Mandel’s new novel involves time travel, reaching a span from 1912 to 2401, and traveling distances from Earth to established cities on the moon, to spoken-of colonies on the moons of Jupiter. It concerns pandemics we know of historically, and ones yet to decimate our humanity. Finally, it involves the notion that we all live in a simulation, and questions the significance of that, if true.

That is a great deal to juggle in one reasonable-length novel, but Mandel manages to pull it off. Our primary time traveler, Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, was hired by the Time Institute, as arranged by his brilliant sister and physicist Zoey, to be trained as an investigator. His case is to investigate three individuals thought to have experienced a glitch in space and time, located in both a forest in Victoria, British Columbia and an airship terminal in Oklahoma City. The Time Institute believes the glitch could be evidence that we are all in a simulation. Gaspery defies his specific orders to not inform those he meets of their impending fates. He is not permitted to changes circumstances for those he interviews, allowing the course of time to flow uninterrupted. When confronted with that reality, he finds he simply cannot do it.

There are some striking questions that the reader will find oneself returning to. For example, the question of whether we are living in a simulation seems to be engaged in a blasé manner. In most conversations between characters, it is generally agreed that it doesn’t matter one way or another. Life is life, and what difference does it make whether we live it in a simulation or not? While this sounds logical, is it true? I’m not so sure. But what does that mean for who we have become as humans?

Another question is how time travel is handled by the Time Institute. It is a strictly controlled capability, embarked on by investigators who receive years of training in culture, history, and the specific backgrounds of those they are sent to interview. If you knew a particular person was going to die in a week, and you could tell them something to have them avoid that end, would you do so? While it makes sense in a big picture sort of way, I’m not sure most of us would be capable.

Mandel has a distinctive style of writing, in that her characters seem so cool, so emotionally controlled. The plots are original and captivating. Don’t ever expect emotional displays or melodrama, only action and brief dialogue that ques big questions for the reader. That is what Mandel brings to your reading experience.