The Reckoning

A Time Travel Thriller

Fiction - Science Fiction
162 Pages
Reviewed on 07/20/2021
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

D.M. Taylor is a writer with a constant desire to be at the beach or as close to a combination of: water, sand, and sunshine as she can. You can tell by looking at all of the freckles she has collected as evidence.
If she's not writing in her tiny cottage by the lake, then it's not summer. The rest of the year, she's writing on her couch under blankets near a giant bay window. On the less romantic days of writing, and let's be real--most of them, her pages come together while waiting in a car for one of her kids--as part of her chauffeur gig.
Her gravitational pull to science fiction, developed throughout her teacher training; where she concentrated on science education. Graduating from Michigan Tech with an Applied Science Master's Degree jumpstarted her geeky interests. An obsession of time travel pushed through her romantic notions of the world and the easy fear she holds of anything frightening. Together, these elements created a writer of: sci-fi thrillers who sprinkles in a bit of slow burn.
Accruing in her head is a checklist of places to travel, items to accomplish, and book ideas to write.
She regenerates from deep conversation, laughter, and dancing.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Lit Amri for Readers' Favorite

“The devastation of my mom’s death split my universe into two time periods: before she died and after.” In The Reckoning (A Time Travel Thriller) by D.M. Taylor, physicist Taden Barrett and her team successfully find a way to time travel. Leaders of the Patriot Party waste no time and order them to use time travel for the military to eliminate a terrorist group that calls themselves The Reckoning, reclaim several states that have been taken over, and save the United States. Taden, however, has a personal mission of her own: to reconcile with the night her mom died two decades ago. An unexpected betrayal threatens to hasten the downfall of her country and deconstruct her family's past. Despite having time travel as a powerful instrument, the obstacles prove trickier than she anticipated, and she must correct everything before it's too late.

Time travel gives this thriller a solid premise constructed through an engaging plot. It’s fascinating how some events, which seem irrelevant at first, connect and become significant when time travel is involved. Taden, as brilliant as she is, struggles with her inner conflict due to her personal relationship and her fixation on mending her past involving her late mother. When disaster strikes, it is easy to empathize and root for her to fight back and regain her confidence. Her sister, Ruth, already proves to be a survivor of hardship. Following her journey to avoid the Reckoners and get to Taden is nerve-racking and impressive. With an engaging narrative, the characters' goals - self-imposed or otherwise - give momentum to the plot's pace. D.M. Taylor's The Reckoning is eerie in regards to the safety of a country and the powerful impact of time travel with a solid warning: some things can never be changed for a reason. A thought-provoking and entertaining read.

Doug Fricke

Every story about time travel has its own rules about how it works. Where do you end up when you get there? How long can you stay? Can you only go alone? If you go back ten or twenty years into the past, will you be able to interact with your younger self?

The time travelers in this story only want to make a few minor changes. Quick in, quick out, then back to the present. At least that was their original intention.

But it’s not so easy when one of your fellow travelers betrays you and becomes the villain with his own agenda. He has friends with thick accents and names like Vergard, Feng, and Jaali. Things quickly get complicated. The bad guys are planning to destroy the country.

The character descriptions and interactions are excellent, quite detailed. For me, it got confusing when the present and past version of a character showed-up in the same scene. Sometimes I had to pay close attention or re-read a paragraph or two. But maybe that’s just me. Here’s one of my favorite observations by the main character:

“I wondered briefly if I had ever encountered other future versions of myself throughout my life without knowing.”

Overall, it’s an enjoyable story. You’re gonna want to read book two in the series.