What do you think?
Time to Burn
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Club comes a gripping mystery about time travel tourism and the dangerous consequences which ensue when the privileged make the past their playground.
Mercurial tech entrepreneur Inigo Frank has perfected commercial time travel, though it is tightly regulated and so expensive that it’s open only to the very wealthiest.
His company, Tempus Tours, has so far been approved for just one a journey back to London in 1941, to the days of the Blitz, allowing the super-rich to experience the awesome sights and sounds of the aerial bombardment of the capital during World War II. It’s a slick operation—routes across the wartime city are meticulously plotted, guides are extensively trained, and rules for the time tourists are strictly enforced.
To immortalize his achievement, Frank enlists award-winning filmmaker Phoebe Hunt to create a fly-on-the-wall documentary. On her first day shadowing Inigo, she is set to witness the return of a billionaire property developer and his family from their trip to the past. But instead of their awe-filled return, she captures the group arriving bloodied and traumatized, with one of their number missing.
Not only that, but Phoebe recognizes the missing woman, and knows not only that she’s not who she claims to be but that she has every reason to harbor a grudge against her. And as events begin to unravel in the present day, it seems increasingly clear that she had sinister motives for returning to the past—and that people close to Phoebe are in danger.
Phoebe must race to untangle the truth—before past and the future are rewritten.
With this inventive, propulsive and genre-bending page turner, the bestselling author of The Club and The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby once again delivers an enthralling tale of legacy and wealth, history and technology with a gripping mystery at its core.
Mercurial tech entrepreneur Inigo Frank has perfected commercial time travel, though it is tightly regulated and so expensive that it’s open only to the very wealthiest.
His company, Tempus Tours, has so far been approved for just one a journey back to London in 1941, to the days of the Blitz, allowing the super-rich to experience the awesome sights and sounds of the aerial bombardment of the capital during World War II. It’s a slick operation—routes across the wartime city are meticulously plotted, guides are extensively trained, and rules for the time tourists are strictly enforced.
To immortalize his achievement, Frank enlists award-winning filmmaker Phoebe Hunt to create a fly-on-the-wall documentary. On her first day shadowing Inigo, she is set to witness the return of a billionaire property developer and his family from their trip to the past. But instead of their awe-filled return, she captures the group arriving bloodied and traumatized, with one of their number missing.
Not only that, but Phoebe recognizes the missing woman, and knows not only that she’s not who she claims to be but that she has every reason to harbor a grudge against her. And as events begin to unravel in the present day, it seems increasingly clear that she had sinister motives for returning to the past—and that people close to Phoebe are in danger.
Phoebe must race to untangle the truth—before past and the future are rewritten.
With this inventive, propulsive and genre-bending page turner, the bestselling author of The Club and The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby once again delivers an enthralling tale of legacy and wealth, history and technology with a gripping mystery at its core.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published August 4, 2026
About the author
Ellery Lloyd
10 books1,353 followersEllery Lloyd is the pseudonym for New York Times Bestselling husband-and-wife writing team Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos.
Collette is a journalist and editor, the former content director of Elle (UK) and editorial director at Soho House. She has written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and the Sunday Times.
Paul is the author of two previous novels, Welcome to the Working Week and Every Day is Like Sunday. He is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Greenwich.
Collette is a journalist and editor, the former content director of Elle (UK) and editorial director at Soho House. She has written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, and the Sunday Times.
Paul is the author of two previous novels, Welcome to the Working Week and Every Day is Like Sunday. He is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Greenwich.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 406 reviews
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Imagine being the person to invent time travel, the endless possibilities that it would bring, but also the many ways in which it could go terribly wrong, should someone try to alter the course of history!
Inigo Frank IS the person who invented it, and his company, Tempus Tours, gives the very wealthy a chance to go back in time, snoop around in the past.
Frank wants to immortalise his achievement by appearing in a fly on the wall documentary, filmed by award winning filmmaker Phoebe Hunt.
Phoebe is set to witness the return of a billionaire property developer and his family from their trip to the past, back to the year 1941, amidst the madness of the London Blitz!
However, when the aperture reveals the returning group, they are bloodied and traumatised, but worse still, one of the group is missing!
What an entertaining and thought provoking storyline this is. The plot is complex but clever, and ultimately fascinating. Credit to husband-and-wife writing team Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos for bringing it all together so seamlessly. Recommended.
*Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for my ARC in exchange for an honest unbiased review *
Inigo Frank IS the person who invented it, and his company, Tempus Tours, gives the very wealthy a chance to go back in time, snoop around in the past.
Frank wants to immortalise his achievement by appearing in a fly on the wall documentary, filmed by award winning filmmaker Phoebe Hunt.
Phoebe is set to witness the return of a billionaire property developer and his family from their trip to the past, back to the year 1941, amidst the madness of the London Blitz!
However, when the aperture reveals the returning group, they are bloodied and traumatised, but worse still, one of the group is missing!
What an entertaining and thought provoking storyline this is. The plot is complex but clever, and ultimately fascinating. Credit to husband-and-wife writing team Collette Lyons and Paul Vlitos for bringing it all together so seamlessly. Recommended.
*Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for my ARC in exchange for an honest unbiased review *
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Fancy a trip back in time to the 1940s? Contact Tempus Tours founded by Indigo Frank. Unfortunately on the latest trip five go to London as the blitz rages and burns but only four return. The stranded ‘passenger’ is a Belarusian oligarch’s daughter, Sasha Allen. Oh dear, not just a PR disaster then… Except, it’s even more complicated than that as documentary filmmaker Phoebe Hunt can testify to.
Brilliant. This is an absolutely fascinating cross genre futuristic/sci-fi, murder mystery mixology and mayhem. I think it’s an ingenious, unique, creatively original and gripping read from start to finish. It has me hooked from the start with the fabulous and evocative descriptions of Blitz torn London and then we are whizzed back to the present day for an all action thriller. The pacing is spot on, it’s a tension fuelled, riveting, suspenseful, never a dull moment read. It’s especially clever as it near the conclusion with twist after twist and leading to a very satisfying end. Oh, definitely just desserts there.
This duo are well known for strong characterisation and this one is no exception. They’re all well portrayed with a good array, some to root for, some to despise and some to genuinely like. Sasha, Phoebe and her boyfriend David are the standout characters and I love their strength and ingenuity.
In addition to the many thrills and spills, it explores and asks really good questions, examining the butterfly effect of time travel. Here some of its impact is seen in what happens or changes for certain characters. This is very thought-provoking.
Overall, this is a belter of a read and in my opinion the best Ellery Lloyd has written to date. It’s got best seller vibes for sure
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Pan Macmillan for the much appreciated early copy in return for an honest review.
Brilliant. This is an absolutely fascinating cross genre futuristic/sci-fi, murder mystery mixology and mayhem. I think it’s an ingenious, unique, creatively original and gripping read from start to finish. It has me hooked from the start with the fabulous and evocative descriptions of Blitz torn London and then we are whizzed back to the present day for an all action thriller. The pacing is spot on, it’s a tension fuelled, riveting, suspenseful, never a dull moment read. It’s especially clever as it near the conclusion with twist after twist and leading to a very satisfying end. Oh, definitely just desserts there.
This duo are well known for strong characterisation and this one is no exception. They’re all well portrayed with a good array, some to root for, some to despise and some to genuinely like. Sasha, Phoebe and her boyfriend David are the standout characters and I love their strength and ingenuity.
In addition to the many thrills and spills, it explores and asks really good questions, examining the butterfly effect of time travel. Here some of its impact is seen in what happens or changes for certain characters. This is very thought-provoking.
