Timecaster

Timecaster #1

by Joe Kimball, J.A. Konrath

Chicago, 2064: Talon Avalon is a timecaster-one of a select few peace officers who can operate a TEV, the Tachyon Emission Visualizer, which records events (most specifically, crimes) that have already happened. With crime at an all-time low, Talon has little to do except give lectures to school kids and obsess on his wife's profession as a licensed sex partner. Until one of her clients asks Talon to investigate a possible murder. When Talon uses the TEV to view the crime, the identity of the killer is unmistakable-it's him, Talon Avalon.

Genres: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Fiction, Mystery, Ebooks, Fantasy, Thriller

306 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 31, 2011

About the author

Who is Joe Kimball?

Joe Kimball is yet another pen name of author J.A. Konrath. While Konrath writes thrillers and Jack Kilborn writes horror, Kimball writes science fiction.

Two Joe Kimball novels, Timecaster and Timecaster Supersymmetry, will be released in 2011 by Ace/Berkley. The first, Timecaster, is scheduled for May 31. You can preorder the paperback on Amazon here.

The books take place in Chicago in the year 2064, and feature Talon Avalon, the grandson of Jack Daniels. They also feature Harry McGlade III.

Plenty of violence, mystery, sex, and jokes are guaranteed. It's like the Jack Daniels books, with cooler weapons

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 1 out of 5]

This whole book is very much wish fulfillment fiction. And that's fine; I believe there's a place for wish fulfillment fiction, but all wishes are not created equal. Which in this case is basically to say that I'm not a man. See, Talon is good at everything. He's not just a cop, he's a rare Timecaster. And he's not just a Timecaster, he's one of the best Timecasters. He's a martial arts expert (despite not giving it much of his time) and is married to an unfathomably beautiful sex worker (called an SLP; think Companions from the tv show Firefly). And while she urges him to take on the occasional lover to ease his jealousy over her work, he is determined to stay faithful to her, in spite of being irresistable to women. There is, in fact, a horrible horrible scene wherein Talon is raped by a group of women because he's just that hot. The thing is, this is clearly meant to play further into the wish fulfillment. Women want him so badly they just can't control themselves around him, no matter how he insists he's not interested. After an exchange wherein Talon resists a woman trying to force herself on him, three women (all of them impossibly hot, naturally) take turns molesting him, and instead of treating the experience like something horrifying and soul-destroying, it's more played for laughs. Man, isn't that scene where the hero is strapped down, given a pill to keep him stiff, and has girl after girl force themselves on him sexy and also funny?

No. No, it is not. It is rape, regardless of whether the victim is a man or a woman, and in this particular case it's not only handled poorly but it's completely irrelevant to the rest of the book. Those of you reading this review are lucky I've already ranted about this to three other people because there were so very many words on the topic. For now, suffice it to say this scene alone was almost enough for me to toss the book in disgust, and the only reason I finished it was so I could write up a review and save others the unfortunate discovery.

Ok. Moving on. The prose is very readable and the almost non-stop action will keep readers turning pages, which is not a surprise, as Joe Kimball is a pseudonym for thriller writer JA Konrath. Of course, knowing this only adds a whole other layer to the self-indulgent nature of the novel. Two of the major characters in Timecaster are descended from two of the main characters in Konrath's Jack Daniels series. Konrath himself gets a mention as the defendent in a court case setting a precedent that works against Talon's situation (The People versus John Andrew Konrath). He's also fond of cliffhangers at the end of chapters, to the point where he'll use fakeout moments to achieve what seems like an instant of suspense. "And then I found myself looking down the barrel of a gun... [next chapter] ...and I laughed and said 'hey best friend guy, did you think anyone would be fooled by that fake gun of yours?'" (Obviously this is not a real quote, but you get the idea of what I'm talking about.)

Well, obviously this book is not for me. If the wish fulfillment factor described above appeals to you, you'll probably enjoy this read. However, if you're more like me and find yourself more appalled than intrigued, well, it's pretty safe to give this one a miss.

[Allisyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really surprised that I haven't heard any buzz about this book! Timecaster is the first science fiction novel written by Joe Kimball, a pseudonym for JA Konrath who has previously written thriller and horror novels. Timecaster is full of interesting world-building: a virtual Utopian society with no violent crime, legalized drugs, institutionalized prostitution and life after oil. Technology is a big feature in Timecaster, both in creating the setting and driving the plot. The technology that changed the role of the police is warped by a mysterious figure to do terrible things in the name of the protagonist Talon. Combined with the vivid world-building is fast-paced action that made Timecaster a breeze to read.

Part of the World-building is that society no longer runs of oil products. Everything is run on biofuel which means, that between transportation needs and food needs, animals and plant products are in high demand. It becomes illegal to own anything made from animal and plant products and citizens are required to contribute either credits or plant matter. Every available surface is covered in plants- roads, walls, floors, and ceilings included! The details created with this are absolutely lovely if terribly sad since paintings and books are now illegal.

While I really enjoyed Timecaster, there were some scenes that detracted from my enjoyment of the story. There were certain sexual scenes that disturbed me. I don't mind sex scenes in my science fiction but the portrayals of non-consensual sex with a male victim were handled very poorly. I don't think their inclusion added to the story at all and the only compelling reason to not have the sex scenes be consensual is to show just how "old-fashioned" and faithful to his wife the protagonist is. It also would have been more convincing if the non-consensual gang bang hadn't gone on until a male tried to join in. Overall, not a flattering portrayal of anyone's sexuality.

The action and plot were enough to carry me through the book and come out with generally fuzzy feelings for the novel but the portrayals of sexuality did detract from my appreciation. It might not have been as big a trigger if there hadn't been as large a tendency toward Sex Positive Culture. I would probably still recommend this book because I did really enjoy it but it isn't going to make a favorites list. I'm also going to look forward to the sequel coming out later this year.

[Shinyfox · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was very frustrating. At first I liked it. It had an interesting plot and characters, even the main character's wife fascinated me. But somewhere around the middle I lost interest rapidly. For one thing there's pretty much two rape scenes where in each a woman or women try to/succeed in having sex with the main character. This scene was portrayed in a manner that made it seem 'good' and 'appealing'. This was where I wanted to strangle something. The scene was disgusting and in very bad taste, also it did not add anything to the book at all. The scene only really stopped when a man came in intending to have his way with the main character.

From there it went down hill. Characters began to annoy me and stunts that the Main character proceeded too do were rather hard to imagine a man in perfect shape doing, let alone a man who is sleep deprived, on the run from law enforcement with an injured arm. Also a side character named Neil had me sighing in frustration. He was portrayed as rather dull witted, which is all well and good. But some of the lines he said made me do a double take in disgust at how low the author wrote the character. He didn't strike me as the kind of character to say 'My pee-pee shrunk.' However at this point in the book I was skimming pages to get the gist of it and the character could have been doped up on some random drug. Drugs seem to be used a lot in this book as well.

It started out as a 3 star book but as soon as the rape scenes were depicted in such a manner it dropped down to a 1/2 star book for me. I will never recommend this to anyone, nor will I ever read it again.

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

A well-conceived, well-told fun story. Cute pop culture references and intriguing science and technology. Then why the low rating? (Ignoring the hero's shrugging off injuries that would kill or at least hospitalize a normal human. Hey, it's that kind of story.)

Assuming it started at four stars, deduct one for the pornography--or as he called it "pr0n." Totally unnecessary and off-putting. (For some that'll be no problem, but many don't care to have it sprung on them like this.)

Loses another star for crappy science. A Chicago space elevator? No can do. Million-volt tazers remotely fired from a "Tesla" power cloud a hundred miles up?

Another point off for being lazy. Whenever he wanted something to sound exotic, he just put "hyper-" in front of a current word. It's like two moons and six-legged mammals in similarly slothful fantasy writing. The villain in this universe was obvious very early.

Finally, a point off for ending on a cliffhanger. What's with these people who don't know how or don't want to end a story? Assumedly greed drives the multi-book trend, but the result are episodic never-ending tales. Like Robert Jordan. (Oh, they'd be pleased to make all that money? Is that all they write for?)

By that math it should be down to one star. But it really was a good story.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing itself was much better than most things I rate this badly. And the concept was decent. But the execution? Let's just say that if you thought Crank was an awesome movie in a completely nonfarcical way, you'd love this book.

