I was so excited about the premise of the book-- time travel in Edinburgh, Scotland (Outlander-ish vibes), but unfortunately this was a DNF. I found the dialogue painful and the descriptions of scenes were difficult for me to envision.
I think this would appeal to readers that like lighthearted stream of though and it does have a strong female protagonist.

A Rip through Time is the strong beginning of a new series by Kelley Armstrong. As is her usual the writing is very good, the story intriguing, the characters both believable and likable, and the mystery first rate. Hopefully the next book will be out soon!

First of all, I've loved everything that Kelley Armstrong has ever written. This was very different from her usual, but I dig it! I thought the way she has Mallory manage her entry into a strange world/time and use her skills and knowledge from the future was masterful, and I look forward to more in this series ASAP.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Minotaur Books for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

I first read Kelley Armstrong's writing when I was in high school, back when the Darkest Powers series first came out, and I fell in love with that series. When I saw that this series was coming out, I crossed my fingers and toes that I would get a copy to read and review since it looked so interesting. This book is just as interesting and captivating as it seems! We have time travel - but it isn't really time travel - combined with a murder mystery (kinda), and the beginning of forensics in the 1800s. I normally don't like time travel books but this is one but isn't one? And it is a murder mystery in that someone dies but they don't die - you have to stop a murder but there is a murder? Listen, it is confusing to try and explain but it makes a lot of sense when you are reading. It is super enthralling. I was getting so anxious as the book was ending because I couldn't figure out how it was going to end without being a cliff hanger. Answer - no cliff hanger in one sense, but a cliff hanger in another. Meaning I am now going to start a countdown for book 2. This was a trip and I really enjoyed the ride. Check it out!

A Rip Through Time is a timeslip story starring, Vancouver homicide detective Mallory Atkinson, who is strangled in Edinburgh in 2019 and wakes up in the body of housemaid Catriona Thomson in 1869. Both women had been strangled on the same spot, 150 year apart. Catriona works as a housemaid for Dr. Duncan Gray and his widowed sister. Dr. Gray is an undertaker, who also works as a medical examiner in Victorian Scotland. As Mallory tries to pretend she is Catriona, she finds out about the murder of a man that is similar to her own brush with death. This gives her the slim hope that if she finds the murderer, maybe she will find her way back to 2019. Working with Duncan and Detective Hugh McCreadle, they try to catch the strangler.

A Rip Through Time is the first book in a new series and I am looking forward to more. Mallory/Catriona is a great character. It is interesting to see how she lived in 1869, knowing so much that happened after that date. She is careful not to give anything away that will disrupt the future, yet she uses some knowledge to help solve the crime. I loved how she came up with excuses about her language, forgetting things and even how she could now read. She began to assist Dr. Gray in his work, and they develop a friendship with one another. His sister, Isla Ballantyne, is not a shrinking violet. She works with those who have convicted of minor crimes, gives them a job and helps them find a better life. She is a woman beyond her times and not only being caring, she is smart. Duncan Gray is a handsome man, a doctor who is not well thought of. He works and studies to find out why people have died and tries to come up with things to help solve crimes. He is extremely intelligent in his work, but not so much in social ways. There seems to be a bit of chemistry between Mallory and Duncan and I am interested to see how that plays out in future books. The mystery was very unique and I really enjoyed how it unfolded. I had no idea who the culprit was, and as the investigation unfolded, it had action, red herrings, and several clues. With great characters, a well researched setting and well plotted mystery, this is a book I definitely recommend.

A fantastic read!!! I just absolutely couldn't put A Rip Through Time down.
Well written.
I can't wait to read the next book.

I felt the same way when I read this time travel story by Armstrong as I did when I read her first one (A Stitch in Time). She doesn't use the usual time travel gimmicks. Here Mallory tries to blend in as best as possible and acts smartly. There's no instant romance.

The mystery aspect was a little light. Yes, elements are threaded throughout the book, but there was a lot of set up and introduction of characters, fleshing them out more than usual which I appreciated.