Overall, this is a belter of a read and in my opinion the best Ellery Lloyd has written to date. It’s got best seller vibes for sure
With thanks to NetGalley and especially to Pan Macmillan for the much appreciated early copy in return for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
A mind-bending trip into two insanely talented brains, Time to Burn was quite the original tale of time-traveling escapades, underhanded motives, and “what if?” scenarios. You see, this *chef’s kiss* combo of historical fiction, high-stakes thrills, low-key romance, and speculative-slash-sci-fi imaginings all came together to form an edge-of-your-seat read with both serious emotional depth and relentlessly fast-paced momentum. I know. I know. It sounds like a heady mix that I just might be exaggerating—I assure you I’m not. Despite the fact that this duo’s expertise at writing high-concept novels, they managed to outdo even themselves this time around with the thought-provoking themes, lingering moral quandaries, and gasp-inducing twists that each felt earned. After all, I’m still sitting here pondering the dangers of unchecked technology companies, the awe-inspiring nature of the butterfly effect, and what I’d do with a second chance at life if I was given the opportunity.
So what gave this richly, well-executed plot just the right amount of zing out of everything I loved? Well, that had to be the combination of nonstop suspense and high personal stakes. Pulling me into the story with ease, I felt connected to not only Phoebe, but her dark past as well. With a cult-ish backstory and a list of long-buried secrets, the Russian doll-like mystery was an ambitious page-turning premise that absolutely paid off. I mean, what thriller lover worth their salt wouldn’t get caught up in a plot line of time-traveling schemes-meets-rich people behaving badly? Without a single moment of confusion despite the logical, science-based foundation to the story, I quickly became immersed in the eerily believable near-future world. So if you love clever plotting, a cinematic feel, or Michael Crichton-meets-Laura Dave vibes, grab this one now. A binge-able read in spite of the somewhat slow start, this wildly unique tale was beyond an utter home run. Rating of 4.75 stars.
Read of you’re a fan of:
- Time-travel stories
- Just a dash of romance
- A dark, cult-ish past
- Lingering moral questions
- Long-buried secrets
- Rich people behaving badly
- Genre-bending novels
- Thought-provoking themes
- High-concept reads
- Cliffhanger chapters
- Layered mysteries
- Gasp-inducing twists
- Hidden identities
- Fist-pumping finales
BRIEF BLURB:
Please oh please go into this one at least mostly blind. After all, this story is one you’re going to want to approach without a ton of detail. In my opinions, all you need to know is the following…
Mercurial tech entrepreneur Inigo Frank has achieved the impossible: commercial time travel. But with strict regulations and an astronomical price tag, only the world’s wealthiest can afford the journey.
His company offers a single destination: London during the Blitz. Everything is meticulously planned—until one trip ends with bloodied survivors, a missing passenger, and questions no one can answer.
Embedded behind the scenes to document history in the making, filmmaker Phoebe Hunt soon uncovers a mystery that reaches far beyond a single journey. Someone went into the past for a reason—and whatever they set in motion is about to reshape the present.
Thank you Ellery Lloyd and Harper Books for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
PUB DATE: August 4, 2026
Content warning: war, blood, injury, mental illness (depression/bipolar disorder), fire/arson, death of a parent, mention of: bullying, murder, gun violence, kidnapping
So what gave this richly, well-executed plot just the right amount of zing out of everything I loved? Well, that had to be the combination of nonstop suspense and high personal stakes. Pulling me into the story with ease, I felt connected to not only Phoebe, but her dark past as well. With a cult-ish backstory and a list of long-buried secrets, the Russian doll-like mystery was an ambitious page-turning premise that absolutely paid off. I mean, what thriller lover worth their salt wouldn’t get caught up in a plot line of time-traveling schemes-meets-rich people behaving badly? Without a single moment of confusion despite the logical, science-based foundation to the story, I quickly became immersed in the eerily believable near-future world. So if you love clever plotting, a cinematic feel, or Michael Crichton-meets-Laura Dave vibes, grab this one now. A binge-able read in spite of the somewhat slow start, this wildly unique tale was beyond an utter home run. Rating of 4.75 stars.
Read of you’re a fan of:
- Time-travel stories
- Just a dash of romance
- A dark, cult-ish past
- Lingering moral questions
- Long-buried secrets
- Rich people behaving badly
- Genre-bending novels
- Thought-provoking themes
- High-concept reads
- Cliffhanger chapters
- Layered mysteries
- Gasp-inducing twists
- Hidden identities
- Fist-pumping finales
BRIEF BLURB:
Please oh please go into this one at least mostly blind. After all, this story is one you’re going to want to approach without a ton of detail. In my opinions, all you need to know is the following…
Mercurial tech entrepreneur Inigo Frank has achieved the impossible: commercial time travel. But with strict regulations and an astronomical price tag, only the world’s wealthiest can afford the journey.
His company offers a single destination: London during the Blitz. Everything is meticulously planned—until one trip ends with bloodied survivors, a missing passenger, and questions no one can answer.
Embedded behind the scenes to document history in the making, filmmaker Phoebe Hunt soon uncovers a mystery that reaches far beyond a single journey. Someone went into the past for a reason—and whatever they set in motion is about to reshape the present.
Thank you Ellery Lloyd and Harper Books for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.
PUB DATE: August 4, 2026
Content warning: war, blood, injury, mental illness (depression/bipolar disorder), fire/arson, death of a parent, mention of: bullying, murder, gun violence, kidnapping
June 4, 2026
Last year’s
The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby
was so enjoyable that it immediately put any further Ellery Lloyd books on my radar. And Time to Burn involves time travel! How could I not enjoy it? Well, this is definitely a pageturner but sadly it fell somewhat short of my expectations.
The setup involves Phoebe Hunt, a documentary filmmaker, arriving at the headquarters of commercial time-travel company Tempus to make a documentary about its standard-issue eccentric-yet-brilliant-billionaire founder, Inigo Frank. Phoebe has an interesting past, having grown up in a cult (headed by her father) called the Living Family. When Tempus’ latest trip to the past goes dramatically wrong, she discovers something nobody else knows: one of the time travellers is not who they’re claiming to be, and is also connected to the Living Family.
I thought the scenes set in the past were so atmospheric, a real strength of the book. In particular, an early scene where tour guide Tom escorts a group of the super-rich to a nightclub in Blitz-era London is vivid and exciting, and when I read it, I thought, here we go, this is going to be great. I wanted more of that! But we don’t really get it. There’s so much going on here: Tempus covering stuff up; the cult; extracts from the documentary Phoebe made about it (which frankly did not do enough to convince me that this doc would have won a BAFTA and made her a star); the fact that there are 2 main characters and neither of them is really given enough depth. Some threads either feel unfinished or just too shallow. Of course a certain level of suspension of disbelief is essential with something like this, but I simply couldn’t believe the changes that Phoebe and others made to the past wouldn’t change their lives (and the world) drastically, beyond recognition, rather than just changing things in exactly the way they wanted.
Time to Burn is readable, and at times I was truly gripped, but it doesn’t match up to Juliette Willoughby, and ultimately I just didn’t feel it ever truly came together.
Note 1: that weird mention of Phoebe’s Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses which are ‘a gamechanger’ and ‘allow her to continuously capture video and sound’ was product placement, right? If it wasn’t, that’s actually even weirder.
Note 2: random coincidence that there’s a brief mention of Phoebe having issues with maladaptive daydreaming when I’ve just read a novel all about it (Daydreamers Anonymous), having never (that I can remember) come across it in fiction before!
