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The Dark Return of Time
The past doesn't always stay where it should. It is as though somebody, or something, is forever trying to bring it painfully into the present.
Flavian Bennett is trying to leave his past behind when he goes to work in his father's bookshop in Paris. But a curious customer, Reginald Hopper, is desperate to resurrect his own murky origins. Hopper believes that a rare and mysterious book, The Dark Return of Time, may be the key to what happened before he arrived in Paris. In this quiet thriller by R.B. Russell, the futures - and pasts - of these two men will soon cross.
Flavian Bennett is trying to leave his past behind when he goes to work in his father's bookshop in Paris. But a curious customer, Reginald Hopper, is desperate to resurrect his own murky origins. Hopper believes that a rare and mysterious book, The Dark Return of Time, may be the key to what happened before he arrived in Paris. In this quiet thriller by R.B. Russell, the futures - and pasts - of these two men will soon cross.
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First published May 6, 2014
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About the author
R.B. Russell
83 books48 followersR.B.RUSSELL has only recently started writing fiction seriously, having previously written lyrics, composed music, and drawn in pen and ink for his own amusement. He runs Tartarus Press with Rosalie Parker from their home in the Yorkshire Dales.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 25, 2025
a rather icy mystery with a fascinating weird fiction twist. our protagonist meets three disturbing individuals in France: a sinister amnesiac businessman hunting for an odd book, the businessman's threatening manservant, and a woman resembling the protagonist's dead girlfriend who spends her time feverishly stalking the businessman. Flavian Bennet is a surpassingly irritable young man and it was striking to have such a moody, dismissive, rather assholish person be the hero of this strange adventure. the author is a bookseller, which no doubt contributed to the nonchalant realism of Flavian's work life as an assistant in his father's British bookstore. Russell's removed, cerebral style creates a certain distance between reader and hero, even as an increasingly desperate and discombobulated Flavian gets in well over his head. it is easy to imagine him getting sweaty with anxiety, but the author's tone and pacing never break a sweat.
the weird twist: . plus a bizarre and ambiguous timeslip of an ending. both of those put this book squarely in the weird fiction tradition. one of my favorite subgenres!
the weird twist: . plus a bizarre and ambiguous timeslip of an ending. both of those put this book squarely in the weird fiction tradition. one of my favorite subgenres!
April 20, 2025
This lowkey noir adventure has a weird twist so subtle you could almost miss it (and indeed I might not have approached it as a weird book at all, had it not been written by the co-founder of Tartarus Press). A British bookseller in Paris witnesses a kidnapping and is thrown into the orbit of a sinister collector, Hopper, as well as the troubled woman who seems to be stalking him. They’re all interested in a mysterious, valuable book called The Dark Return of Time, the contents of which seem to tailor themselves to the reader. Thoughtfully written yet absorbing, this reminded me of Hugo Wilcken and a little of Paul Auster.
July 22, 2015
Mr. Russell's new novella is a short sojourn into the mystery genre. The story follows the protagonist's journey as he seeks to find who and why a couple, that he has witnessed being bound and dragged away naked, and subsequently murdered, met such an awful end. He was not the only witness to the crime that occurred in an ally in Paris. He reports the incident to the police who seem quite uninterested in the event.
He had come to Paris to live with his father, the owner of an English language bookshop. His move to Paris was necessitated by the accidental death of his fiance, which he blames on his mother. Soon intrigue enters the story as he discovers he is being followed by a mysterious woman who has an uncanny resemblance to his recently deceased fiance.
Mr. Russell makes good use of his book and bibliophile knowledge as the biggest subplot in this story revolves around finding a missing book titled "The Dark Return Of Time".
Swan River Press has produced another finely crafted beautiful book. The print run is four hundred copies with the first one hundred numbered and which include a signed post card from Mr. Russell.
He had come to Paris to live with his father, the owner of an English language bookshop. His move to Paris was necessitated by the accidental death of his fiance, which he blames on his mother. Soon intrigue enters the story as he discovers he is being followed by a mysterious woman who has an uncanny resemblance to his recently deceased fiance.
Mr. Russell makes good use of his book and bibliophile knowledge as the biggest subplot in this story revolves around finding a missing book titled "The Dark Return Of Time".
