Buckyball by Fabien Roy
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.