I received an advance review copy of Time to Burn from the publisher through NetGalley.
The setup involves Phoebe Hunt, a documentary filmmaker, arriving at the headquarters of commercial time-travel company Tempus to make a documentary about its standard-issue eccentric-yet-brilliant-billionaire founder, Inigo Frank. Phoebe has an interesting past, having grown up in a cult (headed by her father) called the Living Family. When Tempus’ latest trip to the past goes dramatically wrong, she discovers something nobody else knows: one of the time travellers is not who they’re claiming to be, and is also connected to the Living Family.
I thought the scenes set in the past were so atmospheric, a real strength of the book. In particular, an early scene where tour guide Tom escorts a group of the super-rich to a nightclub in Blitz-era London is vivid and exciting, and when I read it, I thought, here we go, this is going to be great. I wanted more of that! But we don’t really get it. There’s so much going on here: Tempus covering stuff up; the cult; extracts from the documentary Phoebe made about it (which frankly did not do enough to convince me that this doc would have won a BAFTA and made her a star); the fact that there are 2 main characters and neither of them is really given enough depth. Some threads either feel unfinished or just too shallow. Of course a certain level of suspension of disbelief is essential with something like this, but I simply couldn’t believe the changes that Phoebe and others made to the past wouldn’t change their lives (and the world) drastically, beyond recognition, rather than just changing things in exactly the way they wanted.
Time to Burn is readable, and at times I was truly gripped, but it doesn’t match up to Juliette Willoughby, and ultimately I just didn’t feel it ever truly came together.
Note 1: that weird mention of Phoebe’s Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses which are ‘a gamechanger’ and ‘allow her to continuously capture video and sound’ was product placement, right? If it wasn’t, that’s actually even weirder.
Note 2: random coincidence that there’s a brief mention of Phoebe having issues with maladaptive daydreaming when I’ve just read a novel all about it (Daydreamers Anonymous), having never (that I can remember) come across it in fiction before!
I received an advance review copy of Time to Burn from the publisher through NetGalley.
August 31, 2026
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ½
Genre: Mystery Thriller
This is a time travel story that doesn’t go as planned. Tempus Tours, a huge tech company, is offering commercial time travel trips to wealthy people who want to capture important historical events. Phoebe Hunt, an award-winning filmmaker, is asked to make a documentary film about the whole thing and to witness at the same time the return of a group from their trip to the past. But things do not go as planned, and Phoebe finds herself in a challenging situation that needs her prompt action.
I found Time to Burn entertaining enough to give it 3.5 stars, although I was hoping for something stronger from its time-travel premise. I went into it thinking about some of the time-travel movies I have watched and loved, such as Predestination, Frequency, Pleasantville, The Time Traveler's Wife, and Somewhere in Time. Those stories each have their own distinct identity and, in different ways, manage to make their use of time travel feel emotionally or conceptually memorable. Time to Burn certainly kept me interested, but I never felt that same sense of discovery or lasting impact.
The biggest weakness for me was the character development. There is plenty happening to the characters, but I didn't feel that they developed enough for me to become particularly invested in them emotionally. The plot somehow became convoluted as the story progressed. There are lots of twists, timelines, revelations, and connections, and that can make it difficult to keep track of everything. I totally appreciate the ambition that the authors were going for, but I think the story might have benefited from being a little less complicated—putting more emphasis on its characters rather than continually adding another layer to the plot.
Ultimately, this was a fun and entertaining read, and that entertainment value is what carries it to 3.5 stars for me. I enjoyed the premise and wanted to see where everything would lead, even when the story became unnecessarily complicated. At the same time, I don't feel that Time to Burn has quite the identity that will make it memorable to me. I can appreciate what it was trying to do, but compared with the time-travel stories that have really stayed with me, this one feels more like an enjoyable read that I'll eventually move on from than a book I'll be thinking about long after finishing it.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book.
https://constantinebooks.blogspot.com...
Genre: Mystery Thriller
This is a time travel story that doesn’t go as planned. Tempus Tours, a huge tech company, is offering commercial time travel trips to wealthy people who want to capture important historical events. Phoebe Hunt, an award-winning filmmaker, is asked to make a documentary film about the whole thing and to witness at the same time the return of a group from their trip to the past. But things do not go as planned, and Phoebe finds herself in a challenging situation that needs her prompt action.
I found Time to Burn entertaining enough to give it 3.5 stars, although I was hoping for something stronger from its time-travel premise. I went into it thinking about some of the time-travel movies I have watched and loved, such as Predestination, Frequency, Pleasantville, The Time Traveler's Wife, and Somewhere in Time. Those stories each have their own distinct identity and, in different ways, manage to make their use of time travel feel emotionally or conceptually memorable. Time to Burn certainly kept me interested, but I never felt that same sense of discovery or lasting impact.
The biggest weakness for me was the character development. There is plenty happening to the characters, but I didn't feel that they developed enough for me to become particularly invested in them emotionally. The plot somehow became convoluted as the story progressed. There are lots of twists, timelines, revelations, and connections, and that can make it difficult to keep track of everything. I totally appreciate the ambition that the authors were going for, but I think the story might have benefited from being a little less complicated—putting more emphasis on its characters rather than continually adding another layer to the plot.
Ultimately, this was a fun and entertaining read, and that entertainment value is what carries it to 3.5 stars for me. I enjoyed the premise and wanted to see where everything would lead, even when the story became unnecessarily complicated. At the same time, I don't feel that Time to Burn has quite the identity that will make it memorable to me. I can appreciate what it was trying to do, but compared with the time-travel stories that have really stayed with me, this one feels more like an enjoyable read that I'll eventually move on from than a book I'll be thinking about long after finishing it.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC of this book.
https://constantinebooks.blogspot.com...
September 11, 2026
Time travel novels have come a long way since H. G. Wells’ classic in 1895. Indeed, Time to Burn focuses on a tech company that offers time travel tourism for the upper echelon, where the mega-rich can have a first-hand experience with the London Blitz in 1941. To document the time travel excursion into the past—which has been thoroughly planned out and timed to the exact minute to ensure absolute safety—the tech company’s CEO hires a famed filmmaker, Phoebe Hunt. Thus, while Phoebe is recording, something goes terribly wrong…as one of the young tourists returns to present day with life threatening injuries and, worse yet, a young woman from the group is missing. As the story goes on, it turns out that all of the central characters (including the missing woman) have an agenda that goes far beyond the bombing of London.
Despite numerous subplots and a wide array of characters throughout the novel, I found it hard to spend time away from this intriguing story. Fortunately, along with unresolved childhood trauma, an unsolved murder, and unexpected twists and turns throughout each chapter, everything was slowly resolved to a satisfying conclusion. In addition, as with the classic film, “Back to the Future,” it was interesting to see how small changes from years earlier might impact one’s life today. All in all, it was a great read.
Despite numerous subplots and a wide array of characters throughout the novel, I found it hard to spend time away from this intriguing story. Fortunately, along with unresolved childhood trauma, an unsolved murder, and unexpected twists and turns throughout each chapter, everything was slowly resolved to a satisfying conclusion. In addition, as with the classic film, “Back to the Future,” it was interesting to see how small changes from years earlier might impact one’s life today. All in all, it was a great read.
August 4, 2026
A new thriller from author duo, Ellery Lloyd, check out the high ratings for this one. They are not wrong. Make sure to go in blind and be prepared for all the twists. It’s a clever and complex plot that kept me guessing. Brace yourself for a bang-up summer thriller!
I received a gifted copy.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
I received a gifted copy.
Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader
April 4, 2026
I love books about time travel, and I am impressed when someone can add something new to the canon. This book exceeded my expectations! Entertaining and thought provoking, with some gut punch twists that I didn't see coming, Time to Burn is a fabulous literary thriller. Aficianados of time travel books will not be disappointed.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Love books featuring time travel and so was keen to read this
We meet Phoebe who is filming a documentary on Tempus Tours and its owner Inigo Frank, they offer trips back in history to very wealthy clients, the rules are strict, the timings watertight and all usually goes like clockwork…..until on a trip back to the Blitz in 1941 one ‘passenger’ has planned to stay, at least for a while….in doing so changes hers and without realising Phoebe’s lives
There is a backstory of Phoebe’s parents who ran a commune which ended in disaster in 2007, can Phoebe go back and change this or will that confuse her world and life even more
Am not sure am explaining it well enough tbh but it is so detailed ( in a good way, not a boring paragraph in the book ) so clever and so mind nattering that its probably best to experience yourself, what can say is its an amazing read
Interesting part on ‘Glitchers’ people in the book who look into The Mandela Effect, this means they investigate world events and culture that people collectively remember in a way that didn’t really happen ( was fascinating and led me to google and read countless ‘Mandela Effect’ anomalies )
Also got to nominate the book for the longest Epilogue in a book have read
A stunning read
We meet Phoebe who is filming a documentary on Tempus Tours and its owner Inigo Frank, they offer trips back in history to very wealthy clients, the rules are strict, the timings watertight and all usually goes like clockwork…..until on a trip back to the Blitz in 1941 one ‘passenger’ has planned to stay, at least for a while….in doing so changes hers and without realising Phoebe’s lives
There is a backstory of Phoebe’s parents who ran a commune which ended in disaster in 2007, can Phoebe go back and change this or will that confuse her world and life even more
Am not sure am explaining it well enough tbh but it is so detailed ( in a good way, not a boring paragraph in the book ) so clever and so mind nattering that its probably best to experience yourself, what can say is its an amazing read
Interesting part on ‘Glitchers’ people in the book who look into The Mandela Effect, this means they investigate world events and culture that people collectively remember in a way that didn’t really happen ( was fascinating and led me to google and read countless ‘Mandela Effect’ anomalies )
Also got to nominate the book for the longest Epilogue in a book have read
A stunning read
August 13, 2026
Sorry, but what on earth was that Meta Ray-Ban pervert glasses advert/undisclosed product placement 21 pages in??
Read
April 16, 2026A time travel tour with some crime thrown in? I was sold! But this book delivered a different experience from what I expected.
Rich genius Inigo Frank owns Tempus Tours and he facilitates time travel to the past for a sum of money. He is milking his legacy by having the magic of it all filmed by a documentary maker Phoebe. However the tour goes horribly wrong, one person, Sasha, is missing when the party returns, later arriving injured, and Phoebe realizes that it affects her personally too.
What I enjoyed:
- The idea was brilliant. Time travel is a tricky concept to write a book on and the way Ellery Llyod presented it was certainly great.
- The novel isn't just about time travel. There are passages that make you think about history, the butterfly effect, changing history that might affect the present, the idea of how billionaires with unlimited money and eccentric ideas might create tech that might damage our world.
What didn't work for me:
- I was expected a fast-paced binge like People like Her. This book is slower and the pacing varies across the book. Now and then the pacing dipped low that I got distracted.
- The characters! I don't mind a novel with a vast character list or a small one, as long as they are distinguishable from one another and established early on in the book. I occasionally got confused between the characters which was a shame because I quickly wanted to know what happens next and to whom. We are already in a time travel book, so I wished we didn't have to focus on placing the characters.
I loved People like Her/The Club, and if you are picking the new book Time to Burn, please remember to go into it unbiased.
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC. All opinions are my own.
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Rich genius Inigo Frank owns Tempus Tours and he facilitates time travel to the past for a sum of money. He is milking his legacy by having the magic of it all filmed by a documentary maker Phoebe. However the tour goes horribly wrong, one person, Sasha, is missing when the party returns, later arriving injured, and Phoebe realizes that it affects her personally too.
What I enjoyed:
- The idea was brilliant. Time travel is a tricky concept to write a book on and the way Ellery Llyod presented it was certainly great.
- The novel isn't just about time travel. There are passages that make you think about history, the butterfly effect, changing history that might affect the present, the idea of how billionaires with unlimited money and eccentric ideas might create tech that might damage our world.
What didn't work for me:
- I was expected a fast-paced binge like People like Her. This book is slower and the pacing varies across the book. Now and then the pacing dipped low that I got distracted.
- The characters! I don't mind a novel with a vast character list or a small one, as long as they are distinguishable from one another and established early on in the book. I occasionally got confused between the characters which was a shame because I quickly wanted to know what happens next and to whom. We are already in a time travel book, so I wished we didn't have to focus on placing the characters.
I loved People like Her/The Club, and if you are picking the new book Time to Burn, please remember to go into it unbiased.
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC. All opinions are my own.
Blog | Instagram | Threads | X (Twitter) | Newsletter
August 2, 2026
Creative, suspenseful, and intense!
𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 is an ambitious, high-concept thriller that introduces Phoebe Hunt, an award-winning filmmaker who is hired to document the revolutionary company that has made commercial time travel a reality. But when a luxury excursion to wartime London ends in disaster, with one traveller vanishing and the survivors returning shaken and bloodied, Phoebe quickly realizes that the catastrophe is tied to secrets from her own past, and the consequences may be impossible to contain.
The writing is sharp and immersive. The characters are complex, driven, and flawed. And the plot unfolds into an intricately woven mystery filled with moral dilemmas, buried histories, shifting timelines, deception, obsession, betrayal, revenge, and the unsettling ripple effects of choices that refuse to stay in the past.
Overall, 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 is a bold, intelligent, compelling tale by Lloyd that seamlessly blends speculative fiction with relentless suspense that's as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.
𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 is an ambitious, high-concept thriller that introduces Phoebe Hunt, an award-winning filmmaker who is hired to document the revolutionary company that has made commercial time travel a reality. But when a luxury excursion to wartime London ends in disaster, with one traveller vanishing and the survivors returning shaken and bloodied, Phoebe quickly realizes that the catastrophe is tied to secrets from her own past, and the consequences may be impossible to contain.
The writing is sharp and immersive. The characters are complex, driven, and flawed. And the plot unfolds into an intricately woven mystery filled with moral dilemmas, buried histories, shifting timelines, deception, obsession, betrayal, revenge, and the unsettling ripple effects of choices that refuse to stay in the past.
Overall, 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 is a bold, intelligent, compelling tale by Lloyd that seamlessly blends speculative fiction with relentless suspense that's as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.
September 6, 2026
Time to Burn is the perfect blend of mystery/thriller and speculative fiction for me. I loved the way it simultaneously weaves together time travel, historical fiction, mystery, and thriller elements with compelling family and communal dynamics. The story balances narrative and emotional stakes, keeping me fully invested in both the unfolding mystery and the people it centers.
Time travel can be a challenging concept to execute well, but I thought Lloyd handled the mechanics of it with impressive intelligence and care. The idea of time travel being used for wealthy tourism was fascinating, particularly for the questions it raises about the commercialization, monetization, and exclusivity of such a consequential technology. I especially enjoyed the use of the Mandela Effect to provide plausible logic for certain phenomena and the way relatively small changes could have cascading consequences. It gave the speculative elements a certain level of internal logic and plausibility that made the sociotechnical commentary even more compelling.