Swan River Press has produced another finely crafted beautiful book. The print run is four hundred copies with the first one hundred numbered and which include a signed post card from Mr. Russell.
July 31, 2022
RB (Ray) Russell is a man of many talents. Foremostly, for my concerns anyway, he runs Tartarus Books in Leyburn, North Yorkshire who publish some superb stuff, a mixture the classic supernatural, the fantastical and the weird. He is also a songwriter, illustrator, filmmaker and, as is evident here of course, an author.
This is actually a diversion for him, as it fits into the crime genre.
Following the death of his partner, Flavian Bennett moves to Paris to work in his father's British bookshop, to lose himself quietly among the first editions the shop stocks. However, he soon gets a visit from a pretentious and annoying expert, Reginald Hopper, to whom he takes an instant dislike. Hopper is part of his own expat social circle, and takes interest in a young Englishwoman, Candy Smith, who bears a disturbing resemblance to his dead fiancée.
Though not supernatural, fitting this into a genre is not really appropriate. What Russell does is to create a society that is out of sync with the rest of the world, populated by flawed characters who don’t behave in the way one might expect. The result is a short but very entertaining read.
This is actually a diversion for him, as it fits into the crime genre.
Following the death of his partner, Flavian Bennett moves to Paris to work in his father's British bookshop, to lose himself quietly among the first editions the shop stocks. However, he soon gets a visit from a pretentious and annoying expert, Reginald Hopper, to whom he takes an instant dislike. Hopper is part of his own expat social circle, and takes interest in a young Englishwoman, Candy Smith, who bears a disturbing resemblance to his dead fiancée.
Though not supernatural, fitting this into a genre is not really appropriate. What Russell does is to create a society that is out of sync with the rest of the world, populated by flawed characters who don’t behave in the way one might expect. The result is a short but very entertaining read.
August 11, 2014
Combining bibliophilia, the back streets of Paris and Film Noir, R.B. Russell (co-proprietor of Tartarus Press) has a hit thriller on his hands. One character is running from his past, one character is looking for his past, and one cannot forget her past. All three collide by chance and their future is shaped by the search for a mystery publication called “The Dark Return of Time”.
There is a lot to pack into 134 pages, and R.B. Russell knows how to push the plot along, leaving out extraneous information and letting you make up your own mind about the relevance of this mystery book and what it portrays. In fact, the content of that book pushes this story beyond what could be deemed to be a normal crime thriller and to border on the esoteric.
The ending leaves everything ambiguous and undefined and makes you unsure of what went before, i.e., what came first, the book or the events? It left me feeling a little bit deflated, which is why I haven’t given this full marks, but I can understand the author’s reasons for concluding as he did.
There is a lot to pack into 134 pages, and R.B. Russell knows how to push the plot along, leaving out extraneous information and letting you make up your own mind about the relevance of this mystery book and what it portrays. In fact, the content of that book pushes this story beyond what could be deemed to be a normal crime thriller and to border on the esoteric.
The ending leaves everything ambiguous and undefined and makes you unsure of what went before, i.e., what came first, the book or the events? It left me feeling a little bit deflated, which is why I haven’t given this full marks, but I can understand the author’s reasons for concluding as he did.
January 20, 2021
I enjoyed this book in spite of some of its melodramatic affectations – or perhaps because of them? The whole work seems to transcend the dreaded possibility that fiction books in general will one day abandon their physicality as well as their soul, their raw adventure as well as their catching of a dream. A blend of the page-turning and the lingering.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Above is one of its observations at the time of the review.
October 25, 2022
I enjoyed this novella immensely. First off, this is a lovely edition from Swan River Press. A novella involving the love of books deserves a nice physical binding like this. As for the story itself, I thought it was very intriguing. It kept me wanting to read more, so that I read the vast bulk of it in one sitting. This is one of those books where I think one could read the entire thing and miss the thrust of what the author is going for. At least, what I thought he was going for. But, by the end, I realized that the author had been leaving me the breadcrumbs of understanding the whole time, just ready to spring the trap.
August 30, 2025
3.8.
Loved the set up and the writing style…felt like there was more story here…trying not to hold that against this, but I can’t help but feel this set-up had more to give.
Loved the set up and the writing style…felt like there was more story here…trying not to hold that against this, but I can’t help but feel this set-up had more to give.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews