J's Pages

The pickings at the paperback sci-fi tables at the Friends of the Library sale were pretty slim this Fall. In desperation, I perused the hardback sci-fi selection and found this book. Since it was a time travel tale and since I had been slightly intrigued by the trailer for the movie based on this tome, I splurged and bought it. The premise is that a company, ITC, has developed a method of sending people through time. A history professor, Edward Johnston, who is involved in another ITC funded project, finds out about this time travel capability and manages to convince ITC to let him try it. He ventures back to 14th century France--to the location of his current archeological dig. But instead of merely observing the past, he leaves his time machine and never returns. Three of his assistants are then called in to go back and try to find him. Can they make their way through a 14th Century French village, find the professor and return safely within the 37 hour time limit? You'll have to read it to find out. The book is a good read with plenty of action and intrigue. On the other hand, characterization is not entirely three-dimensional. Also, the story suffers from some cliches, like manipulative corporations and life threatening cliff hangers that the heroes manage to survive.... Well, most of the time, anyway. But even so, I'm glad to have read the book. You may want to check it out, too. 

LibraryThing link

Labels: CheckItOut, MichaelCrichton

// posted by John @ 11:18 PM