SOLVED. Science fiction/mystery, time-travel, set in 1950s era Los Angeles. [s]

[Ron]

I read this book in paperback in 1980. It was yellowed so it must have been at least 15-20 years old if not more. I'm guessing it was written in the late 40s or 50s. Setting is Los Angeles. Here's what I remember about the plot: Hero wakes up in a bed next to a sleeping woman he doesn't recognize. He jumps up to put on his clothes and runs out to discover the world is about 20 years later than when he went to sleep, i.e. he "jumped" forward in time. He thinks he's a teenager but discovers himself in an "older" body. Turns out (spoiler) he is a scientist who invented a technique to cause memory loss and was using it to "revert" short bursts of time - 20 minutes or so. But a rival scientist used the device on him to revert back 20 years. I think the science rival was also his love rival, so there's a love triangle between Hero, rival and Hero's wife (who turns out to be the lady sleeping in bed at the start). I would love to reconnect to this book!!

[Lisa]

Following this thread because I want to know what this book is now.

[Kris]

Ron, could this be a short story in a collection?

Do you remember anything about the cover art?
Or whether it's written by a well-known author?

[Ron]

Hi Kris,
It's not a short story, it was definitely a novel. Not long - I'd guess around 2-300 pages. Just a standard pulp paperback. I read the whole thing in the space of a weekend. I vividly remember the circumstances in which I read it: it was spring 1980 (April or May), I was 14, I was spending the weekend at a friend's house who had the book on his shelf, I started reading on Friday and didn't put it down till I'd finished it on Sat afternoon. All these details totally irrelevant to locating the book of course, but that's my context :).

I don't think the author was well known. I don't remember the cover art.

Here's a bit more about how I recall the plot line (does involve SPOILERs).

- He wakes up in bed in a motel, he's in his underwear. He's 19, in high school. He's reaching for his sneakers/ basketball shoes under the bed. There's a clock on the wall. He sees the woman sleeping beside him and freaks out. He runs out (I think still in underwear? Or he grabs the clothes he sees there which he believes are not his?)

- He's outside and quickly realizes he's "jumped forward" ~ 20 years in the future. Newspapers are dated in the future etc. He slowly pieces together what must have happened to him I don't recall how he uncovers things. Eventually he realizes that he is not the person who he thinks went to sleep as a 19 year old but in fact is that person in his 30s, and he's had a memory lapse. He starts to fill in the gaps of his life, that he went to college, became a research scientist, got married, was passionate about his research and is mostly estranged from his wife. He'd been working on this memory altering device. He and his wife had gotten together in an effort to patch up their marriage, that's how they wound up together in the motel. His rival had hidden the device in the clock over the bed. It affected both Hero & wife, set them both back 20 years. Rival had done so (I think) in an effort to take over the research project and also to try to kindle a relationship with Hero's wife.
Conclusion: rival is defeated, Hero and wife renew and rekindle a new relationship.

[Ron]

Thought I'd "bump" this.
I'm really hoping someone out there might reconnect me to this book.

[Bargle]

Sometimes it takes a while. I had one take a year and that's not unusual or the longest time between the original post and getting solved. It's just a matter of the right person seeing it. Keep bumping this every month or 2 and chances are it will get answered.

40s-50s time travel book.

[Ron]

bump... I still have hope of finding this J

[Ron]

bump.. it would be great to find this if anyone has any pointers

[Kris]

The Door Into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein turned up while searching, but I don't think it sounds right.

Is the setting definitely Los Angeles?

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Sigh, I really would like this found so that I can read it. I love: 1) time travel books (no matter what the time travel method is--I read a short story once where the "time travel" was accomplished by the mc being locked into a South American prison (falsely) for 25 years) 2) love old pulps and 3) can't believe that I haven't already read this one, so it will have to be joining the Iftcan Mountain Range TBR pile (it's amazing how quickly the tbr pile grows when you have an electronic device for reading/storing titles and don't have to try to house 3k unread books as well as the 3k already READ books that you currently own.)

[C.]

It sounds like another to add to my TBR mountain, as well! :D

[Ron]

This book has been located!

The book is the "The Time Dissolver" by Jerry Sohl.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8...

I found it on another help-board that specializes in science fiction story identification.
https://scifi.stackexchange.com/quest...

Thanks to all who offered help and suggestions on this thread.
I am looking forward now to purchasing and re-reading this book.

[Kris]

Glad you found your book, Ron! Thanks for coming back and letting us know. We really appreciate members helping us close these requests.

[Bargle]

I see the book was never linked, so here it is.

The Time Dissolver by Jerry Sohl