Synopsis:
Although Benjamin keeps having mild deja vu, it's not until he meets Steve, and then Maggie, that he learns he's stuck in a loop.
Time usually moves linearly, but sometimes, for unknown reasons, it starts to loop for certain people. Benjamin's lasts for a few days, during which he meets Maggie, Maggie shoots Roy, he and Maggie run from Roy and the cops until they can convince an adult to bet on some horses for them and win them a lot of money (Maggie knows which horses will win), and the two of them are killed by Roy in Shreveport. After that, everything starts over again.
Benjamin's memory of previous repetitions of their loop isn't very good. Even so, he recognizes Maggie and knows, the instant he meets her, that he cares about her. He's not sure how she feels about him, but he knows that he wants her to survive. Together, they try to find a way to break out of their loop, but will they be able to do it when everything around them seems to be forcing them to Shreveport, where Roy has killed them every single time?
Review:
I had problems with this book's premise right from the start. I tried to ignore them and just enjoy the ride, but it was hard – my brain kept interrupting with questions that the book never satisfactorily answered. For example, since Steve's loop lasts less than a month, what happens to him after that time is up? Does he die at the end of his loop, the way Maggie and Benjamin did? If not, then how could he continue to exist past the end of his loop? If he did die at the end of his loop, how could he ever manage to break it? Unless every single individual who has ever gotten stuck in a loop has created multiple parallel timelines or something? Just trying to figure out the logic of the loops makes my brain hurt.