The plotting is another major strength; all the little threads, details, and seemingly minor mentions ultimately connect back into the larger narrative while the pacing maintains excellent momentum. The latter half delivered several satisfying full-circle connections that had me going back to earlier sections to confirm how everything fit together—and I adore when a book makes me do that! The revelations are both surprising and satisfying because, once they arrive, they make sense within everything that came before.
With a premise involving time travel, an intricately constructed plot, and a sizable cast of characters, a positive reading experience requires full engagement. As with most novels involving time travel, I would caution readers to go into this one prepared to pay attention, as it could easily feel confusing or convoluted when key aspects are missed. I don't think this book is as enjoyable when interacted with passively—the details matter, and the payoff comes from recognizing how those details converge.
Time to Burn is a superb, convincingly developed read that demanded my undivided attention and rewarded it with a wonderfully constructed, clever story.
I recommend Time to Burn to readers who enjoyed The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths and Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver.
Time travel can be a challenging concept to execute well, but I thought Lloyd handled the mechanics of it with impressive intelligence and care. The idea of time travel being used for wealthy tourism was fascinating, particularly for the questions it raises about the commercialization, monetization, and exclusivity of such a consequential technology. I especially enjoyed the use of the Mandela Effect to provide plausible logic for certain phenomena and the way relatively small changes could have cascading consequences. It gave the speculative elements a certain level of internal logic and plausibility that made the sociotechnical commentary even more compelling.
The plotting is another major strength; all the little threads, details, and seemingly minor mentions ultimately connect back into the larger narrative while the pacing maintains excellent momentum. The latter half delivered several satisfying full-circle connections that had me going back to earlier sections to confirm how everything fit together—and I adore when a book makes me do that! The revelations are both surprising and satisfying because, once they arrive, they make sense within everything that came before.
With a premise involving time travel, an intricately constructed plot, and a sizable cast of characters, a positive reading experience requires full engagement. As with most novels involving time travel, I would caution readers to go into this one prepared to pay attention, as it could easily feel confusing or convoluted when key aspects are missed. I don't think this book is as enjoyable when interacted with passively—the details matter, and the payoff comes from recognizing how those details converge.
Time to Burn is a superb, convincingly developed read that demanded my undivided attention and rewarded it with a wonderfully constructed, clever story.
I recommend Time to Burn to readers who enjoyed The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths and Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R. Weaver.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
One of my favourite tropes of science fiction is the ability to time-travel and the consequences of such activities. I think that it is because it gives us access to that idea of “what-if?” and offers a variety of different possible futures. It may be because I was brought up on Doctor Who and one of the first adult science fiction novels I read was H G Wells’ The Time Machine. It has clearly had a life-long effect on me - I still watch George Pal’s film version (although very different!) every year, over the Christmas season.
The saying goes that you can’t keep a good idea down – and so I have read many versions of that idea over the past 50 years or so. Some are better than others – I still have a great fondness for Connie Willis’ time travel tales from The Doomsday Book to Blackout and All Clear, which I tend to use as my benchmark to compare all modern time travel stories to. (And if you haven’t read any, I thoroughly recommend you do.) But you can add work by Harry Turtledove (Crosstime Traffic series), Stephen King (22/11/63), Audrey Nifenegger (The Time Traveller’s Wife), Brandon Sanderson ( The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England ), even Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. and many, many more.
Ellery Lloyd’s novel takes those ideas of time travel, that must be pretty well known to even mainstream readers, and combines them with an egocentric inventor/ entrepreneur Inigo Frank, who has invented time travel and turned travel into a pastime for the very, very, VERY rich. (Feel free to add your own egomaniacal entrepreneur here for comparison.) The power needed to make the time travel work is so much that it limits the number of times people can travel, although Frank hopes to make it more commercial in the future with his company Tempus Tours, who offer the wealthy a chance to witness pivotal moments in history.
To immortalise his achievement, Frank enlists award-winning filmmaker Phoebe Hunt to create a fly-on-the-wall documentary. About him and the work the company does. On her first day shadowing Inigo, she is set to witness the return of Harry Allen, a billionaire property developer and his family from their trip to London in 1941. But instead of their awe-filled return, she captures the group arriving bloodied and traumatized, with one of their number missing.
Not only that, but Phoebe recognizes the missing woman. She knows not only that she's not who she claims to be, but that the woman has every reason to harbour a grudge against her. And as events begin to unravel in the present day, it seems increasingly clear that the woman had sinister motives for returning to the past – and that people close to Phoebe are in danger.
So: in essence, this is a murder mystery wrapped around a time travel setting. As you might therefore expect, all is not what it seems. The good news for people who rarely read such stories is that the science element takes pretty much a back seat to the crime element. Time to Burn is not a story of science but of the consequences of people travelling through time. Told from the focus of Phoebe, we read of the consequences of this crime on the characters we meet.
Some of the characters are fairly stereotypical, with not a great deal of depth. Inigo Frank fits the mould of your typical corporate businessperson. Similarly, Harry Allen is a typical blustery self-made millionaire with the grumpy berating attitude to boot; his son Luke is that young adult desperate for his father’s attention, whilst his wife Sasha is an influencer, married perhaps all-too-quickly. Phoebe and her fellow-journalist partner David are as nice as you want them to be.
As the book progresses though much of the book is about the point that not all is entirely what it seems to be. Phoebe, for example, has a secret connection to the Allen family through her past. There’s a degree of setting past grievances to rest here, as we discover through the book.
Of course, one of the key elements of the novel is about how much time travel is a key component of the plot. And there I found the results a little muddled. For much of the book the science fiction element takes a back seat, the plot mainly focussing on the back story and flashbacks of the main characters.
The paradox of knowing about the future and using that knowledge to change things was important, although I did wonder what would happen if hundreds if not thousands of journeys would change things. (See Fritz Leiber’s The Big Time from 1958, for example.) The author here has dealt with this a little by limiting such excursions to the exclusively rich, but even so there were things that I thought could become big issues - much of this story could have been solved by time-travelling and resetting things back to basics, before the life-changing events happened.
On the positive side, many (but not all) of the much-expected plot twists seemed possible and not just there for effect.
Thinking about the book when finished, I must admit that this one didn’t set things alight for me (pun intended.) I get the feeling that this is going to be one of those books that will be popular, but with people who don’t read much science fiction. (I’m imagining all the “I don’t read science fiction/time travel stories, but I liked this one!” comments now….)
For me, Time To Burn was a good, solid, entertaining read, but it wasn’t a book that made me want to think about it too much, nor was it particularly complex. Whilst it was good to see a new(ish) writer tackle some of the science-fictional ideas, I couldn’t help feeling that I’d read better, although not as contemporary.
Having said that, I think that crime readers in particular will appreciate it – the science fiction element is not too intimidating, and as is usual in a crime drama most elements are tied up conveniently and all is resolved at the end. (There is one twist that could be taken further, should the author wish it, I think.)
For me Time to Burn was a story that I enjoyed whilst I read it, but once read I suspect will be fairly quickly forgotten – or is that the effect of time travel, I wonder?
The saying goes that you can’t keep a good idea down – and so I have read many versions of that idea over the past 50 years or so. Some are better than others – I still have a great fondness for Connie Willis’ time travel tales from The Doomsday Book to Blackout and All Clear, which I tend to use as my benchmark to compare all modern time travel stories to. (And if you haven’t read any, I thoroughly recommend you do.) But you can add work by Harry Turtledove (Crosstime Traffic series), Stephen King (22/11/63), Audrey Nifenegger (The Time Traveller’s Wife), Brandon Sanderson ( The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England ), even Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. and many, many more.
