Time Ninety-Seven reviewed by British Fantasy Society

Here's what Jonathan Oliver had to say in the British Fantasy Society Newsletter...

"Despite its premise – a woman gets trapped in a five-month period of time – Time Ninety-Seven is most definitely not Groundhog Day. Instead Barrett’s debut novel is a taut thriller, laced with strangeness and a convincing romance. Sandy is hit by a car on her eighteenth birthday and wakes up 13 years later from a coma only to find herself trapped in time. She must find a way out of her predicament while also exploring the boundaries of her dilemma. Barrett has cleverly structured the text so that, although it skips about between repeated time periods, it still produces a gripping linear narrative.

"Sandy is an interesting character who, realising that she has a potentially infinite amount of time on her hands, explores various relationships at various levels of meaning and commitment. And these romances are not crude or overly saccharine. In fact they add as much to the novel as do the thriller elements. I think it can be hard to write about relationships convincingly but Barrett really manages it. As we reach the last quarter of the novel things become much more tense, with Sandy battling to find a way out of the time-loop. A surprising meeting spurs her on to a global exploration for the truth and Barrett ties up all the plot elements neatly and satisfactorily.

"This is an entertaining and convincing thriller and a promising debut from a writer who obviously has much more to give. As an aside, as a self-published work this is not only high on the quality of writing but the quality of production is also top-notch. Not something you see every day in the small presses.

"Highly recommended."

Jonathan Oliver
British Fantasy Society Newsletter
January 2008
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News Release: Paul Barrett launches stunning debut novel

What if something happened to you that forced you to rebuild your life from scratch? No family, no friends, no ties. And what if you only had five months in which to do it? And at the end of those five months you were brought right back to where you started. Again and again and again…

Welcome to Sandy’s world - hit by a car on her eighteenth birthday and in a coma for thirteen years. And, as if the loss of thirteen years is not enough, she finds herself trapped in the same five months, time and time again, from March to August 2006.

Feeling her sanity beginning to fade, she searches desperately for a way out. And she has only one real clue - a song…

Time Ninety-Seven is Paul Barrett’s breathtaking debut novel, following Sandy’s desperate race around the world, a race between the certain need to escape, and the equally certain onset of madness.
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For more information, email timeninety-seven@hotmail.co.uk.