As if a villain who could be just about anywhere and who seems capable of just about anything wasn't enough already. Fforde just had to throw in time travel. As a plot device it seems strange, since there are less than 100 pages left of the book. But as a piece of world building, it says a lot.
First off, the reaction of the officers that Thursday and Bowden meet at the scene of the tear in time is what you'd expect the reaction to an animal having walked into the middle of the road where it was hit. They don't know quite what to do, but they do know what it is they're dealing with, and don't seem very phased by it.
In her narration, Thursday mentions a few times that these disruptions occur spontaneously. This detail suggests that something has happened to time in her world to make it less stable. Given the existence of the "Chrono Guard," experiments with and in time are likely what's destabilized it. So time travel is possible and practiced.
Further, if not because of both the existence of the Chrono Guard and the spontaneity of the appearance of such disruptions in time, this phenomenon must be wide spread. Maybe in Thursday's world England is literature crazy, but disruptions in time could not be so localized.
Thus, in including the time disruption and having his main character travel through time, Fforde is revealing that Thursday's world is truly damaged. Though, in first book fashion, any such revelation comes with more questions than answers.
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