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TIME TUNNEL

THE EMPIRE

An imaginative and engrossing tale that’s full of drama, tension, and gripping what-if questions.

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After preventing 9/11, time travelers must again change the past to alter the outcome of Wounded Knee in this SF sequel.

In Book 1, Maj. Kyle Mason—heartbroken after his beautiful, accomplished wife, Padma Mahajan, was killed in the 9/11 attacks—was recruited in 2008 for a very secret mission to go back in time and stop the strikes. But problems arose, and a desperate Kyle turned to the one reliable partner he could find in 2001: himself. Though successful, Kyle 2001 died in the process. Unable to leave Padma, Kyle 2008 stayed in 2001, becoming the reclusive “Anderson Wild.” By Timeline 002 2008, Padma has parlayed her financial genius and Kyle’s knowledge of coming events into a trillion-dollar fortune, all the political power she can buy, and control of the Time Tunnel underground research complex, called Dreamland. Meanwhile, Texas Sen. Jonah Jones gathers a private army and takes over the U.S. government, with Dreamland in his sights. Padma and Kyle must use the Time Tunnel to escape. Though they aim for San Francisco and the Summer of Love, they land in South Dakota, 1890, in a Lakota village—just a few months before the massacre of Wounded Knee, as Kyle realizes from his studies. Though Kyle and Padma agree they must prevent the massacre, complications—and unintended consequences—arise, with world-changing implications. In this second installment of a series, Todd (Time Tunnel: The Twin Towers, 2019) continues exploring the intriguing possibilities of time travel, backing up his speculations with well-researched history and believable science. Though adept at setting up exciting, tense confrontations, the author is also a thoughtful writer, and his characters are appropriately vulnerable, though Padma is hailed as the messiah of Lakota prophecy and Kyle has modern weaponry. Todd’s Lakota camp and the town of Deadwood come vividly alive with well-chosen, telling details such as the checkerboard that sits atop a general store’s cracker barrel. The cliffhanger ending will leave readers eager for the next volume.

An imaginative and engrossing tale that’s full of drama, tension, and gripping what-if questions.

Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-73319-360-3

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Time Tunnel Media

Review Posted Online: Sept. 7, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2019

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A LITTLE LIFE

The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.

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Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.

Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.  

The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.

Pub Date: March 10, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8

Page Count: 720

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015

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MAGIC HOUR

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.

Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

Pub Date: March 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-345-46752-3

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005

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