Ellery Lloyd’s novel takes those ideas of time travel, that must be pretty well known to even mainstream readers, and combines them with an egocentric inventor/ entrepreneur Inigo Frank, who has invented time travel and turned travel into a pastime for the very, very, VERY rich. (Feel free to add your own egomaniacal entrepreneur here for comparison.) The power needed to make the time travel work is so much that it limits the number of times people can travel, although Frank hopes to make it more commercial in the future with his company Tempus Tours, who offer the wealthy a chance to witness pivotal moments in history.
To immortalise his achievement, Frank enlists award-winning filmmaker Phoebe Hunt to create a fly-on-the-wall documentary. About him and the work the company does. On her first day shadowing Inigo, she is set to witness the return of Harry Allen, a billionaire property developer and his family from their trip to London in 1941. But instead of their awe-filled return, she captures the group arriving bloodied and traumatized, with one of their number missing.
Not only that, but Phoebe recognizes the missing woman. She knows not only that she's not who she claims to be, but that the woman has every reason to harbour a grudge against her. And as events begin to unravel in the present day, it seems increasingly clear that the woman had sinister motives for returning to the past – and that people close to Phoebe are in danger.
So: in essence, this is a murder mystery wrapped around a time travel setting. As you might therefore expect, all is not what it seems. The good news for people who rarely read such stories is that the science element takes pretty much a back seat to the crime element. Time to Burn is not a story of science but of the consequences of people travelling through time. Told from the focus of Phoebe, we read of the consequences of this crime on the characters we meet.
Some of the characters are fairly stereotypical, with not a great deal of depth. Inigo Frank fits the mould of your typical corporate businessperson. Similarly, Harry Allen is a typical blustery self-made millionaire with the grumpy berating attitude to boot; his son Luke is that young adult desperate for his father’s attention, whilst his wife Sasha is an influencer, married perhaps all-too-quickly. Phoebe and her fellow-journalist partner David are as nice as you want them to be.
As the book progresses though much of the book is about the point that not all is entirely what it seems to be. Phoebe, for example, has a secret connection to the Allen family through her past. There’s a degree of setting past grievances to rest here, as we discover through the book.
Of course, one of the key elements of the novel is about how much time travel is a key component of the plot. And there I found the results a little muddled. For much of the book the science fiction element takes a back seat, the plot mainly focussing on the back story and flashbacks of the main characters.
The paradox of knowing about the future and using that knowledge to change things was important, although I did wonder what would happen if hundreds if not thousands of journeys would change things. (See Fritz Leiber’s The Big Time from 1958, for example.) The author here has dealt with this a little by limiting such excursions to the exclusively rich, but even so there were things that I thought could become big issues - much of this story could have been solved by time-travelling and resetting things back to basics, before the life-changing events happened.
On the positive side, many (but not all) of the much-expected plot twists seemed possible and not just there for effect.
Thinking about the book when finished, I must admit that this one didn’t set things alight for me (pun intended.) I get the feeling that this is going to be one of those books that will be popular, but with people who don’t read much science fiction. (I’m imagining all the “I don’t read science fiction/time travel stories, but I liked this one!” comments now….)
For me, Time To Burn was a good, solid, entertaining read, but it wasn’t a book that made me want to think about it too much, nor was it particularly complex. Whilst it was good to see a new(ish) writer tackle some of the science-fictional ideas, I couldn’t help feeling that I’d read better, although not as contemporary.
Having said that, I think that crime readers in particular will appreciate it – the science fiction element is not too intimidating, and as is usual in a crime drama most elements are tied up conveniently and all is resolved at the end. (There is one twist that could be taken further, should the author wish it, I think.)
For me Time to Burn was a story that I enjoyed whilst I read it, but once read I suspect will be fairly quickly forgotten – or is that the effect of time travel, I wonder?
September 18, 2026
4.5 stars A couple of time travelers deliberately cause changes in the present day. Very good and well written time travel story.
July 31, 2026
Rating: 3.75⭐️
This was different, I loved the time travel aspect and the mystery weaved into it. It felt a little bit repetitive but overall I really enjoyed it. One of the twists really took me by surprise!
This was different, I loved the time travel aspect and the mystery weaved into it. It felt a little bit repetitive but overall I really enjoyed it. One of the twists really took me by surprise!
August 15, 2026
I just loved the sound of this blurb and a murder mystery combined with time travel I was so on board with it.
It started off great with Phoebe Hunt coming off her hit of a fantastic documentary is asked to do a documentary of Inigo Frank and his Tempus Time Travel. Under the Time Travel Act the UK Government has given their OK for time travel to happen. However only back to the 1940s around the time of WWII. A group go back and then things seriously go wrong.
The story in the past and the future is intertwined with one another and it makes for great reading. However that one twist dampened it for me. What could have easily been a 5 Star read then dropped to a 3.5 Star. At some point the plot lost its pace. But had to tie up all the loose ends which they did.
I'm trying to think back if there is any other way that the book could be written to avoid that twist but I don't think there is a way. Although with time travel anything is possible.
I shall check out more books by these authors. BTW if you write a book based in England maybe you can use British English to write and not American English. Just saying!
It started off great with Phoebe Hunt coming off her hit of a fantastic documentary is asked to do a documentary of Inigo Frank and his Tempus Time Travel. Under the Time Travel Act the UK Government has given their OK for time travel to happen. However only back to the 1940s around the time of WWII. A group go back and then things seriously go wrong.
The story in the past and the future is intertwined with one another and it makes for great reading. However that one twist dampened it for me. What could have easily been a 5 Star read then dropped to a 3.5 Star. At some point the plot lost its pace. But had to tie up all the loose ends which they did.
I'm trying to think back if there is any other way that the book could be written to avoid that twist but I don't think there is a way. Although with time travel anything is possible.
I shall check out more books by these authors. BTW if you write a book based in England maybe you can use British English to write and not American English. Just saying!
September 3, 2026
This book is a combination of Back to the Future, Elizabeth Holmes, Your favorite Religious Cult Podcast and Severance with a little Spider-man: Brand New Day sprinkled in…and I LOVED it. This is the best book I’ve read in the last year and one of my favorites all-time. A page turner than I highly recommend!
September 10, 2026
I will love a time travel story until the day I die!!! This book rescued me from the depths of hell well known as a reading slump. I could not put this book down!!
August 11, 2026
TIME TO BURN by Ellery Lloyd [Thanks to @harperbooks for the gifted copy.]
In the past (IYKYK), you may have heard me talk about a micro genre I love that I like to call Time Travel Done Right. This sort of story includes time travel as an element in a much larger story. It’s a device that propels the story, but it’s not the sole device. In other words, the book cannot be ABOUT time travel. Instead, it has to be about people. Examples that fit this micro micro genre well include 11/22/63 by Stephen King, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub, Recursion by Blacke Crouch, and many others. Today I’m adding Time to Burn as my latest Time Travel Done Right book.
This centers around Phoebe, a documentarian with a complicated history, including growing up in what many considered a cult. That group just happened to be run by her father, and it quite literally went down in flames. Years later, Phoebe is still pained by how it ended. She even made a widely acclaimed documentary about it, but in the present Phoebe has turned her sights on Inigo Frank, a tech bro billionaire type, who owns and operates the only approved, and tightly regulated, time travel company. Phoebe is making a documentary about Inigo and that company.
