I went into D.M. Gritzmacher’s The Relict uncertain of what to expect. Sometimes that’s the best way to read a book! The Relict accomplished something that very few books can do – switch timelines and character perspective without completely annoying me. Gritzmacher handled the time and perspective jumps smoothly throughout this dual-timeline book!
I immediately fell into the story of a grad student searching for Native American artefacts in the woods of Michigan. Instead of treasure, he found the remains of a long-lost girl, a victim of a serial killer, killed decades earlier. This girl ended up being the sister of one of the book’s main characters, Stander.
Just as I was growing attached to the characters in the current timeline, the book threw me into the way-back machine and dumped me in the tenth century. “Oh no,” I thought. “I don’t know if I can handle this.” But I had no reason to worry. I soon met and absolutely fell in love with our tenth century leading character, Gunnar. This was when I knew I was going to love this book!
The Relict plays out with adventure and some serious trials for our main characters in both timelines. Everything ties together perfectly at the end of the book. Well, almost perfectly. A few unanswered questions need to remain to lead us into the next book in the series, after all! Which I’m now more than ready to jump into.
The Relict is a fun book with plenty of action, a fair share of gore, and even a bit of spice that made me blush up to my ears – something for everyone! I give it four out of five stars.
Mysteries and Mayhem 