Replay

Author: Ken Grimwood

Story of a guy with serious cardiac and spontaneous time-travel issues. Think #19! Jeff, 43, dies of a heart attack in 1988. That kind of thing happens a lot. But not everybody then wakes up again in his 18-year old body in 1963, with all the memories of the now-dead Jeff. After adjusting to his situation he decides to lead a careful life and avoid those cardiac issues. Doesn't work. He dies again. Same time, on the button. Returns to 1963, but somewhat later. And the same thing again, and again, and again, returning to a later and later time, closer and closer to his eventual death. You can see where this is going. How will it end? And what about Pamela, a fellow sufferer, whom he encounters one day? As if ordinary relationships weren't already complicated enough! Why it's on the list: It's an involving story that fully deserved its 1988 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. I couldn't put it down. Time-travel, like in #19, is an inherent capability that requires no technological aid, and which is in fact a pain in the neck for the sufferer and the people around him.