The Next Time I Die by Jason Starr ~ a Review

by MK French

Steven Blitz didn’t think twice about defending a woman being forced into a car. After getting stabbed, he woke up in the hospital of a different world. There was a different president, a loving family waiting for him, and money in the bank. In this world, however, Steven wasn’t a good person, and he didn’t know who was coming after him.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

June 2022; Hard Case Crime; 978-1789099515
ebook, print (256 pages); psychological thriller

From the start, Steven reacts the way any of us does: he watches the news, he Googles himself (Excite in this new world), and he contacts people he knows to figure out what reality is like. None of it lines up with what he knows, and even his medical history is different. He tries to settle into this life, finding out where and how it diverged from the one he knew. As he tries to live out this new life, he finds out things that had happened that doesn’t quite dovetail with his sense of self. This continues, and the life he thought he had unraveled. The choices he made in either life were not as logical and cautious as he thought they would be, but he isn’t aware of that when the reader is.

The idea behind the different lives that Steven talks about is fascinating, and one I’ve seen before in more sci-fi novels. This one, as part of the Hard Case series, involves murder and people that aren’t exactly as innocent as they think. It’s an amazingly addictive thriller. I was drawn in by the premise, and then by the myriad differences that Steven kept finding between the two worlds, and the way he kept colliding with what he thought he knew and what everyone else knew. His confusion was ours, but his choices aren’t necessarily. We get to vicariously see what happens when lives fall apart, and I absolutely devoured this book in a single sitting.

Buy The Next Time I Die at Amazon

Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and a golden retriever.

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