This is fabulous. Kate is in her 40s, recently widowed, absolutely, suicidally devasted and a complete stinky mess and has just been sacked from her job where she is a genius level IT techie fora company that cleans up the internet reputations of the rich and famous - she doesn't feel good about it.
She has a newsworthy, explosive, evidential time bomb on a pen drive, intending to drop it to the media and then off herself but…Siri fails to wake her from her alcoholic fug in time and when she does wake she's back in 1992, just starting at the University of York and might just have the chance to save the love of her life.
The plot is as whirlwind as it seems. Kate is a beautifully rendered character. She's sharp as a tack, wry and honest about her messed up life. When given an exceedingly strange chance to do something about it she seizes it with both her newly youthful hands.
The scene in which she wakes up young again is perfect, right down to the way in which she feels literally and metaphorically lighter as she gets out of bed. Webb gets ageing and disappointment down to a tee and his skill is in making it laugh out loud funny instead of depressing.
The cast is superbly balanced. Kate's longing for her husband, Luke, is profound and his character seen through the eyes of a rose tinted grief. When she meets him again as a young man she sees him in all his youthful glory including the self-conscious idiocy and grandstanding she had forgotten.
Quantum physics, Russian baddies, a kick-ass heroine and a beautiful love story. Robert Webb is a brilliant comedian who provoked many snort out louds from this reader.
