The Tourist

August 29, 2016
British author Dickinson makes his U.S. debut with a murky, dystopian thriller, which depicts a 24th-century world replete with brutal, militaristic societies of slaves and biomechanically enhanced superhumans. Time-travel technology allows visits to eras before the NEE (Near Extinction Event), which transformed the world and its surviving inhabitants. Spens is a guide at a time-travel “resort,” where tourists can visit early 21st-century England. When a visitor vanishes from a group excursion, Spens must pursue her. He slowly realizes that his quarry may be an agent from another time whose actions in the past may change the future, causing humanity’s near annihilation—or preventing it. The leaps of time, identity, and chronology create a dark, chillingly claustrophobic atmosphere, but the choppy chronology and elaborate sci-fi imaginings overshadow and obscure the plot and meaningful character development. “Travel is confusing,” is a frequent refrain, and the same can be said for this ambitious but unsatisfying vision of the future. Agent: Oli Munson, A.M. Heath (U.K.).

This audiobook might be less confusing if it were called "Time Tourist," but that's the least of its problems. Narrator Peter Kenny's clipped British accent is pleasant, and he helps listeners keep the many characters straight. But the plot is a bloody mess. The crux of the story is that sometime later in this century we start getting visitors from the future--time tourists who get to spend an hour or so in the past, subject to many rules and regulations. That's fine, but then the story shifts to other characters on a seemingly different timeline, and it gets confusing. Kenny breathes life into the principals, giving them various nuances, but, ultimately, listeners will spend a lot of time scratching their heads. M.S. � AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine