A book list by Onset & Rime.
We've put together a mini book list of stories that involve time loops just in time for Groundhog Day. Fingers crossed for an early spring!
A Note: Content warnings have been provided where appropriate. Highlight the "invisible" text beside the content warning label to see. Content warnings are not value statements about the books or judgements about the inclusion of any particular content. They are there to give you a heads up on what to be prepared for so you can choose if and/or when a book is right for you.
1) THE FIRST FIFTEEN LIVES OF HARRY AUGUST by Claire North
From the publisher: "Some stories cannot be told in just one lifetime. Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message." This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow."
Genre(s): sci-fi, historical fiction
Content Warnings: torture, suicide
2) RECURSION by Blake Crouch
Neuroscientist Helena Smith is dedicated to developing a way to map memories so people with Alzheimer's, like her mom, can save and revisit their lost memories. After Helena's funding falls through a mysterious investor offers to fund her research, enabling her to develop her technology far beyond her wildest dreams. A decade later, NYC police officer Barry Sutton is investigating an emerging phenomenon called False Memory Syndrome, a condition that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. As Barry inches closer to the truth, he comes up against a force that attacks not just the mind, but the very fabric of the past. And as its effects begin to unmake the world as we know it, only he and Helena, working together, will stand a chance at defeating it.
Genre(s): sci-fi, thriller
Content Warnings: suicide, violence
3) NEVERWORLD WAKE by Marisha Pessl
From the publisher: "It's been one year since graduation, and Beatrice Hartley has mixed feelings about joining her friends for a weekend reunion. She's right to be worried. After a night out, they narrowly avoid a collision with a car on a deserted road. Or so they believe. Back at the mansion where they are staying, a mysterious man knocks on the door during a raging storm. He tells them that they must make a choice: one of them will live, and the rest will die. And the decision must be unanimous. Soon time backbends. Beatrice and her friends are forced to repeat that dreadful day so many times they lose count. With each replay, events twist and fears come alive in horrifying ways. This nightmare, this nothingness...this is the Neverworld Wake."
Genre(s): mystery, young adult, sci-fi
Content Warnings: suicide, violence