themselves to their new lives in the past. Mallory decides her time will be best spent assisting Dr. Gray until she can find the murderer who will hopefully transport her home. I wish a little more time had been spent on descriptions of her surroundings, the era, and anything else that would help the reader transport themselves along with Mallory, but I find those moments surprisingly lacking. Unless you’re a history professor, that would take a ton of research so I understand, I just wished for a little bit more than what we got. The most enjoyable part of the novel was the actual hunt for the killer and when we got to those scenes it was easier to lose myself in the story, so it was just the first part that was a little light on details.

If you like time traveler mystery novels, this one was good! Except for a couple of small issues at the start, I did really enjoy reading the story.

❤️❤️❤️❣️

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest!

A wonderful mystery!! Just the right amount of detail and suspense. It's medium paced for the most part. It's definitely a plot centric book but I really enjoyed the characters as well. There were some humourous moments that made me laugh out loud. Most importantly, I need more ASAP! If you're looking for that fine line between thriller and cozy mystery, this is the book for you!

Kelley Armstrong is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I loved the Rockton series and was sad to see it end. But while this fascinating new debut series is entirely different from her previous novels, I'm hooked already!
Mallory is a homicide detective in Vancouver in 2019. While visiting her dying grandmother in Edinburgh, she hears the scream of a woman in distress down a dark alley. She sees a ghostly projection of a woman in Victorian clothing being strangled, and then she herself is being attacked. She wakes up two days later in a different body in another time. Being strangled in the same alley exactly 150 years later opened a rip in time, transporting Mallory into the body of Catriona, a housemaid in the home of undertaker Duncan Grey. As she adjusts to Victorian life, she blames her odd speech and behavior on memory loss from the attack. Dr Grey also serves as unofficial medical examiner and has just taken on a fascinating new case...a strangulation very similar to her own. She can't help but wonder if assisting in the case will help her find her way back home to her own time.
I can't wait to read the next book in this exciting new series!
I received an advance reader copy of this book. The views and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.

I fell in love with Kelley Armstrong's Rockton series, even though I started in the middle of it. I was broken-hearted that it ended. Therefore, I was super excited to find out that she had a new series coming out, and that I was able to get a copy of A Rip Through Time. Yay, me!. These two series are as different as night and day, but equally thrilling. If this book is any indication of the following books, I will be waiting most impatiently for each upcoming volume!

On May 20, 2019, homicide detective Mallory Atkinson from Vancouver is in Edinburgh, Scotland visiting her beloved grandmother who is dying. As she's jogging one evening, she hears a woman's cries in an alley. When she investigates, she is strangled and left for dead. On May 20, 1869, housemaid Catriona Mitchell was out for her half-day off and was strangled and left for dead...exactly 150 years before Mallory was attacked in the same spot. When Mallory awakens, she is in Catriona's body in 1869 Victorian Edinburgh! Talk about culture shock! She is now the housemaid for Dr. Duncan Gray, an undertaker who moonlights as an unofficial medical examiner. Gray is working on a case of a young man who was strangled in a way very similar to Mallory's own attack. She hopes if the murderer is caught she'll be able to return to her life in 2019...or will she be stuck permanently in the wrong time?

I always thought "time travel" stories were silly, but then I read Outlander and fell in love with it, and I realized it's all about the writing. Ms. Armstrong has penned an exciting beginning to her A Rip Through Time series, and it's perfection as a fish-out-of-water story. I expected excitement, chemistry with Dr. Gray and an intriguing murder mystery. What I never expected is that it would be so darn funny! Mallory is in total culture shock as she deals with everything from crotchless underdrawers for women to Victorian decorating to scrubbing chamber pots. She tries to remember how characters spoke in her friends' romance novels; she usually gets it wrong, using English period slang instead of Scottish. A 21st Century detective is not a subservient person, but a 19th Century housemaid would be! It was horribly awkward to find out the person whose body you were inhabiting was not a nice girl, but rather a thief and a bully. Mallory had to pretend that she had a personality change and loss of memory due to a head injury when she was strangled. How else to explain suddenly being able to read and write and wanting to help Gray catch a killer? I just loved Mallory; she made me laugh but also made me cry when she wanted so badly to return home to her Nan before she died, and to her parents. Dr. Gray was an intriguing hero. He was half Indian and many people treated him like trash for being different. He was illegitimate, brought home by his father for his "mother" to raise. She treated him just as if she gave birth to him. He was an undertaker because it was the family business, but he excelled at being a medical examiner, which was a good thing because the police surgeon was pretty much useless. Mallory was fascinated watching him work, seeing early crime detection methods being developed. Gray was very protective of his widowed sister Isla who lived with him, and was quite proper with his employees. He had been known to enjoy a good fight, though! You could see just a bit of the beginning of chemistry between Mallory and Gray. Supporting characters were great, especially Isla, a chemist, who was in charge of the household staff. She could be tough, but she hired young people with troubled pasts to give them a chance of a better life. She was also interested in Gray's cases, just not the particularly gruesome ones. She and Mallory became friends; Isla was the first one Mallory told about her true self. Detective McCreadie was also very interesting, being a long-time friend of the family. There was something palpable between McCreadie and Isla; I'd like to see that explored in future books. This first book was a thrill ride and I can't wait to see the next case they all investigate!

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Awhile back I read that Kelley Armstrong meant to dip her toe into the waters of historical time travel with the delightful time travel duology (possible trilogy) A Stitch in Time. It was to be the rehearsal for her unusual time travel series starting with A Rip through Time .
The first series was a straight up time travel novel with the heroine falling back into time through a tear in the fabric of time. A Rip through Time is more complicated. Two women are strangled almost to death at the exact time, date and location one hundred and fifty years apart. The complication: they exchange bodies. Or at least the Vancouver homicide detective Mallory Atkinson, hopes the other victim is alive.
Mallory is in Edinburgh, Scotland to be at the side of her beloved, dying grandmother. She goes out for a quick run and is lured into an alleyway where she is attacked and almost killed. To add insult to injury, Mallory is pulled though time.
Mallory awakes in the house of an Edinburgh undertaker/doctor/researcher. Unfortunately, she wakes up in the body of young housemaid Catriona Mitchell. Mallory quickly comes to understand her new situation as we have all grown up with time travel books and movies. Mallory takes a few days to acclimate herself by pleading head injuries and shock in order to take stock of her situation.
Mallory also uses those same excuses to plead the reasons for her tremendous personality changes. Mallory is no longer illiterate, plus she is able to slowly insert herself a position to assist her employer, Dr Duncan Gray. Mallory’s greatest barrier to survival is not being thrown out of the sheltering house as she is either feared, distrusted, disliked, or all three by just about everyone who knows her; and with good reason. Mallory is in a panic wondering what havoc Catriona could be wreaking with her family back in her time. If, in fact she made an even- steven time jump.
I have to admit I haven’t read many time travel books. However, I think A Rip through Timeis a terrific book. The premise is highly original, and I am extremely impressed with the research going into this recreation of mid-Victorian times in Scotland. Authors can’t wing it anymore since so many readers have Google on speed dial. I always do, not to catch author out, but to find more information about what I’m reading. I’m also impressed Armstrong had to write this without a visit to Edinburgh due to the Pandemic.
Many of the characters are outside the box or changing the shape of the box. Catriona isn’t some sweet young lassie, Dr Grey isn’t a well thought of doctor. Instead as a man of color he collects the stings and insults of a backward police force, except for one detective, a childhood friend.
Dr Grey’s sister isn’t some grieving widow quietly keeping house for her brilliant brother. Instead she is a chemist with a satisfying life but who actively suffers from the countless strictures of Victorian times.
I truly had no clue as to Mallory/Catriona’s killer, so to speak. Armstrong is well able to maintain an intelligent suspense. The action was exciting, fitting the pace of the book. Nothing outlandish, nothing unrealistic.
So here are the questions Armstrong presents us with that keep us constantly engaged; you travel back into time, a time you might know a bit about. What knowledge of the future do you share? Who do you decide to trust? Who do you hurt by not trusting? How do you explain your life? Do you ignore everything you ever read about the butterfly effect? Do you give up trying to get home and make a new life for yourself? These are some of the questions, and the surprising answers making A Rip through Time such a terrific read.
Thank you to NetGalley for a review ARC.

A Rip Through Time was so much fun. I loved every second and did not want it to end!

When homicide detective Mallory hears a woman in distress, she attempts to help but is attacked and loses consciousness. Upon waking, she finds herself 150 years in the past inhabiting the body of a 19 year old housemaid named Catriona. While attempting to navigate life as a housemaid in Victorian Scotland, Mallory must search for a way back to her own time while also trying to catch a murderer.

As I've come to expect from Kelley Armstrong the characters are well developed, the plot was engaging and it was full of things I love - historical fiction, mystery, characters you can't help but love and a hint at romance to come. I enjoyed the pacing and felt that the mystery was so well done. There were parts that had me on the edge of my seat and the ending left me wanting more. I just hope we won't have to wait too long for the next book in the series!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for access to an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

Mallory Atkinson is a 30 year old police detective from Vancouver, visiting Edinburgh, Scotland to be at her dying grandmother's bedside. When out on a run, she detours into an alley to follow the sounds of a woman screaming (never a good idea...) and is attacked. When she comes to she is in the body of a teenage maid - the woman she saw being attacked - in 1860s Edinburgh. Now stuck in a body that isn't hers, she must play housemaid in the home of Dr. Grey, an undertaker, and his widowed sister Isla. Not only is she in a teenage body that isn't hers, that teenage body is a known thief with a background cloaked in mystery. Using the attack and a blow to the head as cover, Mallory has to figure out who attacked the housemaid and hopefully find a way back to her own time.

