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Index Interviews: Jeff Herman Left, Right, Left, Right: Character! How to Get Ideas for Books and Articles Upcoming Events Calendar Return to This Issue's Index Return to Homepage Subscribe
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Mystery/Thriller Book ReviewsPage Four of FourTimeline by Michael CrichtonKnopf, November 1999.Hardcover, 444 pages. ISBN: 0679444815. Ordering information: Amazon.com. | Amazon.co.uk 
As he has done in many of his prior novels,
Crichton has again used new
technology to create a powerful
story. This time he uses
quantum technology and about it
he writes, "Quantum technology
flatly contradicts our common sense
ideas of how the world works. It
posits a world where computers
operate without being turned on and
objects are found without looking for them.
An unimaginably powerful computer
can be built from a single molecule.
Information moves instantly between
two points, without wires or networks.
Distant objects are examined without
any contact. Computers do their
calculations in other universes. And
teleportation is ordinary and used in many
different ways." This quote is from Crichton's
introduction; scientists have already
learned this much about the strange quantum world,
but they know little about how to manipulate
it. Crichton greatly expands upon these strange features
of the quantum worlds to help make the
concept of time travel believable.
In his latest novel,
a group of historians and grad students
are working on the re-creation
of a medieval castle and town in France,
commissioned by ITC, a company run by billionaire
Robert Doniger, a brilliant, but
somewhat deranged physicist.
The research group assumes it is a
typical research grant until they are called in on
a special mission -- to return to the actual
time they are studying to help find their
friend and colleague, Professor Johnston, who
is lost in that world. Their travels are
beset by violent knights, warlords
and other dangers. The world of
medieval France is not a peaceful one.
It has frequent battles, thievery, sword
fights, rape, disease
and random acts of violence.
The group must rely on what
know about this world through their
observations of it centuries in the
future in order to survive the ordeal and rescue the professor.
Michael Crichton, who has penned some of the best-known titles of the 90's including Jurrasic Park, Congo, Disclosure, Airframe and Rising Sun, has written another appealing action-thriller that evokes the chilling consequences of a possible future technology. Crichton also does an amazing job of recreating the feudal lifestyle of 14th century France as a time of great violence. His recreation of the weapons, armor, fights, people and lifestyle of this time period is fascinating. Timeline is a very visual and fast-moving novel that is sure to please Crichton fans. The Victim in Victoria Station by Jeanne M. DamsWalker & Co., Oct., 1999.Hardcover, 208 pages. ISBN: 0802733379. Ordering information: Amazon.com. | Amazon.co.uk 
Dorothy Martin loves her life in England.
An American married to a retired English
police inspector, Dorothy also has a habit
of stumbling over dead bodies every so often.
While on a train on the way to London,
Dorothy befriends a young computer
executive who is on his first trip to England.
But by the time the train pulls into Victoria Station,
the young man is quite dead. When a passing
stranger declares himself a doctor and offers
to report the death, Dorothy reluctantly agrees,
as she is late for a doctor's appointment. But
the death is not reported in the London papers,
and the railway authority denies any knowledge of
it when Dorothy calls to inquire. Suspecting foul play,
Dorothy goes undercover as a receptionist in the
dead man's computer firm, Multilinks, to find
a murderer. She is soon up to her flowered hat
in corporate politics and murder.
Dorothy Martin's fifth adventure leads her into the world of cyberspace and international software sales, with very entertaining results. Her mentor in the world of computers is Nigel Evans, a grumpy yet endearing computer whiz who assists Dorothy in her nighttime sleuthing forays at Multilinks headquarters. The storyline is interesting, and the characters are well-drawn and entertaining. But it is Dorothy who is the real draw here -- we can hardly wait for her to clap on yet another new hat and spring into action again. Highly recommended. Mystery Reviews Page One | Page Two | Page Three | Page Four Click Here to Return to the Book Reviews Index ** To visit the archives of mystery books reviewed in The IWJ, please click here. |