What would you do if you could live your life over again? How would you react if in the midst of a heart attack you woke up as a teenager at college; your whole life ahead of you once more?
In Replay Jeff Winston gets that second chance and lives a life of great contrast to his first. But then, on the day he died the first time around, it all happens again and he is faced with the soul-searching question of what to do if he is stuck in this loop forever. And what if he isn’t? How many lives will he get? Which one will be the one that is real? And what happens to any children that he fathers? Will they just disappear when his life resets to the past again?
Replay is an exciting story in its own right, but the added layer is the perspective that each reader brings to the story with their own recollections of experiences and regrets. I paused from reading many times in order to reflect on actions I would undo and new adventures and opportunities I might have pursued.
Jeff Winston uses and misuses his lives in ways that one might imagine – betting on sports and investing in sure things. He already knows the outcomes for so many events that financial security becomes less of an issue. But then, in the course of his extra lives he also runs through a range of experiences from abusing drugs and being involved with many women, to withdrawing from society and living an isolated existence. His withdrawal made the most sense to me, especially when he starts to wonder how many times he will have to live out these years of his life and there is no one else who can understand what he is going through.
All of that changes for him when he meets someone else whom he suspects might be living through a similar experience. Within the framework of a grand romance there is a search for a reason behind the replay; a search for a solution to these repeated lives.
If you like time travel or stories of repeated lifetimes (like the movie Groundhog Day or The Summerhouse by Jude Deveraux) then you will probably like Replay. As for content, there are some graphic scenes of sex, drug use and swearing. The best thing about this novel is the delicate balance between the action of the story and the philosophical questions that it poses.
Rating: 4.5/5
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