Twenty-One Kills

Twenty-One Kills is the second book in the Leap Limit sci-fi time travel/mystery series, breaking genre boundaries by offering a time travel adventure rooted in a serial killer investigation that takes many satisfyingly unexpected twists. This will intrigue readers who enjoy science and science fiction conundrums, as well as mystery enthusiasts looking for a powerful, original form of whodunit.

Physics major Mars Lockporte discovers that it’s not so easy to go back in time and prevent a murder when he returns to his present, only to find that another friend has vanished from memory as a result of his manipulations. 

So when he becomes embroiled in a Montana serial killer’s burial grounds in the past 1970s, he’s well aware that simply involving authorities won’t be enough to either stop the murder spree or resolve the timeline in a manner that doesn’t impact something else.

Every choice delivers a consequence. The problem with time travel is that the results may not be fully known until one returns to the future. And that’s something Mars can neither predict with accuracy nor prevent from happening.

Janice Boekhoff steeps her story in a first-person perspective that brings the tension, characters, and dilemmas to life. The insights developed in the course of juggling different scenarios and possibilities for the future are powerfully delivered:

In this time period, knowledge of crime scene analysis, DNA, and victimology is limited. My knowledge is limited too. I only know what my sister Gaia rattled off to me from her crime-junkie shows, but that’s enough to realize the sum total of the evidence points to the rarest possibility…

History and mystery become compelling when presented in the form of personal experience. Letters from the past, observations of the future, and knowledge that whatever investigative route is chosen indicate that time has a way of correcting changes to conform to a preset outcome. If this notion were set in stone, Mars wouldn’t be trying so hard. And if it were easy to fix, he wouldn’t be so immersed in struggle.

Boekhoff builds satisfying tension in both mystery and scientific circles. This approach will delight readers from both genres. She embeds quandaries into the time travel scenario, dovetailing technological marvels in a particularly thought-provoking manner:

In an instant, the time and app data register in my mind, driving me to interesting conclusions. Measuring quantum waves is not an exact process. The app measures background quantum waves at a relative arbitrary value of fifty percent, indicating an average number of quantum wave phenomena. The app is programmed to alert when the percentage gets higher than seventy-five, meaning several quantum waves are superimposed upon each other. Now, it’s registering a level of ninety percent. That’s odd enough on its own, but to have elevated levels when I leaped to this time period and again at 1:07, ten minutes before I’m supposed to leap out? That’s too much of a coincidence.

The special blend of well-built tension, scientific and moral quandaries, problem-solving dilemmas, and fast-paced action will lead libraries to not only include Twenty-One Kills in their collections, but highly recommend it to a wide audience. This should ideally include book clubs looking for vivid discussion material wrapped in satisfyingly original quandaries and writing.