Matthew Lee – The Ancestor

‘The Ancestor’ by Matthew Lee Goldberg is a cross-genre book to me, a time-slip story that could be tagged as historical fiction or thriller as well.

We meet Wyatt Barlow who, unknown to him is waking up after a century of being frozen in ice. Upon waking he spies two men – one of them he immediately sees is his doppelganger, this man is Travis. Wyatt can remember nothing of himself, his life or what happened to get him in the place he is. He doesn’t even recognise where he is. He has a notebook on him with the date 1898, and a small silver mirror. He soon discovers he is in the year 2020!
His notebook tells him he left his family in 1898 to prospect for gold in Alaska and it seems he never returned to them, instead finds himself here in 2020, just in time to meet his great-great-grandson, Travis!!

These two men meet and can feel they have a connection. Travis and his family become almost an obsession to Wyatt and he begins to experience flashbacks of his own life and family.
We return to 1898 with Wyatt as we experience his flashbacks and through his personal notebook.

I was engrossed by the Alaskan and gold rush history that came with the time-slips back and forth. Both men have interesting, warts and all characters that aren’t perfect by any means. These factors combined with the suspense that the author creates, merge to make an un-putdownable story. The twists never stopped as Wyatt discovered more and more about his own life and family, it kept me hooked.

Thanks to Damp Pebbles Blog Tours and the author for my copy of this unique and wonderful book for my review.