Doing Time – Jodi Taylor

At some time in the future, the secret of time-travel became available to all. Chaos ensued as people sought to take advantage. Because there will always be nutters who want to change history…

And so the Time Police were formed. Internationally sanctioned thugs whose task it was to keep the timeline straight by any and all means possible. And they succeeded. The Time Wars are over. The Time Police won. But who will win the peace?

Doing Time follows three hapless new Time Police recruits – Jane, Luke and Matthew – as they try to navigate their first year on the beat. It’s all going to be fine. Obviously.

Doing Time is a spinoff from Jodi Taylor’s Chronicles of St Mary’s series. Now I’ve not read any of those, but judging by the hijinks on display here, I think I might have a few books to add to my ever-growing backlog!

I enjoyed this a lot – it’s a fun romp through time following the adventures of the three new recruits. The action comes thick and fast, and we’re whisked from Time Police HQ in the future back to ancient Egypt and pyramids, to the Romans and the Ides of March.

Our misfit heroes are put through the wringer a lot, faced with trying to gel as a team despite pressures from all sides, save the history of the world as they go, try not to get in the way too much, and prove to everyone that they *do* know what they’re doing. Well, mostly…

Whilst you can read Doing Time as a standalone, there are a lot of references to St. Mary’s peppered throughout the book and it’s definitely got me intrigued as to what goes on over there. That said, we get plenty of glimpses at the backstory of St Mary’s here to bring you up to speed. I think that if you’re already a fan, there’ll be a lot there to make you smile. I wondered whether I might have missed out on some of the in-jokes though!

Doing Time by Jodi Taylor is published by Headline in October 2019. Huge thanks to Headline and Anne Cater for inviting me to take part in the tour, and for the advance review copy.