Not a bad story. I did buy the next few in the series (collection). The story is not deep, and not really about time travel but more along the lines of "what if I could redo my life from some point in my past".

It has a bit of a YA feel. Perhaps it is a YA title? Anyway, I was thinking there could have been some sections removed entirely (such as Zack's track "story"), but then again, perhaps that is setting up for one of the other stories in this collection. (I believe the entire series is the same set of characters/town, it's just the main character/focus that changes. ( )

Forty years after his brother’s death, Thomas Weaver can’t escape his guilt. Still living with his mother and paying the bills by working as a used car salesman, his best friend is a bottle. He’s tired—of the guilt, of the lies, of life. So he decides to end it. Darkness falls over him in his room in 2016, and he’s glad it’s over.

Until he wakes up in 1976, his brother still asleep in the next bed, and all his memories from his last life still intact.

What a great little book! I don’t know what I was expecting, but whatever it was, Tommy Weaver’s story blew it out of the water. Simply written and easy to read, Second Life is anything but boring. I had a hard time putting it down. The entire narrative comes from Tommy’s point of view, so we see what he’s thinking and feeling up close as he goes back to high school, forgets where his homeroom is, and can’t remember other little details from the last time he was in school.

I found myself wondering what I would have done in his place, cringing at a couple of his blunders, and biting my nails over the tight spots in which he finds himself. But with a forty-six-year-old driving that teenage body, Thomas is a little wiser, and a lot less concerned with popularity than he’d been before. It was easy to cheer him on and be proud of the choices he makes this time around. There’s no doubt that the character grows and evolves over the course of this book. The Thomas Weaver who appears on page one is not even in the same category as the Thomas Weaver on the last page.

Shawn Inmon has written a number of books in the Middle Falls Time Travel Series. While there were a couple of characters whose story threads were not concluded, Inmon didn’t leave me hanging at the end of this story. My husband has read most of these books and says each one stands alone. He does suggest reading them in publication order, since characters introduced in each book do appear in future books. I absolutely intend to read the rest of these books. I was enthralled with Inmon’s storytelling, and want more.

The Unusual Second Life of Thomas Weaver is a short, easy, thoroughly enjoyable read. Definitely recommended. ( )

3.5
( )

Ken Grimwood's [b:Replay|341735|Replay|Ken Grimwood|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441156728l/341735._SY75_.jpg|1804797] is my all-time favorite book, and while this book certainly owes Replay a debt of recognition, I think that this one spun just enough away Replay to offer a couple of new ideas. ( )

Would have been a 3.5, but an extra half given for enjoyment over and above expectation! ( )