Every Hour Until Then - Gabrielle Meyer - ★★★★.½
AUTHOR: Gabrielle Meyer
SERIES: Timeless, #5
GENRE: Historical Timeslip
PUBLICATION DATE: May 20, 2025
RATING: 4.5 stars.
In a Nutshell: A historical mystery with shades of romance, timeslip, and Christian content. The fifth book of the Timeless series. As always, impeccable plotting, mind-blowing research, amazing interlinking of the two timelines. A couple of things could have worked better for me, but overall, this is fabulous. Much recommended. Can be read as a standalone, but the whole series is brilliant, so you might as well read all the books!
Plot Preview:
Twenty-three-year-old Kathryn lives two lives simultaneously in two different time periods. (Read the earlier Timeless books to know how this works.)
In 1938 London, Kathryn is a guest curator at the Smithsonian Museum, invited to create an exhibit on Jack the Ripper. During her research, she learns that one of her loved ones from her life in 1888 London is destined to be the target of the infamous killer. Now Kathryn is racing against time, using her hindsight knowledge from 1938 to save her relative from certain death in 1888. As a time-crosser, she knows that fiddling with history isn't allowed. But surely she can’t allow someone beloved to be killed so brutally!
The story comes to us from the first-person perspective of Kathryn in both timelines.
2025 hasn’t been a great year for the ongoing series books on my TBR. I read many subsequent books from some of my favourite series, and each of them tanked miserably. But as you can see from my rating, Gabrielle Meyer has lived up to my expectations yet again. (This is not an easy task because my expectations from her books are sky-high.) During a year where everything is going topsy-turvy, whether in my personal life or in the world at large, it is good to know that I can always rely upon her to deliver as promised.
Bookish Yays:
🕰️ The concept. I will never tire of praising this imaginative idea of a character having two bodies but one consciousness across two distinct timelines. So, so clever!
🕰️ Though the basic concept is the same in all Timeless books, each novel has something that makes it stand apart from the rest. This time, the time gap between Kathryn’s two lives is the least so far in the series, with just fifty years separating her two selves. If you know the earlier books, you know why this is a major complication. Plus, both the timelines are in London, offering a nice change from the usual American setting.
🕰️ The medley of genres: historical fiction, timeslip, Christian, mystery, romance. All fitting together perfectly.
🕰️ Unlike the earlier books, this one works almost like a thriller at times because for the first time, an active killer is a part of the Timeless storyline. Many scenes gave ‘The Da Vinci Code’ feels, albeit without the ciphers.
🕰️ Some excellent surprises and twists in both timelines.
🕰️ The plotting. Gabrielle Meyer is a plotter extraordinaire, and every single novel of hers demonstrates this prowess. I simply love the way she brings everything together by the end in a seamless harmony, even though her storylines are so tricky!
🕰️ The two timelines – so disconnected and yet so similar in emotions. With Jack the Ripper in one and the cusp of WWII in the other, both timelines contain enough suspense, danger, and apprehension.
🕰️ The impeccable historical research, with several facts that left me rushing to Google to learn more. Historical fiction is my favourite genre because of such smart books.
🕰️ The pacing: mostly fast and barely any rambling despite two first-person narratives.
🕰️ Just as in Timeless #3, we know right at the start which timeline Kathryn prefers. But this doesn’t make the proceedings boring or predictable as there are certain “complications” in the other timeline. I could still guess where Kathryn would end up, but seeing the hows of it was fun.
🕰️ This book goes back to the original family tree beginning with Libby in Timeless #1. I loved seeing Grace and Luc from Timeless #3 get a good role in this book. (For those who have read the earlier books of the series and are a bit confused about the character interconnections, the author has created this handy family tree on her website.)
🕰️ For the first time, the romance is diluted, with there being none of it in one timeline. The other one has a developing relationship but it is not insta, and it is used to move the main plot ahead instead of superseding the core focus.
🕰️ The Christian elements were totally of my kind, with greater stress on trusting in God and on having heartfelt conversations with Him instead of just tossing in biblical verses at regular intervals.
🕰️ The ending. I am just so impressed at how the author carried it off! It is the best ending so far in the series.
🕰️ The author’s note, detailing her historical research and also clarifying the factual and fictional writing choices she made. As brilliant as always!
Bookish Mixed Bags:
⏱️ The initial quarter or so was a little shaky for me. With there being too much secret-keeping in the older timeline, I felt as frustrated as Kathryn. I was even worried that this book might dip below 4 stars because I dislike the tropes of excessive miscommunication and secrecy. But the reasons for the secret-keeping are justified well in the second half, and the rest of the book is mindblowing.
⏱️ For the first time ever, I was not a big fan of the lead. Kathryn is a strong character, but she is also too wilful and impulsive (and at times, surprisingly naïve for her age.) Her character arc feels repetitive after a point as it seemed to constantly loop between her promising that she wouldn’t do something and then doing it. Not every historical lead has to be pliant and submissive and I do understand her emotional conflicts, but I do wish the repetitiveness of Kathryn’s actions and reactions had been avoided.
All in all, my complaints get almost washed out by my enthusiasm for the positives. The second half was so outstanding that I forgot all the complaints I had at the start.
This is one of my favourite series, with four of the five books earning 4.5 stars from me. Initially an annual offering, Timeless has two books coming out in 2025. The sixth book, ‘Through Each Tomorrow’ will be published in November, and I can't wait to get my hands on it! The final chapter of Timeless #5 includes a teeny hint about the central character of the sixth novel, and while I am a bit disappointed that I already know the character’s outcome, I am also very excited to get to know them better. My digital copy did include an excerpt from #6, but as soon as I saw it, I quickly closed my eyes and my Kindle. Excerpts aren’t for me!
Much recommended to historical fiction fans who don’t mind Christian elements. This book can be read as a standalone, but you will get some spoilers about the characters and their timelines in the first four novels. All the Timeless books are wonderful anyway, so just go for the whole series.
My thanks to author Gabrielle Meyer and Bethany House for providing the DRC of “Every Hour Until Then” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
Here are the earlier books of the outstanding ‘Timeless’ series in the right order:
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