One thing Armstrong does go light on is Mallory's missing home. We don't really feel it though she mentions it a couple of times. We don't learn why, aside from her grandmother, why she would. Other than mods and cons and not having to work as a maid.

I did feel though, that the characters who do learn about Mallory's true situation had a reasonable reaction. They even say why. Yes, they did accept it faster than most probably would in real life, but it's a book. The author probably didn't want to spend copious pages going back and forth. And really, a bump on the head isn't going to knock in the knowledge that Mallory suddenly has.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Read a combo of a Netgalley ARC and a copy from the library.

Trigger Warnings: Graphic description of wounds/medical procedures/murders, death, strangulation, mentions of child abuse, mentions of rape, violence, and racism.

" However, even better would be an amateur team to assist the professional detective. A widowed chemist, a former-thief housemaid, and a medical doctor turned criminal scientist, all helping the clever and handsome criminal officer, who does not need their assistance, but humors them graciously."

A Rip Through Time follows Mallory who is a Canadian detective that has gone to Scotland to visit her dying grandmother. One night she goes out for a run just to get away for a little while and then ends up time traveling after something happens to her. She wakes up in Catriona's body. Catriona seems to be the complete opposite of Mallory as she is a thief. Thankfully for Mallory Catriona works as a housemaid in the home of Dr. Gray and his sister widowed sister Isla. Dr. Gray works at night as a medical examiner, and Isla is a chemist. This ends up working out well for Mallory because she is able to come up with an excuse as to why she is acting different from the real Catriona and they believe it.

"The women shut out by the men, proceeding on their own?
As they often must."

Overall I like and enjoyed this book. A Rip Through Time not only has time travel which is always interesting, but also body switching, and murder mystery. Multiple things I enjoy reading about. Mallory/Catriona ends up doing fairly well in the time period of 1869, and even though she doesn't know about a lot of what was happening during that time she is able to piece things together with some help from others. Dr. Gray and his sister Isla find that Mallory/Catriona in her new state might be able to help them both. For Dr.Gray, she becomes an assistant of course, and for Isla, she poses a new and exciting adventure to figure out what made her time travel and how if there even is a way she can get back to her proper time period.
Mallory/Catriona ends up going by both by the end of the book because people figure out who she is. Now she is able to be resourceful and finds people to talk to as much as she can about what is going on with her. But she's also getting to use a little bit of her expertise from the 21st century to help figure out the killings that are happening. I like Mallory found it fascinating to see more of how investigation work was starting and what the police were and weren't doing when it came to trying to solve cases. Dr. Gray and his work was also fascinating, and I definitely formed a soft spot for Isla and what she was doing as a chemist.

I can't wait to see what Mallory gets up to in the next book and what is going to happen next.



- I will be posting a photo on my Instagram on the week of 11-18.
-posting on blog September 30th, 2022

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the gifted book I read along with the library audio.

Mallory Atkinson is a homicide detective from Canada who is in Edinburgh to be with her dying grandmother. But when she is out on a job one evening she hears a woman in distress in an alley and she goes to assist. There she is attacked and loses consciousness. When she wakes up she is no longer in 2019, but in 1869 in the body of housemaid Catriona Mitchell who has her own complicated back story. Mallory must figure out how to navigate this new reality as she also tries to figure out how to get back to her own time. But as the housemaid in the home of an undertaker who moonlights as a medical examiner, she is also tempted to use her modern knowledge of crime solving to help catch a strangler whose MO fits that of her own attack.

This book is the first in a series and I love how it sets up the characters, the stakes, and the world we are working in with such a deft hand that I am impatiently waiting for book 2. The characters are interesting and multi-faceted and the setting brought to life through the writing. I felt like I too was in a swirl of skirts plodding along damp cobblestones in Victorian era Scotland. Totally whisked me away. If you like crime fiction and/or time travel this series is one that I think is going to be fully worth your time.

