And Then She Vanished

Jones (the Hibernation series) gets his latest series off to a rocky start with this half-baked time travel story. In 1997, 14-year-old Joseph Bridgeman attends a funfair in Cheltenham with his sister, seven-year-old Amy, and the outing turns tragic when Amy vanishes while Joe is momentarily distracted. Twenty-two years later, Amy’s disappearance still haunts Joe, who holds himself responsible for failing to safeguard his sibling. Plagued by insomnia, and with his finances and living situation in peril, Joe seeks out hypnotherapist Alexia Finch for help. He gets more than he bargains for, however, when her treatment somehow allows him to travel back in time. After using this newfound power to win a lottery and stabilize his life, Joe realizes that he can also use it to return to that fateful day in 1997 and keep Amy from harm. Jones’s characters accept time travel with unusually little hesitation, straining credulity, and the ultimate twist will be unsurprising to many. This is an easy one to skip. (Feb.)