A locked room. A dead scientist. A time machine: In the Blink of an Eye by Yoav Blum Book Tour with Author Q&A

Tension builds quickly in In the Blink of an Eye by Yoav Blum, beginning with a death that defies ordinary explanation. A locked study, a brilliant scientist, and a machine capable of altering time create a mystery shaped by both human history and uncertainty.

Professor Yonatan Brand—a physicist, magician, and quiet observer of the world—dedicated his life to studying time and the fragile boundaries that keep events in order. When he’s found dead in his sealed study, the discovery of his time machine forces investigators to consider a new dimension of possibility. The case unexpectedly falls to Benjamin “Bunker” Kronovic, a once-famous actor now struggling to find direction, and Abigail Canaani, a reclusive librarian with a talent for careful observation.

Together, they navigate Brand’s circle of childhood friends, each shaped by complicated ties and long-unspoken truths. As they get closer to understanding Brand’s final moments, they face the uncertainty of motives stretched across shifting points in time. The question becomes not only who may have killed him, but how the machine could have altered the sequence of events leading to his death.

Yoav Blum is an author known for blending high-concept speculative ideas with gripping mystery, thriller, and philosophical depth. His work explores extraordinary situations—time travel, body switching, orchestrated coincidences—while grounding them in questions of identity, perception, fate, and free will. Beneath each thriller or puzzle lies a reflection on what it means to be human. His tone is introspective, suspenseful, and often playfully self-aware. Learn more at his website, or connect via Facebook, Instagram, or X.

Amazon: https://bit.ly/4abKZ8V

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/241371601-in-the-blink-of-an-eye

Excerpt:

The gateway opened high in the sky. Minor miscalculations had added up to a farther-than-expected distance from the ground, but it didn’t really matter.

There was green grass down there, gleaming with morning dew, and the trees cast a dark shade. Still, it felt undeniably alien. There was no one there to remember the grass, the trees, or the wild animals roaming about indifferently.

Many years later, when humans discover fossils strewn around and try to find out who had ruled Earth before them, they will make some guesses about how the ancient fauna looked, what color the hide was, and how the skin felt. They may even be able to draw some conclusions regarding the animals’ characters, judging by their height, the shape of their legs, or the size of their teeth. But fossils require certain environmental conditions in order to be formed, and while some habitats had allowed for their dwellers to be remembered, others—those where the type of soil or level of humidity ruled out fossils —had sentenced their critter inhabitants to something worse than extinction or oblivion. No one will ever find any remnants of the animals that existed there; no one will even imagine them.

The human who dropped out of the sky and landed with a heavy thump amid the tall grass would have probably screamed had he seen the face of the animal approaching to sniff him and then take a bite.

It would have been a wild scream of horror, because the thing that approached him was not the partly recognizable figure of a velociraptor or a T-Rex. It did not look like anything that had ever existed in his thoughts. The way it moved, its stinking breath, the idle flutter of what would be called—in the lack of other options—eyes, the circular motion of its fangs boring into the flesh—all of these would have paralyzed any human being with fear bordering on existential sickness; with the realization that he, too, was lost and that he, too, was closer to a beginning-less nonexistence than to an existence that ended in oblivion.

But luckily, the human was already dead.

He was already dead upon exiting the opening high in the sky, and he remained dead throughout the five long seconds of falling down.

The gateway had closed before his body even touched the ground. The animal that had been sniffing the body and nibbling at it walked away, almost bored. The flavor in its mouth felt alien, as if it had tasted something rotten.

Time will pass and eat into the corpse instead of the disinterested creature, deconstructing it in a way no animal, monster, or idea could. The dead human’s molecules will join the anonymous multitude of particles encircling the world and vanish, leaving no trace behind. Like a tree that had fallen in the thick of a forest with no one to hear it fall or cross its path, such was this corpse—it had never actually existed.

Q&A

Writing Process & Creativity

How did you research your book?

I usually start by diving deep into the “what if” behind the story. With In the Blink of an Eye, I read so many scientific papers about time travel that I had to remind myself I wasn’t actually trying to build a time machine... 

My research is really about building a world big enough to feel real before I write every single chapter.

What’s the hardest scene or character you wrote—and why?

Any scene that hurts my characters is tough for me. They feel a bit like friends, and putting them through pain always comes with a pang of guilt. But those moments also create the strongest emotional payoff, so finishing them feels incredibly meaningful.

Where do you get your ideas?

Mostly from daydreaming and from the big “what if?” questions that won’t let go of me. The essence of self, the meaning that is hidden in the day-to-day. Sometimes a book or article sparks something; sometimes it’s me challenging myself to try a new structure or narrative trick. Everything starts with curiosity.

What sets your book apart from others in your genre?

I always try to mix fast-paced plots with a deeper philosophical question underneath. Each book is my attempt to explore something existential—identity, fate, time, consciousness—wrapped inside an accessible, emotional story. I want the story to stay with readers after the last page.

What’s your favorite compliment you’ve received as a writer?

When someone tells me the book made them think long after they closed it. If the reading experience continues beyond the actual reading, that’s the best compliment I can imagine. That means they were not just reading, they were experiencing something.

Your Writing Life

Do you write every day? What’s your schedule?

Not every day. It comes in waves, different periods of time come with different goals. Some periods are for drafting, others for editing, and some are just for thinking and daydreaming. It all balances out.

Where do you write—home, coffee shop, train?

Mostly at home, at a small desk in the corner with music in the background. I just need my laptop and some quiet. But sometimes I’ll sneak out to a café or a park to shake the routine.

Any quirky writing rituals or must-have snacks?

No real rituals, but I do make custom playlists for whatever I’m writing. Playlists for action scenes, for emotion scenes, for a character’s monologue… The right soundtrack feels like switching on the creative engine.

Behind the Book

Why did you choose this setting/topic?

I wanted to combine a non-linear narrative with a locked-room mystery and time travel. Eventually, it became a story about how we’re all trapped by our past in different ways—through trauma, nostalgia, or the stories we tell ourselves.

Fun & Lighthearted Qs

What are you binge-watching right now?

Honestly, I’m not a big binge-watcher. Long series tend to lose me by the second or third season when the story drifts. I prefer movies or short formats with a clear beginning, middle, and end, and shows with short, self-contained episodes where each one stands on its own. Comedic, episodic series are my sweet spot: Rick and Morty, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and lately Exploding Kittens. They’re perfect for a quick escape without a 25-hour commitment. 

If you could time-travel, where would you go?

To the turning points of history—the moments that shaped religions and cultures. I’d want to see what really happened versus what turned into myth. It would be amazing to understand the truth behind the stories we live by.

What 3 books would you bring to a desert island?

Honestly? Probably none. Re-reading the same books forever would make me hate my favorites. I’d take blank pages instead—so I could keep writing a story that never really ends.

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