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it before, but I was late to the Kelley Armstrong game. I knew who she was, of course (you can’t work in a bookstore and not know popular Canadian authors) but I had just never picked up her books - until the Rockton series. I loved that one so when I saw she was writing a new historical mystery series, I knew I wanted to check it out. A Rip Through Time is the first and it did its job - I REALLY need to read the next book!

Here’s the book’s description:
May 20, 2019: Homicide detective Mallory 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 in a lane, where she’d been strangled and left for dead . . . exactly one-hundred-and-fifty years before Mallory was 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 the 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.
This book wasn’t exactly the greatest literary work. The number of times Mallory’s “hands itched to grab her phone” was used made me want to throw my eReader out the damn window. The timeline may not have been as smooth as it should have been, and characters did things that didn’t always make sense. But, damn, if I don’t desperately want book two already! Armstrong wraps up the mystery in this book but leaves several dangling threads so you can’t help but want to know what happens next. And I thoroughly enjoyed my reading time (other than when Mallory wanted to check her phone All. The. Time.) so that is a win in my book.

I don’t read a lot of fantasy and definitely do not read much science fiction. Except when it comes to time travel - that’s the only sci-fi I can handle and I absolutely love it. I have no idea how accurate Armstrong was with 1869 Edinburgh, but it felt accurate enough. There was also the added twist of a modern-day character being thrust into the time while looking like someone from that time (how’s that for a mind-bender?). Not only was that a tricky thing for the character to figure out (HOW will she get home?) but having Mallory be the fish out of water allowed Armstrong to explain some historical things without it becoming an awkward info dump. Mallory is us, the reader, in this scenario and she can ask the questions we want to ask so we’re not left in the dark.



Given Edinburgh was my last big trip before the world shut down, I enjoyed the setting of this story. I didn’t get to explore much in my short trip but some of the streets Mallory mentioned were familiar. And it reminded me of how old the city is with so many modern additions. The charm and the long history of the city is everywhere, even now. Being able to “visit” the city in 1869 was a lot of fun and, no surprise here, I can’t wait to get back to visit Edinburgh in the future (but, like, not the future-future. I don’t need to time travel, thank you.)

A Rip Through Time was a really fun and thrilling read. I was drawn into Kelley Armstrong’s mystery and was rooting for Mallory to figure out the crime and get back to her own time (hey, I made a rhyme!). Enjoy this book for what it is - a sci-fi historical mystery caper - and you’ll have a great time reading it. Looking forward to book #2!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Minotaur Books/St. Martin's Press, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

A Rip Through Time – Armstrong
This was a time slip novel with an intriguing premise. A RIP THROUGH TIME is the first novel in Kelly Armstrong’s new series, and I appreciated the way Armstrong put the story together.
Mallory, a detective in 2019, is visiting Scotland when she hears someone cry out. As she goes to investigate, she sees a woman and is attacked herself. The next thing she knows, she’s waking up in the body of a young maid in 1869. How would you react to that? I am not sure I would get through it as well as Mallory, and she’s pretty lucky that she ended up in the household she did. Not only does she have to figure out how to live, but she also has multiple mysteries to solve, a murderer to help catch, and still needs to figure out how to get back to her present.
I found Armstrong’s novel highly engrossing and enjoyable. It has the time travel element, which is always fun for me. A RIP THROUGH TIME was a fun escape from the everyday grind. It wrapped up some things but left enough unanswered that I look forward to the next book in the series.
Thanks to the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy. All opinions are my own and freely given.
#ARipThroughTime #KellyArmstrong #StMartinsPress

I really enjoy Kelley Armstrong's book and this one was so cool! I really liked the premise as well as the main character.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

In this 1st in a new series by Kelley Armstrong, modern homicide detective Mallory Atkinson is launched back in time to Victorian Scotland - in the body of housemaid Catriona Mitchell, after they are both strangled in the same spot.