We get a lot of backstory and history of Phoebe’s youth, her fondness for the life she grew up in, love for her parents, her biggest regrets, and questions she needs answers to. Time is also spent with Inigo as Phoebe researches his booming travel company, and this is where the two story lines intersect. Time travel affects both. I was VERY into this story for the first 80%, and liked the last 20%, but did feel it got a bit convoluted in putting all the pieces together at the end. Still, the time travel was well done! I’m happy to have read my first book from this husband and wife writing duo and with four previous books, I may be reading more. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫✨
In the past (IYKYK), you may have heard me talk about a micro genre I love that I like to call Time Travel Done Right. This sort of story includes time travel as an element in a much larger story. It’s a device that propels the story, but it’s not the sole device. In other words, the book cannot be ABOUT time travel. Instead, it has to be about people. Examples that fit this micro micro genre well include 11/22/63 by Stephen King, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub, Recursion by Blacke Crouch, and many others. Today I’m adding Time to Burn as my latest Time Travel Done Right book.
This centers around Phoebe, a documentarian with a complicated history, including growing up in what many considered a cult. That group just happened to be run by her father, and it quite literally went down in flames. Years later, Phoebe is still pained by how it ended. She even made a widely acclaimed documentary about it, but in the present Phoebe has turned her sights on Inigo Frank, a tech bro billionaire type, who owns and operates the only approved, and tightly regulated, time travel company. Phoebe is making a documentary about Inigo and that company.
We get a lot of backstory and history of Phoebe’s youth, her fondness for the life she grew up in, love for her parents, her biggest regrets, and questions she needs answers to. Time is also spent with Inigo as Phoebe researches his booming travel company, and this is where the two story lines intersect. Time travel affects both. I was VERY into this story for the first 80%, and liked the last 20%, but did feel it got a bit convoluted in putting all the pieces together at the end. Still, the time travel was well done! I’m happy to have read my first book from this husband and wife writing duo and with four previous books, I may be reading more. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫✨
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Time to Burn by Ellery Lloyd. Thanks to @harperbooks for the gifted copy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Phoebe is making a documentary on Tempus Tours, the first company to offer time travel for wealth patrons to witness history. When a trip to 1941 goes wrong, she is there to capture it but she recognizes one of the tourists and she’s not who she says she is.
The time travel of this and the consequences was my favorite part of this, which was surprising to me. Often times time travel info will confuse but this was very easy to understand. The background with money and real estate was a little difficult for me but I was able to wrap my head around most of it. I liked the light cult background to the story as well.
“Sometimes decisions that change your life only reveal themselves in retrospect. Other times, it’s quite clear in this moment exactly what’s at stake.”
Read if you like:
-Time travel tropes
-Documentaries or journalism investigations
-Cult stories
Time to Burn comes out 8/4.
Phoebe is making a documentary on Tempus Tours, the first company to offer time travel for wealth patrons to witness history. When a trip to 1941 goes wrong, she is there to capture it but she recognizes one of the tourists and she’s not who she says she is.
The time travel of this and the consequences was my favorite part of this, which was surprising to me. Often times time travel info will confuse but this was very easy to understand. The background with money and real estate was a little difficult for me but I was able to wrap my head around most of it. I liked the light cult background to the story as well.
“Sometimes decisions that change your life only reveal themselves in retrospect. Other times, it’s quite clear in this moment exactly what’s at stake.”
Read if you like:
-Time travel tropes
-Documentaries or journalism investigations
-Cult stories
Time to Burn comes out 8/4.
July 30, 2026
Audiobook review
Why did the writers pick time-travel genre yet make it both dull and ridiculous
Filmmaker documents a rich person sending richer people into the blitz as a “birthday treat”
Unsurprisingly, one of them chooses to stay longer in the past so they can buy property and become even richer (yawn)
Twist, the filmmaker knows the richer person isn’t really rich
Twist, the filmmaker has a horrible event in their life they want to change, so she blackmails the rich person into letting her time travel (without a guide or preparation or a “non-interference or the world ends” warning)
Police arrest the rich for their time crimes (is this the fantasy part?)
Avoid
Why did the writers pick time-travel genre yet make it both dull and ridiculous
Filmmaker documents a rich person sending richer people into the blitz as a “birthday treat”
Unsurprisingly, one of them chooses to stay longer in the past so they can buy property and become even richer (yawn)
Twist, the filmmaker knows the richer person isn’t really rich
Twist, the filmmaker has a horrible event in their life they want to change, so she blackmails the rich person into letting her time travel (without a guide or preparation or a “non-interference or the world ends” warning)
Police arrest the rich for their time crimes (is this the fantasy part?)
Avoid
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 9, 2026
(4⭐️) It was the premise of Time to Burn that initially caught my eye, offering a fresh, unique take on time travel, which it absolutely delivers on. This is smart, twisty speculative fiction dressed up as a thriller, and for the most part, it really works.
If you could travel back in time, which moment in history would you want to witness? In Time to Burn, commercial time travel is real, tightly regulated and available only to the ultra wealthy through Tempus Tours, founded by tech entrepreneur, Inigo Frank. Documentary filmmaker, Phoebe Hunt, is brought in to capture his crowning achievement on film, but on her very first day shadowing him, she witnesses a tour group return from a trip to 1941 London traumatised and missing one of their members. Worse still, Phoebe recognises the missing woman, and knows exactly why she’d have every reason to want to change the past.
I found the way glitching was woven into the story via the Mandela Effect really interesting, it gave the time travel mechanics a grounded, almost plausible logic that had me questioning what timeline I’m living in! Lloyd clearly put a lot of thought into how these journeys into the past ripple forward and distort the present, with small changes resulting in significant consequences.
This is a book that started off a little slow for me, taking its time to establish the mechanics before the plot properly kicks into gear. But it gradually snowballed, getting bigger and faster with every chapter until it built into this incredible crescendo of shifting timelines, tangled consequences, shared histories and buried secrets. By the final third, I genuinely couldn’t put it down.
The ending was insane and gave me real Inception and Tenet vibes. Everything clicks into place in a way that recontextualises so much of what came before, and I think this is genuinely one of those books that would reward a re-read with the hindsight of knowing exactly how it all plays out and to appreciate just how intricate the setup is.
If I have one criticism, it’s that this would have been a full 5⭐️ for me if we’d had a bit more time to develop emotional bonds with the characters. I felt like character development took a backseat to plot here, which is understandable given how much narrative ground this book covers, particularly with the flashbacks to Phoebe’s prior documentary, and how intricately the timelines are woven together, but it did mean I wasn’t quite as emotionally invested in Phoebe and the rest of the cast as I wanted to be.
Overall, Time to Burn is a clever and genuinely original speculative thriller. If you love time travel stories that make you work a little to keep up and reward that effort with a truly satisfying payoff, this is well worth picking up.
Thank you to Ellery Lloyd, Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review, I am grateful for the opportunity to share my thoughts.
If you could travel back in time, which moment in history would you want to witness? In Time to Burn, commercial time travel is real, tightly regulated and available only to the ultra wealthy through Tempus Tours, founded by tech entrepreneur, Inigo Frank. Documentary filmmaker, Phoebe Hunt, is brought in to capture his crowning achievement on film, but on her very first day shadowing him, she witnesses a tour group return from a trip to 1941 London traumatised and missing one of their members. Worse still, Phoebe recognises the missing woman, and knows exactly why she’d have every reason to want to change the past.
I found the way glitching was woven into the story via the Mandela Effect really interesting, it gave the time travel mechanics a grounded, almost plausible logic that had me questioning what timeline I’m living in! Lloyd clearly put a lot of thought into how these journeys into the past ripple forward and distort the present, with small changes resulting in significant consequences.
