Review: Downtime by Tamara Allen

I have to confess that time-travel novels are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me.  I know that they have a reputation for being a bit unrealistic, but I still have a fascination with characters who are somehow able to travel back in time.  Perhaps because that's something I would love to be able to do.  When the opportunity came up to review Downtime, I grabbed it.  M/m time-travel books are very rare - and a much under-represented sub-genre of m/m in my opinion - and so I was looking forward to immersing myself in some modern/Victorian m/m love.

The book begins with our hero, FBI agent Morgan Nash who is in London on loan to MI6 for a short assignment.  Whilst chasing the bad guys around the British Museum, Morgan is shot in one of the storage rooms and blacks out.  When he comes to he discovers that he has been transported back in time to 1888 by the hapless accidental spellcasting of a group of friends: Ezra, Henry and Derry.  They take him back to their boarding house overnight with the intention that they will send him back to the future the next day.  Things don't go as planned though when the spell book goes missing.  Ezra, who has the ability to talk to the dead, and Morgan spend the next few days trying to discover the whereabouts of the spell book as well as developing a hopeless attraction to each other, and Morgan is further distracted when he decides to apply his 21st century crime solving skills to discovering the identity of the Victorian age's most notorious murderer, Jack the Ripper.

There is quite a lot fitted into this lengthy novel.  Firstly, there is the character of Morgan and his observations on life in the Victorian age.  At first he finds it difficult and there are many snort-worthy moments as he copes with the primitive transport and the constricting clothing, but as the book progresses he begins to see the positives in living life at a slower pace.  Morgan has a very dry sense of humour which works well within the first person narrative and greatly endeared him to me as a character.  His no nonsense approach to life and willingness to take risks made a good contrast to the cautious and thoughtful Ezra.  Morgan is also a cynic and sceptical of Ezra's psychic abilities leading to much conflict between them at first.  The whole sub-plot surrounding Ezra, his abilities and how he walks a fine line between what is deemed acceptable and what is considered madness, was an interesting theme within the book and led to much of the tension and frustration within the storyline.

Another area which is explored in detail is the relationship between the men who live in the boarding house and Kathleen, Derry's sister, who runs the house on his behalf.  Much is made of the camaraderie and difficulties of living together in this way.  For Morgan who lives mostly on his own in the present day, the sense of family and friendship he gains from staying at the boarding house is one of the most compelling reasons not to return to the present day.  There are also many observations made about the differences in how the men physically interact with one another and also how life in the boarding house compares to those who live in opulent splendour.  Ezra straddles the line between the upper and middle classes as he comes from a rich family, but chooses to spend his time with his lower class friends.  I found myself warming to these characters and their quirks as much as Morgan does and looked forward to the scenes where where learned more about Ezra, Kathleen and Derry.

By far the part of Downtime which worked best for me was in the growing affection between Morgan and Ezra.  The whole first part of the book, as they desperately try to ignore their attraction, was filled with a delightful sexual tension.  When they finally give in to their lust the sex scenes are tender and suggestive rather than explicit, focusing more on feelings rather than mechanics.  Their regard for each other shines through the way that they speak and their small affection gestures which focus more on the heart of the man rather than crude physical lust.  It was just so lovely that parts of the book brought tears to my eyes.

The part which didn't work so well for me was in the mystery plot.  Much of the second half of the book has Morgan and Ezra chasing clues, scoping out murder scenes and Morgan getting them both into trouble by sticking his nose into the investigation.  Whilst the historical detail in this section seemed accurate, I found the change of pace from focusing on the romance plot to switching to the mystery plot slightly disappointing.  Especially as I wasn't entirely sure that Morgan would have been able to get away with half of what he did in the book.  I was also a little uneasy about the way that Morgan was messing with history by trying to solve what is, to this day, an unsolved murder case.  Another part which didn't work as well was during the second half of the book when there is an entire section where the characters take a trip to Northampton (I don't want to say why for fear of spoilers).  I couldn't quite understand why that lengthy section had been included as it didn't affect anything else in the plot at all and the complication surrounding the trip was resolved so ridiculously easily - almost so easily that it bordered on unrealistic.

Looking at this book as a time travel, I obviously had to suspend my disbelief.  After all, the parts where Morgan goes back in time are hardly the most realistic of plot devices.  However, the realism of life in the Victorian era more than made up for the fact that time-travel is essentially fantasy.  I greatly enjoyed Downtime, despite its flaws and was sad to leave the characters, which were, in my opinion the book's greatest strength.  If you are looking for a well written book with complex characters, an involving plot and some great historical detail, as well as a tender and moving romance, you can't go far wrong than this book.  Grade: Excellent.

Buy this book HERE.

ETA: The link above is to the print copy of the book but you can buy an ecopy at Smashwords and at Amazon Kindle.

Tamara has told me that all proceeds of this book are going to Cancer Research so that's another reason why you must buy this terrific book.