Though a longtime fan of the author, I did find this new debut a little harder to get into than her usual fantasies.

It's quite an adjustment for Mallory to find herself in 1869 Edinburgh, working in the home of undertaker/medical examiner Dr. Duncan Gray. Turns out the serial killer is still active there as well.

I really enjoyed every part of this book! The writing style and storyline was great. It all flowed so well and you could fall in love with Mallory, Gray, and Isla! Mallory is hardworking, determined and relatable. Isla is a woman beyond her time and Gray support her as well as a pioneer in forensic. A must read for the mystery thriller, crime lover!

Main character Mallory falls into the past in Edinburgh after she’s attacked/possibly strangled one evening while jogging. She’s a capable homicide detective and is in Edinburgh on leave with her dying grandmother.

When she awakens in Victorian Edinburgh, she’s shocked in more than one way. She’s now in the body of a nineteen-year old housemaid, Catriona, to a pair of siblings, one a former surgeon now undertaker, the other his sister Isla (whom I loved!), who has an interest in chemistry. Duncan Gray was adopted into the family (he’s the illegitimate son of their father and his Indian mother), and he consults for a local detective, McCreaddie, as Gray has an interest and ability in what will eventually be called forensic science.

Mallory discovers Catriona is a lackadaisical maid, a thief and a bully, and stepping out with the detective’s sergeant. Her employers discover Catriona suddenly knows how to read, her speech is that of an educated woman, and she now has an interest in criminal investigations and forensics.

Dr. Gray has Mallory help him with a new case of a bizarrely staged murder brought to him by McCreaddie, and through her digging, Mallory correctly surmises that her strangler in her Edinburgh also made it to the same time, and has decided to have some fun. This also leaves Mallory deeply concerned about whether Catriona was sent to Mallory’s body, and what havoc might she be wreaking if that’s the case.

The pacing is fast, as I fully expected as I have read many of Kelley Armstrong’s books. The way Mallory works through her confusion at being in the past, as well as how she figures out how to stay on as a now reformed Catriona and continue to help with Gray’s part of the case was credible, and worked with the period’s restrictions and expectations for women.

And I loved how well Mallory and Isla got along. And how the two women worked the case together, using Isla’s knowledge of chemistry, and both women’s good sense and intelligence.

I did figure out who the murderer was, but really enjoyed how Armstrong got us to the reveal, as well as how Mallory had to recalibrate her relationships with the siblings the further we got into the book. And how Mallory’s current experience had to be translated to Victorian understandings of science and policing.

This book was fun, and I can’t wait for book two.

Thank you to Netgalley and to St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

An immersive time travel tale that is perfect for fans of Outlander and Stalking Jack the Ripper series.

I received the ebook ARC I did read this in audio form and suggest this option because the narrator did a fantastic job with the accents and voice changes. I was intrigued by the murder mystery aspect of the story but at times did zone off and wasn't keeping my attention. Though the historical aspects were correct and interesting I did have a hard time with the main character knowing certain words or phrases, but at the same time stating to herself or others that she was confused or stumbling with the correct terms.

I would recommend this book/series to fans of the books first suggested and wanting to escape into a historical fiction with a time travel/magical realism aspects mixed together.

Modern day detective, young Mallory, is transported 150 years back in time when she is attacked in an alleyway.
She awakes in 1869 as Catriona, a housemaid, in Victorian Scotland.
Catriona is known to be a deceptive young woman, stealing, lying, and selling secrets. Oddly enough, Catriona is attacked in an alleyway as well and it appears they’ve traded places.
Mallory quickly adjusts to her new environment under the guise of a head injury. She plays part time detective, part time housemaid, and part of the time trying to figure out her way home.

If you don’t put too much thought into this, you’ll enjoy the story for what it is. There are loose ends, perhaps setting up for a second installment.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kelley Armstrong and Macmillan Audio for the advanced listening copy. All opinions are my own.

