The '86 Fix, by Keith A Pearson

ISBN: 9781543145397
Amazon ID: B01M3QFCQA

This is a time-travel story, of sorts. I won't explain quite what I mean by that because it would give away too much of the plot, but suffice to say it's a good book.

I don't often use the term "page-turner" about books I read, but this one is - the story moves on well, and you're always looking forward to "what happens next?"

The book is split into four parts:

Characters, settings and background are put solidly in place in a well-written story with absolutely no hint of time travel in it anywhere. A very good grounding for the rest of the book, unlike some authors who seem to have no sense of letting the reader know where they're starting from.

Part Two brings us back to the present day (whatever that means for a time-travel story), after Part One has given us essential background on the characters and their lives.

Some unexpected (for me, not for the story characters) encounters with each other start to set the scene for time travel, and explain motivations and purpose for later on.

This brings us back to the weekend in 1986 as advertised on the back cover.

I think this part of the story is very well done, combining recollections of life as it was in the 1980s, with characters whose actions don't entirely go according to plan, helping to make this book the page-turner I referred to above.

This is not the conclusion to the story I was expecting, and it's close to feeling like something of a let-down, but fortunately only close. It is in fact a neatly satisfying end to the challenge of writing a time-travel story where you have to wonder whether there are two copies of one person at any point in the narrative.

The '86 Fix turns out to be the first of a two-part story; the sequel is Beyond Broadhall, for which I had to wait three years for Amazon to bring the price down. However, I have now read it and I think it's a good enough follow-up, although far less fun to read than this one.

There are, as usual, a few quirks in the writing (or proofreading):

• In chapter 5 of part one, "she stopped a few feet short and slowly untied the chord that kept the silky material tight to her curves".
  • Hm, a musical dressing gown? I suspect the author was too distracted by the image he's trying to convey, because later in the book a quite differently-shaped person is wearing another dressing gown, and straightforwardly ties a cord around it.
• In chapter 8, someone is setting up a database, which is described as "a fairly rudimental system".
  • Probably rudimentary, I think.
• In chapter 9, someone "arrive bang on six o'clock", which I think could do with an extra "d".
• In chapter 13, someone "would never bare them a grandchild".
  • There's a bit of a difference between bearing children and baring them.
• In chapter 3 of part two, "its near-impossible to identify individuals at distance in the dim light".
  • Pity about the apostrophe.

From that point onwards, though (less than half-way through the book), the quality improves noticeably. The story is good throughout. If you want one that's excellent and still keeps the time travel theme, I recommend Impossible Times.

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