The Third Rule of Time Travel

Philip Fracassi

5.5 / 10
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Rule One: You can only travel to a point within your lifetime.
Rule Two: You can only travel for ninety seconds.
Rule Three: You can only observe.
The rules cannot be broken.

In this electrifying science fiction thriller from acclaimed author Philip Fracassi, a scientist has unlocked the mysteries of time travel. This is not the story you think you know. And the rules are only the beginning.

Scientist Beth Darlow has discovered the unimaginable. She's built a machine that allows human consciousness to travel through time—to any point in the traveler's lifetime—and relive moments of their life. An impossible breakthrough, but it's not perfect: the traveler has no way to interact with the past. They can only observe.

After Beth's husband, Colson, the co-creator of the machine, dies in a tragic car accident, Beth is left to raise Isabella—their only daughter—and continue the work they started. Mired in grief and threatened by her ruthless CEO, Beth pushes herself to the limit to prove the value of her technology.

Then the impossible happens. Simply viewing personal history should not alter the present, but with each new observation she makes, her own timeline begins to warp.

As her reality constantly shifts, Beth must solve the puzzles of her past, even if it means forsaking her future.

Published
March 18, 2025
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Author

Philip Fracassi

Philip Fracassi's name might not yet be whispered alongside the giants of horror, but those who have dared to enter the dark and twisted worlds he crafts know that his work leaves a lasting impression. Fracassi’s writing isn’t just about fear—it’s about the way fear clings to the edges of the ordinary, distorting the familiar into something nightmarish. His stories tend to veer into unsettling, psychological terrain, where horror isn’t a matter of what’s seen, but of what’s felt. In his worlds, the scariest monsters are often the ones lurking within ourselves. Born and raised in the gritty streets of the Bay Area, Fracassi’s early exposure…