This is a book that started off a little slow for me, taking its time to establish the mechanics before the plot properly kicks into gear. But it gradually snowballed, getting bigger and faster with every chapter until it built into this incredible crescendo of shifting timelines, tangled consequences, shared histories and buried secrets. By the final third, I genuinely couldn’t put it down.
The ending was insane and gave me real Inception and Tenet vibes. Everything clicks into place in a way that recontextualises so much of what came before, and I think this is genuinely one of those books that would reward a re-read with the hindsight of knowing exactly how it all plays out and to appreciate just how intricate the setup is.
If I have one criticism, it’s that this would have been a full 5⭐️ for me if we’d had a bit more time to develop emotional bonds with the characters. I felt like character development took a backseat to plot here, which is understandable given how much narrative ground this book covers, particularly with the flashbacks to Phoebe’s prior documentary, and how intricately the timelines are woven together, but it did mean I wasn’t quite as emotionally invested in Phoebe and the rest of the cast as I wanted to be.
Overall, Time to Burn is a clever and genuinely original speculative thriller. If you love time travel stories that make you work a little to keep up and reward that effort with a truly satisfying payoff, this is well worth picking up.
Thank you to Ellery Lloyd, Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for sharing this ARC with me in exchange for my honest review, I am grateful for the opportunity to share my thoughts.
August 24, 2026
I don’t pick up many thrillers anymore. But this one sounded unique! Time travel has become a reality. The catch is, only the exorbitantly wealthy can afford it and the only time that you can go back to is World War II England.
I was sold on that byline alone! I love a genre mashup and this one was a little bit light sci-fi (time travel), thriller and a sprinkle of historical. I will say, I did think it would be a little bit heavier on the historical and that was only a very small part of the story. This is definitely a thriller thriller! No spoilers, but the direction the story went was not what I was expecting from that small pitch!
I so appreciate that this was a unique thriller. A thriller that I felt like I hadn’t read before. But I didn’t find myself super interested in the story itself.
It gave me some vibes of WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME by Gillian McAllister and I found that one much more propulsive.
I would still encourage anyone to pick this up and hopefully readers who enjoy thrillers more regularly than me will enjoy this one!
Thank you Harper for the gifted book!!
I was sold on that byline alone! I love a genre mashup and this one was a little bit light sci-fi (time travel), thriller and a sprinkle of historical. I will say, I did think it would be a little bit heavier on the historical and that was only a very small part of the story. This is definitely a thriller thriller! No spoilers, but the direction the story went was not what I was expecting from that small pitch!
I so appreciate that this was a unique thriller. A thriller that I felt like I hadn’t read before. But I didn’t find myself super interested in the story itself.
It gave me some vibes of WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME by Gillian McAllister and I found that one much more propulsive.
I would still encourage anyone to pick this up and hopefully readers who enjoy thrillers more regularly than me will enjoy this one!
Thank you Harper for the gifted book!!
August 25, 2026
3.5 rounding up. I enjoyed this one even with the chaos and confusion of time travel. It’s fast paced but the plotlines are muddy and don’t always make a slot of sense. There are two ongoing stories and the connection between the two felt forced but I loved this approach to time travel
Phoebe Hunt is a documentary film producer and is tasked with capturing Inigo Frank’s newest revelation - Time Travel Tourism. However when she goes to capture the latest retrieval of a tour group it’s clear that something has gone terribly wrong. One member is injured and another is missing. As she starts to follow the investigation she realizes that the ripple effects from changing the past are starting to impact her personally.
I’ve always loved The Butterfly Effect aspect of time travel and this one had plenty of that. Weirdly I didn’t care about the weird cult aspect at all and it felt like it was really forced into the time travel plot line to make it all work. Nevertheless I loved the concept of time travel tourism so this one worked for me
Phoebe Hunt is a documentary film producer and is tasked with capturing Inigo Frank’s newest revelation - Time Travel Tourism. However when she goes to capture the latest retrieval of a tour group it’s clear that something has gone terribly wrong. One member is injured and another is missing. As she starts to follow the investigation she realizes that the ripple effects from changing the past are starting to impact her personally.
I’ve always loved The Butterfly Effect aspect of time travel and this one had plenty of that. Weirdly I didn’t care about the weird cult aspect at all and it felt like it was really forced into the time travel plot line to make it all work. Nevertheless I loved the concept of time travel tourism so this one worked for me
September 19, 2026
This was 3.5 stars for me. Time travel with a twist! In this book, time travel has been commercialized. A high tech company has figured up a way to take people back in time to witness historic events…all for a very hefty fee. Things are going so well, the owner of the company brings in documentary film maker Phoebe Hunt to shadow him for a day, and film the return of a group returning from a trip to witness the Blitz. That doesn’t sound like my idea of a vacation, but I guess that’s why some people like chocolate and some like vanilla. Anyway, as one would expect, things don’t go according to plan, and one of the travelers seems to be missing. And then things begin to change. Phoebe seems to be one of the few people noticing these changes, and becomes determined to unravel the mystery. I thought this book was a clever take on the time travel genre. There were some interesting twists, and the book had me thinking about things, wondering what I would do in certain situations.
September 9, 2026
Really good time slip where the plot pays out well - there was too much focus on the strong females' relationships with weak men and not with each other and the ending felt a bit rushed but still kept me going right to the end. Unfortunate cover that does not convey the Blitz - a fascination with that period underpins the whole story.
September 15, 2026
What if time travel is actually possible? What if rich people could actually pay to go back in time to visit world events like the Blitz? What kind of control would the government have to have? Billionaires can be trusted to do the morally right things right? Phoebe is asked to film a documentary about a time travel company. While she is filming a trip goes wrong and a woman is left behind in the blitz. Was it an accident or on purpose? She also realizes that she knows the woman and she isn't who she says she is... This was really interesting. I have always loved the idea of time travel and wonder about the butterfly effect.
August 23, 2026
3.5 stars - This is more of a crime mystery with time travel elements rather than a hard core sci-fi novel. I was entertained and drawn into the story so I rounded up to 4 stars (I really wish GR would allow half-star ratings!).
September 10, 2026
This was such a cleverly unique, genre bending story that blends time travel, mystery and speculative fiction into one incredibly thought provoking read.
Exploring privilege, wealth, greed, the endless possibilities of “what if,” and the moral and ethical dilemmas that come with them, this story really makes you question just how far you’d go if you had the power to change the past, and what the consequences of those choices might be.
This husband and wife writing duo is known for their strong characterization, and that definitely shines here. Their writing is intense, immersive and emotionally resonant, drawing you deeper into the story with every twist and turn.
I don’t venture into sci-fi thrillers all that often, but I’m always intrigued by stories that explore emerging technologies and their potential societal implications. This one struck the perfect balance between thought provoking concepts and propulsive entertainment, with enough twists and surprises to keep me hooked from start to finish.
Exploring privilege, wealth, greed, the endless possibilities of “what if,” and the moral and ethical dilemmas that come with them, this story really makes you question just how far you’d go if you had the power to change the past, and what the consequences of those choices might be.
This husband and wife writing duo is known for their strong characterization, and that definitely shines here. Their writing is intense, immersive and emotionally resonant, drawing you deeper into the story with every twist and turn.
I don’t venture into sci-fi thrillers all that often, but I’m always intrigued by stories that explore emerging technologies and their potential societal implications. This one struck the perfect balance between thought provoking concepts and propulsive entertainment, with enough twists and surprises to keep me hooked from start to finish.
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