The novel “Buckyball” by Fabien Roy was published for the first time in 2010. It was released in a second edition in 2016.

James Pesola and some friends go to spend a night of highs at Miamillennium, a nightclub in Miami. A drug dealer gives them the tablets of a new drug called Buckyball and initially they seem to experience the effect of a prolonged deja-vu but quickly the people who took some realize that something strange is happening.

The effect of the drug is not hallucinatory but takes those who ingested it back in time to that night at Miamillennium. James and the others, who remember everything that happened, have to understand what triggers that return but also other rules because after several “turns” they understand that the situation is really complex.

Initially, “Buckyball” may seem like a classic time loop tale made famous by the movie “Groundhog Day” and adapted into many science fiction TV shows. It’s an impression that lasts little because the reader soon realizes that the protagonist, who tells the story in first person, goes back to the starting point in different circumstances so each “turn” can have a very different duration.

When James Pesola and his friends realize that they’re not suffering the effects of the drug they took but something strange is really going on, they must try to understand this strange phenomenon. The priority is to understand what determines the end of a “revolution” and those involved but that’s just the beginning.

The confusion of James Pesola and his friends involved in what he calls turns or life-turns lasts the time to understand the basics of that phenomenon, at that point its mysteries become one of the most important elements of the novel. Who else took the drug and goes back to the starting point? Above all, who provided the strange drug to a small drug dealer and why?

A good part of the novel concerns the investigations by James Pesola and his friends to find the mysterious Buckyballs creator. At the same time they have to adapt to a life tied to the turns in which they can live normally even a long time only to find themselves once again back to the starting point.

Since “Buckyball” is told in first person, Fabien Roy explores the protagonist’s psychological states with his reactions to the turns and his attempts to adapt to that strange life. In several turns he and his friends behave differently, sometimes by choice but sometimes because they’re influenced by what happens in the previous turns.

The various discoveries create tension in the characters involved increasing the dramatic element of the story. This is important because some turns last for many years and overall from the subjective point of view James Pesola lives a very long time. The consequence is that at times the narrative is a summary of various events and others are skipped because ordinary and the tension created by the discoveries helps keep the reader’s attention when the pace is slowed down.

The novel is rather short by modern standards so the slow pace is the exception and generally Fabien Roy keeps it quite fast. Overall, this is a story with plenty of action and many plot twists, because every time James Pesola and his friends discover something new they have to face new questions.

Concerning character development, “Buckyball” is the typical story told in the first person, meaning  that the protagonist is definitely the most developed so during the novel we discover his emotions but also his motivations. The other characters are described from his point of view and are present only in part of the story so their development is very variable.

Overall, “Buckyball” seemed to me an intriguing, compelling and well thought out novel. It can be labeled as a sci-fi thriller but it’s a case where the label is limiting so I recommend reading it regardless of its genre.