After his parents are murdered in front of him, one boy’s path leads to a dark future always shadowed by the need to go back.

Some books can infuriate you, but you still can’t look away or put them down. Past Crimes was like that for me. A vengeance story mixed with a time machine thriller, the novel centers on a young boy named Michael with an almost Batman-esque origin story. His parents are killed in front of him, except there is no strong adult figure like Alfred to help pick up the pieces afterward. The path his vengeance takes him on is also more cerebral than physical.

In its best moments, Past Crimes delves into the emotional landscape of a childhood derailed by the loss of one’s parents so violently and the continuing disappointment of the killers never seeing justice. Michael remains a fascinating character throughout the novel, from boy to man to senior as he follows a hard path toward redemption not for himself but for his parents. Those glimpses of the protagonist’s psyche, and how such a quest warps it over time, made the time travel elements more grounded.

The time machine and how it gets used here are much more unique than I had anticipated from the blurb. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it applied in quite this way across any medium. Early on, Michael realizes he won’t be able to actually save his parents, but he can at least do the next best thing. He and the team he builds around him know the rules and know the consequences for breaking those rules.

Despite my sometimes morbid fascination with the protagonist and the appreciation of a novel take on time travel, a few things kept me from rating it higher. Those rules that get explained multiple times and seem so hard set, the reason why the quest can’t actually be full-on vengeance for Michael? They do get broken multiple times with seemingly no reaction. Those inconsistencies broke the immersion for me and were not ever addressed. I also can’t say much without spoilers, but the introduction and treatment of one of the characters made the rest a bit harder to finish. It just played into some tropes that I personally don’t like.

Past Crimes should appeal to a large audience of readers. A thrilling science fiction, I would be interested to see more of how time travel is applied here. I probably wouldn’t want to see more of Michael, though.

Past Crimes is available to buy on Amazon.

Verdict:

READABLE