(I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

3.5 stars.

The premise is fascinating: time travel as a career and institution, run by women. And there's fantastic diversity, with mental health/psychological concerns (the title doesn't just sound cool! It actually represents a major concern in the novel), POC, explicitly gay/bisexual characters. Mascarenhas' approach to laying out the murder mystery clearly respects the reader's intelligence — we get to peek at scenes from various points of the timeline and through various characters' eyes, and it's up to you to put the pieces together if you don't want to just sit around and wait for the Big Reveal; at the same time, there are lots of academic and ethical questions to consider.

All that said, I had some trouble connecting with the characters and getting really invested in the plot, because this is a very concept-driven novel, which I don't think I've actually encountered before. (I actually took a few days' break from this book, during which I retained enough of the previous information to keep up but not enough to want to jump right back into it.)

This is such a unique read, so if you're even a little bit interested in sci-fi and mystery I'd give it a try.