You know how at first you think you're reading a decently wrought book with time travel and a mystery and a promise of romance and you end up realizing you're reading a great and original take on some recognizable themes, stitched together beautifully? Usually, my reactions to a book along the lines of A Rip Through Time are, "that was good," to "Eh," and on to "why did I finish this?" Armstrong is obviously a best selling author and known to many, but she's new to me and this was a wonderful debut novel! In 2019, Mallory Atkinson, a Canadian police detective, is staying with her dying grandmother in Edinburgh Scotland. While jogging, she hears what sounds like a woman in danger, goes to investigate and her life changes, possibly forever.

There is enough written about this novel for you to already know Mallory wakes up in a Victorian housemaid's body. She is in the home of an unusual brother and sister, he a doctor turned funeral home owner, she a chemist (kind of a pharmacist but careful as a woman about who knows). It is 1869. A childhood friend, a criminal detective, has found Dr. Gray, can assist him in solving crimes, for he has become an early forensic scientist. And there is a murder to solve. Mallory, now Catriona, also has an attack to solve, Who tried to strangle the housemaid who formerly was in this body? Why doesn't anyone trust her? How is she to navigate this era as this person she does not know? This novel is rich with historical observations about the social, scientific and physical differences of the world 150 years earlier than Mallory's time. For example, fighting in layers of skirts and petticoats is challenging! "Antique" toys and books are new.

I like that Armstrong does not surprise us with things a character should not know. The backstories are solid. Mallory's father is a literature professor and her mother a defense lawyer. This, along with her own training and work make her knowledge and skills comprehensible throughout the book. The mystery is fun, with well documented clues. The sister, Isla gets a glimpse of what freedom looks like for women in the future, at least as compared to 1869. The brother, Dr. Gray, is unusually progressive as to people in general and women. There's a reason for this, of course. Wait and see. There is humor, like all the times Mallory's weak grasp on what happened when in history causes her to talk about something that is not invented or discovered yet. The characters are interesting and promise much for the series. We don't know what the future holds, but I want to know and I am certain I will give Armstrong's other novels a serious look.

Wait what?!?! There’s so so much I want to say but I don’t want to give anything away. This is such a unique story and premise! It did take me a few chapters to really get invested and it didn’t end the way I expected but I’m glad I stuck with this one!!

This one was a DNF for me. I really dislike reviewing books I didn’t finish but that agreement is why I received this novel in the first place so here we go.

I was excited at the start. The blurb is fantastic, the premise intriguing, and the reference to Outlander (a comparison that’s a disservice to this book) had me from the get-go. The start of the book itself was good too. I enjoyed the first chapters of Mallory in the present-day for how they gave a good picture of who the protagonist was. I liked her, the writing was good, the attack scene was legitimately terrifying. The first bit of Mallory in the past was interesting enough too though not as much as I hoped. I wasn’t really sucked in but I generally stick it out for a bit anyway.

But as I got deeper into the book after Mallory time traveled, I felt my interest really waning. Mallory’s bumbling in the past is to be expected and I’m very comfortable (lifelong fantasy reader) with letting go of believability in a story but for the life of me I couldn’t let go of how extreme her bumbling was and how there seemed to be no real consequences for her glaring slip-ups (even from rather intelligent characters like Dr. Gray).

By the one-third mark, the most amazing thing to me about the story was that everyone believed Mallory was Catriona, or at the very least thought she was sane. Unfortunately by that point too I wasn’t terribly interested in Mallory’s predicament because I hadn’t connected with her, the time traveling itself seemed to be of no importance or curiosity (who knows if it was ever explained, as much as time travel can be), and the homicide case wasn’t interesting.

As a true crime fan, and a fantasy reader, I’m not quite sure how I went so wrong with this book. It seems to be the beginning of a series, one that I thought I’d like, but it’s not for me. Others seem to enjoy it though so don’t let my negative review sway you. I was pulled in by the blurb too, after all.

Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.