Review | Caught in Time

The Book: Caught in Time by Julie McElwain

Date Published: July 3, 2018

Dates Read: August 13-18, 2018

Curent Goodreads Rating: 4.14/5

Since the beginning my two favorite genres have been historical fiction and mysteries. The combination of the two, in my opinion, are some of the most interesting books I've read. A homicide investigation in modern times with DNA testing and modern technology is already edge-of-your-seat exciting, but what if you're investigating a murder back in the 1800s where women were too delicate to be involved and no one knew about fingerprinting and blood spatter?

Side Note: this makes me think of John Mulaney's comedy special where he talks about murder investigations in the 1940s. Though this is totally unrelated to Caught in Time, if you haven't checked out his three comedy specials on Netflix I don't know what you're doing with your life.

This is the third book in the Kendra Donovan series, you can read my review about the earlier books here, and I'm still in love with this series. Sure, it has its flaws (which I'll get to a little later), but ultimately I really enjoy reading this series. If you haven't read my previous review let me just briefly explain the series to you.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Kendra Donovan, a super genius FBI agent, goes rogue. Unhappy that a cop-killer mega-villian got away with murder, Kendra takes justice into her own hands. Tracking the asshole to England, she witnesses a brutal assassination and finds herself in the cross-hairs of the perp. Seeking safety, Kendra runs for her life only to find herself transported back in time to 1815. She meets several interesting characters: a Duke who takes her in as his ward, a marquis who she quickly falls in love with, as well as several psychopaths. Using her modern day knowledge and FBI skills, Kendra solves murders and crushes the patriarchy at the same time (well...kinda).

Back to our regularly scheduled programming

Like I said, this book is the third in the series and Kendra has yet to find a way to get back to her own time. However, as the series has gone on, Kendra's desperation to go back has somewhat dissipated. She still tells herself constantly that if she could find a way back she would definitely take it, but at this point it's almost like she's trying to reassure herself without really believing it. She has struck up a mutual friendship with the Duke of Aldridge, who actually treats her with the respect that not many women receive in this time, and she has fallen in love with his nephew, Alec, the marquis and the nephew of the Duke. She solves murders in a time that many murderers walked free and also she gets to stick it to the man occasionally because know one expects a young woman in the 19th century to know how to punch a man hard enough to break his nose.

This time around Kendra has to solve the brutal murder of a mill manager, his wife, and their housekeeper. The constable of the small village believes the Luddites are to blame thanks to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, but Kendra knows better. Here's the thing I loved the most about this book: Sassy Feminist Kendra.

I don't think I could count the amount of times a man said something stupid and condescending to Kendra and she took no time to rise back up and slap back with her own snarky comment. I liked to imagine the jaws of these men falling open, their egos bruised because someone of the "weaker sex" decided to not take any of their shit anymore. One of my particular favorite moments I mentioned just a few paragraphs ago. One of Kendra's suspects decided that she was a little too mouthy for her own good and decided to teach her a lesson. So she punched him so hard in the face that she broke his noise. At that moment I wish I was there just so I could have watched that guy realize that he was getting beat by a girl.

But what are it's flaws? In the previous books Kendra was tasked with finding out the inner tworkings of a serial killer. She was a member of the FBI after all. If she hadn't fallen through a portal to a different time maybe she would have been on an episode of Criminal Minds. This book, however, was different. Instead of racing against the clock to try and find a serial killer before he (or she) finds the next victim, Kendra is really only racing against the clock before some insecure male takes away her right to participate in this investigation. It's still satisfying when she defies all odds and solves the mystery, but I didn't feel that heart-pounding ticking time bomb that had been so prevalent in the other two novels.

Also, let's talk about Kendra herself. Growing up I was always told as a writer to never write a Mary-Sue. Now, amidst all of the women's movements and the release of several movies with strong female leads, I feel like the idea of a Mary-Sue is a little dated. Before, Mary-Sues were female characters who were seemingly great at everything. She was beautiful, she was smart, she was friends with everyone, she had no flaws. Think of a Mary-Sue as the step below the Manic Pixie Dream girl. If you're a little lost don't worry. I have linked the words to their definition. Sometimes I think that Kendra is just a little bit too great. I don't deny that we have come a long way since 1815 in all things (except sometimes in the way that we treat women, but that's a discussion for another time), but sometimes I feel like Kendra is a little too condescending towards her older counterparts. Maybe I'm being a little harsh on Kendra, she is a woman thrown into a situation no one has dealt with before, but sometimes, when she's complaining about the Duke's fascination with gas lighting or commenting about how ridiculous it is that she can't figure out how to light a fireplace, but a servant in her household can, I just want to tell her to shut up and get over herself.

That being said, Kendra really stands up for those women who couldn't speak for themselves in this book. She does what she can to rescue a woman from an abusive marriage, even though there's not much she can do thanks to the standards of society at this time. It's something that is constantly at the back of Kendra's mind even throughout her murder investigation. This woman and her situation aren't always directly related to the investigation, but Kendra can't just walk away from a woman in need. I really respect that and I'm glad that Kendra continued to fight for this woman even though the "rules" of the time declared this woman as her husband's property and her involvement risked the reputation of Kendra herself.

That twist though. I just wanted to mention that there's a twist in this book that I totally did not see coming and I wanted to make you aware of it. If it's been awhile since you've read the previous books in the series, I would brush up on them first before reading this book. You might be able to catch what I didn't.

Long story short:

• GIRL POWER

• How did mysteries get solved back in the day? Like seriously.

• What a twist!

My Rating: 4/5