35647151I am old. That is the first thing to tell you. The thing you are least likely to believe. If you saw me you would probably think I was about forty, but you would be very wrong.

Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret.

He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he’s been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life. Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom has the perfect cover – working as a history teacher at a London comprehensive. Here he can teach the kids about wars and witch hunts as if he’d never witnessed them first-hand. He can try and tame the past that is fast catching up with him.

The only thing Tom mustn’t do is fall in love.

How to Stop Time is a wild and bittersweet story about losing and finding yourself, about the certainty of change and about the lifetimes it can take to really learn how to live.

My Review

I was declined this book on NetGalley last year, so when it was a daily deal on audible I jumped at the chance and bought it. I really liked the idea of someone never ageing, living to see so many changes through the centuries. It made me think it would be a cross between Doctor Who and Highlander, but without the Tardis, Daleks or beheadings.

I loved the story but I really struggled with the narrator, he sounded so depressed must of the time. I know the character is not happy about his condition but it was too much at times to hear him say that over and over again.

I enjoyed Tom’s take on modern life, especially about social media, always being connected and never switched off. I loved hearing about his encounters with Shakespeare and one scene in particular made me laugh out loud.

Although I struggled with the narrator I do think his foreign accents were brilliant, really bringing the other characters to life, perhaps more so than Tom.

I think I might have enjoyed this more as a print book as the story was very clever, and I loved the anecdotes Tom shared about his life through the centuries.