I'm a sucker for time travel novels. I saw time travel and Edinburgh and my little Outlander loving heart went pitter pat. What intrigued me most about the premise of this novel was that when Mallory falls through time, she falls into the body of someone else. In other novels (the aforementioned Outlander, or the Kendra Donovan series by Julie McElwain), the heroine falls through time as herself.

I was very invested in the story...for about the first 30%. After the 30% mark, things began to feel repetitive and like I'd read them other places. Time and time again Mallory was shocked by something she learned about Catriona's life/behavior/past. Time and time again Dr. Grey dismissed Mallory-as-Catriona's ideas or was shunned by investigators for his own. It became monotonous.

When I began reading, I didn't realize this was the first book in a series - in fact, I didn't realize it until I got to the end of the book and there was no real conclusion. Even as a series, I felt that the first book should end on some kind of note that makes you want to read the next book. This one did not do that, which was disappointing.

This is a fascinating story. It mixes mystery, romance and time travel for a fantastic read. Mallory is a Canadian detective in Scotland who gets attacked and finds herself thrown back to the Victorian era. Here she becomes part of a household with some very interesting characters. She gets caught up in trying to solve a series of murders which puts her and others in danger. It is definitely a great start to the series.

4.5/5

I wasn't expecting this book to be so good, I don't really know why. I guess I was expecting some kind of cheesy time-travel book. Well, I was so wrong. This book was very good and sucked me right in from the very beginning. This is a very different time-travel story from the usual person traveling to another time period. In this story which begins in 2019 Edinburgh, Detective Mallory Atkinson is attacked in an alley while out jogging and loses consciousness. When she wakes up, she discovers she's in another person's body and that it's not 2019 but 1869. That body she's now in belongs to a housemaid named Catriona Mitchell. The story just took me by surprise and really had me captivated. The writing was very well done with a good combination of mystery, intrigue, and some humor. The characters were very likable. I thought this was a very fun and enjoyable read. It ends in a cliffhanger and now I cannot wait until the next book in this series. I cannot believe I have not read any other books by Kelly Armstrong but that will soon change.

A big thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the review copy.

I really enjoy Kelley Armstrong’s time-slip series, so was delighted to see she is starting a new one with A Rip Through Time.

The novel starts with Mallory Atkinson, a Canadian detective in Scotland to sit vigil at her ailing grandmother’s bedside. While on a break for coffee she accidentally bumps into a nondescript man. She thinks nothing of it until later that evening while on a run, she hears a woman being attacked in an alleyway. She runs to the rescue and sees what appears to be a hollogram of a young woman being strangled, Then Mallory is attacked and recognizes the man from the coffee shop before she blacks out. It is the waking part that is the doozy, when she wakes she finds herself in Edinburgh still, but in the year 1869. She is also in the unfamiliar body of the woman she saw being attacked in the alleyway. What is happening? It appears there was a rip in time and Mallory is now in the body of young housemaid Catriona. Catriona works for a Dr. Grey and his sister Isla. Mallory being a detective uses her skills to try to figure out what is going on, but is off enough in her demeanor to make the Grey’s suspicious. Then the murders start happening and to the Grey’s surprise, their housemaid is on the case. Well Mallory wants to get back to her time and feels that solvig the case of who tried to kill her/Catriona may be the key to her return,

I really enjoyed the time-slip aspect of this novel, I have to say Mallory handled it way better that I would have. I look forward to more books in this series. I love the juxtaposition of the two time lines and two lives intersecting for the same and similar crimes.

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and the author for the chance to read and reivew this book.

A Rip Through Time is fascinating and utterly immersive, exploring a fish-out-of-water situation through the eyes of a strong, accomplished woman forced into a life where she has none of the “womanly” qualities deemed necessary to fit in. Mallory is a terrific character, confronting her bizarre circumstances with intelligence and determination, applying her years of experience as a detective to both help her employer solve the mysteries he sees in his line of work as well as to solve the huge unknowns about her own case.

Not only is Mallory in the wrong century in the wrong body, but she’s been targeted at least once by a killer, and as her time in Edinburgh of the 1860s continues, she learns that she/Catriona is still in danger. There’s a mystery to solve and a killer to catch, and the action is fast-paced and totally fun to unpack and follow along.

This may all sound like an unbelievable set-up for a story, and I suppose in a less-skilled writer’s hands, that might make it unreadable — but here, Kelley Armstrong confidently weaves a story about crime, women’s roles, time travel, connections, independence, and family, and makes it all work.

The writing throughout is fresh and fun, and while there is plenty of danger and some more serious moments, Mallory’s 21st-century voice keeps the story from feeling like a stodgy historical piece.

I was a little bit hesitant at first when I learned that A Rip Through Time is the first in a series, rather than a stand-alone. However, now that I’ve finished, I’m delighted that there will be more! I can’t say much about the ending or what I might expect from book #2 without entering spoiler territory… but let’s just say that I found the ending of this book very satisfying, and yet with plenty more to explore in future books. I can’t wait to see what’s next!