Book Club Monday: The Memory Collectors

Author: Dete Meserve Title: The Memory Collectors Publisher: Crooked Lane Books Date Published: 05/20/2025

Read Dates: 09/01/2026- 09/04/2026
Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

This was my library book club pick for September.

The Memory Collectors is a multi POV science fiction novel. Technology has been invented that allows people to travel to the past: they get one hour; they cannot select a specific destination; and nothing they do in the past will change anything in the present. Four jumpers, Andy, Brooke, Elizabeth, and Logan, all wind up in the same place on the same day: five days before a tragedy occurs that causes their lives to intersect in ways they know and didn’t see coming. When they aren’t extracted after the hour is up, they begin trying to use the extra time they’ve been gifted to get answers, and to see if maybe changing things is possible after all.

I don’t read a lot of science fiction, but I really enjoyed this one! While it was obvious from the beginning how three of the four were connected, it was interesting to see how the fourth fit in. I had suspicions about why that date, why things failed, and I found myself rooting for them all to figure out a way to make everything work out. I’m always glad when book club puts a book on my radar that I wouldn’t pick up otherwise, especially when it is so intriguing! 

What would you do if you could spend an hour in your past? Four strangers in the beach town of Ventura, California are about to find out. 

Elizabeth aches for one more precious hour with her son who died in a senseless accident. Andy is desperate to find his first love who vanished after a whirlwind romance. Logan craves the rush of surfing and mountain climbing, yearning to reclaim the freedom he lost after a misstep landed him in a wheelchair. Brooke is looking for an hour of relief from the guilt of an unforgivable mistake.

Enter Aeon Expeditions, the groundbreaking time travel invention of Mark Saunders—which allows some lucky clients  the chance to spend an hour in their past. Even though Aeon’s technology ensures time travel can’t alter the future, all four clients, including Mark’s ex-wife Elizabeth, yearn to revisit the hour that changed their lives forever. 

But when their “hour” extends beyond sixty minutes, they find themselves stranded in the past. As their paths intertwine unexpectedly, they unearth shocking secrets hidden in the shadows of their shared All their lives were shattered the same night on a secluded highway by the beach. As they delve into the hidden truths of that pivotal hour, a startling revelation emerges. They were not alone. Someone else was present, harboring deadly intentions.

The Memory Collectors is a heart-wrenching, genre-bending novel brimming with hope, grief and second chances.