Book Title:                       Backward Glass (Standalone)
Author:                              David Lomax
Number of pages:       315

Synopsis:

Crack your head, knock you dead, then Prince Harming’s hunger’s fed.

It’s 1977, and Kenny Maxwell is dreading the move away from his friends. But then, behind the walls of his family’s new falling-apart Victorian home, he finds something incredible–a mummified baby and a note: “Help me make it not happen, Kenny. Help me stop him.”

Shortly afterwards, a beautiful girl named Luka shows up. She introduces Kenny to the backward glass, a mirror that allows them to travel through time. Meeting other “mirror kids” in the past and future is exciting, but there’s also danger. The urban legend of Prince Harming, who kidnaps and kills children, is true–and he’s hunting them. When Kenny gets stranded in the past, he must find the courage to answer a call for help, change the fate of a baby–and confront his own destiny.

(re: Goodreads @ Backward Glass by David Lomax)

Should this book be picked up? the tl;dr spoiler-less review:

• If time-travelling is your niche, this is a pretty stellar read.
• A suspenseful, thought-provoking literary piece that will have you trying to fit the pieces of a puzzle.
• Characters are generally relatable and can be rooted for.
• Definite information overload (and voids) at times that with persistence will come full circle; hard work pays off.

Initial Thoughts:

What the (expletive goes here) am I reading?

That was me with this book. And by no means is this a bad thing. Nah. I was totally reeling in how intricate all the pieces ended up fitting together in this narrative. Everything was definitely thought through: from the nuances in dialogue to the historical inclusions (c’mon, this dude referenced Star Wars and Nintendo—so many feels, and yes I classify these as historical. Problem?). So for his debut novel (at least I think so) Backward Glass is great for all the right reasons.

Honestly though, I felt like I was reading some sci-fi mystery with tinges of Criminal Minds going on: having to profile the shit out of everyone and everything all for a long deceased baby. But wait, time traveling, changing history; all that good stuff to start the whirlwind of Kenny’s mission and by proxy the plot. So despite many aspects being cryptic and seemingly confusing at times, the journey was quite thought-provoking. But I’d like to think that it was value-added to the story telling so all my grief in note taking was well worth it.

Enough about the overall, let’s start with the basics:

The opening line in the synopsis is so eerie to me; it’s (another expletive goes here) children’s rhyme. That is just dandy. Imagine if you heard that while walking through a porcelain doll shop (in a child’s voice no less). I’d shit myself. The rest of the synopsis presented itself to me like the childhood television show: ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?” which is awesome in its own right. The spook and thrilling factor was enough to get me to pick this book up. And then it begins with a page of (time-travel) rules that provided no context but hit all the marks of intrigue and confusion that essentially pulls you right into this story.

It’s pretty difficult to review this novel without giving away too many spoilers, but I’ll try my best despite not having too many issues with this well crafted novel.

Let me elaborate on all of this:

Disclaimer: Potential spoilers inherent to this review from here onward.

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