Running Time
by T. J. MacGregor
Published by Pinnacle Books (November release)
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Reviewed by Joyce Sparrow
Time travel between centuries, led by the reliable golden retriever, Sunny, is the focus of the new novel by T. J. MacGregor.
Beginning on Thanksgiving Day 2006 in Key Largo, Florida, racing to Aruba in 2007, with sidesteps in the Monroe Institute in Nellysford, Virginia, and finally to Blue River, Massachusetts in 1695–these are all key places for librarian Alex Kincaid and history professor Nora McKee, to rescue her mother, Catherine Griffin, from the torturous Reverend Walter Chandler, the grand witch-hunter with his Bible-thumping “Laws of Righteous Living.”
Eric Holcomb, a divorced father and blackballed lawyer, is up to his neck in foreclosure notices and unpaid bills. He accepts a million dollar offer to infiltrate the black ops government agency, Special Operations Temporal (SPOT), that microchips subversives, dissidents, and other undesirables, enabling them to disappear to other times to avoid punishment. The Monroe Institute is the home of SPOT and the incubator where people are taught how to attain altered states of consciousness resulting in time travel.
Senator Rick, Lazier, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, works with his cronies to kidnap Holcomb’s teenage son as collateral for Holcomb’s work, thus eliminating these time traveling “terrorists” and stealing their remaining microchips. Essential to the plot is Sunny, the micro-chipped golden retriever who transfers between centuries to warn and protect, carry cell phones, pocket PCs and PDAs to his keepers, and serve as a distraction and hero for all his companions.
The mix of modern-day technology and historical customs makes this story fun to read. The vital aspect of all good time travel novels is to accept that which it is and enjoy the wild ride. Fast-paced and fun, readers will cheer as Sunny leads the way to reunite friends and family.
Armchair Interviews says: Highly recommended escape reading.
Author’s Web site: http://www.TJMacGregor.com