In EXPIRATION DATE, the season’s other oddball time-travel tale — the one that doesn’t involve a hot tub — newly unemployed journalist Mickey Wade moves into his comatose grandfather’s apartment on the rough side of Philly, takes a couple of pills from a 1982 Tylenol bottle he finds in the medicine cabinet, and wakes up on Feb. 22, 1972, which happens to be the day he was born.
The trips back are only temporary, wearing off quicker the fewer pills he takes. While the how remains a mystery to Mickey, the reason for his jaunts back to his birthday soon becomes apparent when he meets the redheaded 12-year-old downstairs, Billy Derace. He’s the kid who grows up to murder Mickey’s dad.
Back in the modern day, Mickey’s pal Meghan thinks he’s crazy or hooked on drugs, or possibly both. To attempt to prove he’s not, Mickey attempts to do things in the past that will rear their head in the present, sometimes to comic effect.
Speaking of comic, Duane Swierczynski’s novel contains every-so-often illustrations by Marvel Comics artist Laurence Campbell that help cast the story in appropriate shades of darkness, even if the cover is too old-school-detective to be our protagonist.
Things get weird in EXPIRATION DATE, and I mean that in a good way. It’s not your ordinary time-travel story; especially with the crime/murder angle, I was reminded of the TV series LIFE ON MARS. It almost plays episodic, too, with each chapter ending in a cliffhanger. This is intentional, as it was originally written to be a NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE serial, so by sheer design, the story flies.
Swierczynski really is one of the smartest, savviest authors going. Any of his novels reveal as much, but EXPIRATION DATE finds him treading some waters more “out there” than previous outings. You’ll have your mind bent, and your minimal investment rewarded. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• THE BLONDE by Duane Swierczynski
• LEVEL 26: DARK ORIGINS by Anthony E. Zuiker with Duane Swierczynski
• PUNISHER: FRANK CASTLE — SIX HOURS TO KILL by Duane Swierczynski
• SEVERANCE PACKAGE by Duane Swierczynski
• THE WHEELMAN by Duane Swierczynski
Related posts:
- NEWSGASM >> 3.8.10
- Severance Package
- The Blonde
- Q&A with SEVERANCE PACKAGE’s Duane Swierczynski
- Killer Year: Stories to Die for … from the Hottest New Crime Writers
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
What a ridiculous notion for time travel. If anything like that were possible, I’d travel back to 1994 every time I put on my underwear.