Bill Arena was in a one of life’s deep valleys. His law practice was floundering, his marriage going south and his children still needed his help as they entered adulthood. Out of his past comes a high school friend, now a brilliant physicist, who has expanded on Einstein’s theory of relativity and invented a machine which makes time travel possible. This device is also capable of leaving terrible effects upon the world. The control of the machine passes to Bill Arena, who faces the choice of whether to destroy the machine before it can be used as a weapon. He unleashes a chain of unforeseen events that disrupt his life, the life of his family and everyone around him. Bill wrestles with how to cope with the havoc caused by his fall from grace.
Something does go wrong, of course. But, fascinatingly, something also seems to go right, as Arena discovers himself suddenly, impossibly rich, in a Great Expectations-style windfall that will keep readers guessing. An uncle’s long-ago investment in a now dominant computer company lifts Arena and family to a California mansion, A-list Hollywood parties—and all the temptations and legal hassles that come with it. Throughout the tale, Morelli continually throws off expectations, offering a vividly detailed moral and legal thriller with literary characterization and pacing rather than the time-travel shenanigans readers might expect.
Arena asks his friends, early on, who they could murder, via time travel, to better the world, but, as Morelli makes clear throughout, cause and effect are more complex than that fantasy. The question becomes, for Arena, whether or not to destroy Swanteck’s discoveries. The story hits some traditional suspense beats, especially in the final chapters, but what’s most engaging are the legal travails of the newly rich Arena, which find him representing himself in a suit filed by a Swanteck relation. Morelli writes with persuasive power and an eye for telling detail for the legal and financial realms, and his story engages as both what-if? and moral conundrum.
Takeaway: Time travel upends a lawyer’s life in this thoughtful, convincing literary thriller.
Great for fans of: Reed Arvin’s The Will, Paul Goldstein’s Errors and Omissions.
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-
The Angel Theory, the twisty, consistently surprising fiction debut of judge and trial attorney Morelli, concerns a fall from grace, yes, but the questions that the book plumbs firmly concern this material world, with one small science-fiction twist. At age 55, “disgusted and depressed” with the law, one-man-shop attorney Bill Arena connects with Peter Swanteck, an old friend from Little League and now a physicist who has become the laughing stock after publishing an article arguing that time travel isn’t just theoretically possible—it’s achievable now. Soon, Arena is impressed into overseeing Swanteck’s early—and surprisingly successful—time-travel experiments, eventually agreeing to serve as executor of Swanteck’s will and estate should anything go wrong.
Something does go wrong, of course. But, fascinatingly, something also seems to go right, as Arena discovers himself suddenly, impossibly rich, in a Great Expectations-style windfall that will keep readers guessing. An uncle’s long-ago investment in a now dominant computer company lifts Arena and family to a California mansion, A-list Hollywood parties—and all the temptations and legal hassles that come with it. Throughout the tale, Morelli continually throws off expectations, offering a vividly detailed moral and legal thriller with literary characterization and pacing rather than the time-travel shenanigans readers might expect.
Arena asks his friends, early on, who they could murder, via time travel, to better the world, but, as Morelli makes clear throughout, cause and effect are more complex than that fantasy. The question becomes, for Arena, whether or not to destroy Swanteck’s discoveries. The story hits some traditional suspense beats, especially in the final chapters, but what’s most engaging are the legal travails of the newly rich Arena, which find him representing himself in a suit filed by a Swanteck relation. Morelli writes with persuasive power and an eye for telling detail for the legal and financial realms, and his story engages as both what-if? and moral conundrum.
Takeaway: Time travel upends a lawyer’s life in this thoughtful, convincing literary thriller.
Great for fans of: Reed Arvin’s The Will, Paul Goldstein’s Errors and Omissions.
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-
Print Date: 01/16/2023
The Angel theory reached Number 1 in Kindle for Time Travel Science Fiction Adventures.
