Doetsch, Richard: The 13th Hour

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At the start of Richard Doetsch's The 13th Hour, Nick Quinn is being interrogated by the police. He's suspected of killing his wife, who was shot dead in their mud room. The gun that killed her was locked in Nick's trunk, which doesn't look good for him, but Nick is innocent. At least one person believes that, the enigmatic European who hands him a watch that will allow Nick to travel back in time, one hour at a time, up to 12 hours in all, so that he can solve his wife's murder before it happens. With each leap backward, Nick has a new chance to alter the future, but his actions in the past have consequences, and they're usually bad ones. Time is running out, and new obstacles present themselves at every turn.

This is a great book. There were times reading it when I thought I'd caught the author mis-thinking some time-travel conundrum or other, but in the end it all hangs together. The plot is carefully worked out and increasingly complex as the hours rewind. It's a clever book, a surprising read up to and including the epilogue: I was fully expecting a gushy scene at the end, but happily the author had another twist up his sleeve. The final scene is a great way to end the book. The 13th Hour offers a clever premise, then, and it's well carried out. I think I need to see what else Mr. Doetsch has written....