My Two Cents: THE SKELETON THEORY by Joe Clifford

The Skeleton Theory by Joe Clifford introduces readers to Jericho Keane, or "Echo" as he prefers, a troubled police detective whose career is circling the proverbial drain, and whose daughter, Olivia, was recently murdered by a serial killer Keane himself had been charged with investigating. His wife has left him, and he lives in a converted cargo trailer in a seedy part of town. He struggles with grief, anger, remorse, and unrelenting guilt. Then one day, a friend convinces him to visit a support group, telling him it will change his life. And man, does it ever.

After the meeting, Echo is approached by a nervous man named Trevor who tells him it's not too late to save his daughter and change both her fate and his own, that there's a way for him to stop Olivia's murder from ever happening. It's not time travel, he explains to Echo, not exactly, but more of a way to cross from one timeline, one version of reality, to another. While little events in each of these parallel realities differ from each other, foundational events -- the skeleton of a core reality, as it were -- remains the same, and if you alter one of those, the effects ripple out, affecting every timeline.

It sounds like bullshit, right? That's what Echo thinks, too, at first, until he next meets a woman named Michelle, whose daughter was a victim of the same serial killer who murdered Olivia. Michelle, too, has met with Trevor and heard his theories about timelines and altering reality, and tells Echo it's real. She knows this because Trevor used the timelines to alter his own reality and bring his children back to life after they'd drowned. She also said she's met Echo before, numerous times, in dozens of different realities, trying to solicit his help in saving their daughters.

It sounds too good to be true, but as the story unfolds, Echo finds himself drawn deeper and deeper into a spiraling web of intersecting realities, where those who are friends one minute become bitter enemies the next, where a brother with whom he's been estranged for thirty years becomes instead a close confidante, and where even his squalid shipping container home is replaced in an instant by a comfortable apartment. As Echo attempts to navigate through the twists and turns of these unpredictable timelines, he also tries to uncover the identity of the man who murdered both his and Michelle's daughters. The killer is the key -- the core event linking every version of the multiverses -- that must be altered in order to change things and bring the girls back to life. It's a race against time for both Echo and Michelle, because they find they're not alone as they crisscross realities. A cadre of mysterious and dangerous figures pursue them along the way, across every universe they encounter, with relentless and brutal intent.

The Skeleton Theory is a fast-paced and inventive twist on the crime-noir thriller, like The Maltese Falcon meets Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Echo reads like a modern-day Sam Spade, and it's impossible not to root for him, despite his many flaws. As gruff and hardened as he is on the outside, he's a good man at heart, and he keeps the story grounded, even when the plot grows complicated. At times, it's difficult to keep track of who knows what and in which version of reality, but Echo's a likable protagonist, and Clifford a talented writer. No matter how off the wall the timelines become, as a reader, it's easy to sit back, trust in Clifford, and enjoy the ride. And believe me, it's a great one, with an ending that, while not necessarily happy, is ultimately satisfying.

The Skeleton Theory is available here.