It first lost me in the Penthouse Forum-style girls-on-boy gangbang scene about halfway through. And then...an Evil Genius Madman? Really?

Even the "ecopunk" infrastructure had problems. He envisions a new "intranet" which has all the great information but none of the bullshit of the Internet, with no explanation of how such a feat is accomplished. A transition to biofuels means plants are only for food and fuel, with everything else "synthetics". Synthetics made of WHAT?

So it's crap as adventure and crap as SF.

[The Behrg · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a fun book -- light, not afraid to make fun of itself. But it didn't keep my interest. In fact, had a tough time finishing it. If you like cyber-punk and B-movie Science Fiction, it may go down well. If you want a little more meat with your potatoes, you may want to look elsewhere.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome!! I had a blast reading this, and was trapped along for the ride from the first page. This vision of the world in the future is kind of cool but kind of frightening as well. So far, Konrath has never let me down on a fantastic read.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Originally posted @ CSI:Librarian. Contains spoilers, but nothing relating to the overall plot of the book.)

3.5 Stars - Hoo boy, this is a tough one. Let's start with the good stuff, but let me note that whenever I use a last name beginning with K I'm talking about the same author. I use Kimball when I am talking about this book specifically and Konrath when I am referring to the author's works in general.

The premise of Timecaster was not only nifty, but very well-executed and fascinating for the most part. Talon was a pretty great main character even though his inability to deal with his wife's profession got old quickly in the way that such issues always do in fiction for me.

Over all, his story was very action-packed that was original in some ways and other ways pretty common fare. It was sort of like if Quentin Tarantino and Roberto Rodriguez decided to together on another Grindhouse film that combined Minority Report, The Fugitive, and Sin City into one film and added a lot of nature, weirdness, and time-rewinding. So basically the book was fairly rich in humor, sort of gross, and pretty entertaining.

What really makes this book stand out in a fun way is everything in it that contributes to what Konrath has termed as Ecopunk. The world is sort of... well, sort of what you could easily (and sadly imagine) our world morphing into, but with a lot more quirk and a lot more awkward kinks. I can't say I liked the characters using acronyms like AFAIK and WTF, but I liked the idea that people had to be way more eco-friendly than they are in the present day and way less caught up on religion. The notion that people would get caught up in technological devices while keeping far away from the internet and the idea of being able to look back in time ultimately eliminating crime were both pretty cool too.

Now the bad stuff, and believe me when I say I wish I didn't have to tell you about any sort of bad stuff. But there's two scenes in this book that really took the wind right out of my reading sails because of their focus on very non-consensual, awkward sex. Sex that amounted to Talon being uninterested but deciding he might as well take it and participate because oh well even though he states both times that he does not want sex.

In fact, the only reason Talon does anything about it in the second scene is that a guy tries to join in and then he finally decides maybe, just maybe, he doesn't want the sex that he didn't want to begin with. I also don't get why that element had to be added to the whole thing. Why did it have to be so clearly not what he wanted that later on the phone to his wife he even says it wasn't consensual? What was the point of making Talon not interested but willing to put up with it? Was that supposed to be sexy or entertaining somehow?

You might think this reaction stems from my having no clue as to what Konrath's books are like and thus went into this book expecting pure, clean fun, but that's not true. I have read plenty of other books by this author in other genres besides science fiction so I definitely went into this book expecting violence, action, weirdness, and sex. Most of Timecaster seemed pretty much par for the course in terms of his writing. Most of that was enjoyable and some of it was sort of like an inside joke that you wouldn't get without reading other books by Konrath or at least knowing he has several pseudonyms including Kimball.

The over-the-top bad guy in here was pretty tame compared to bad guys in other books especially the serial killers, but he was an interesting pick. I liked Harry McGlade III because he's pretty much like his predecessors and whacky hijinks are fun especially when they involve owning a miniature elephant. I also didn't mind Talon being sort of a jerk to this poor dumb schmuck who likes his wife. Or the relentless mentioning all of Konrath's many aliases and how awesome they are. I actually found that mildly funny, but I cannot and will not ever think it is funny or entertaining for women or men to force sex on other people.

Part of me feels weird about not abandoning the book after those two scenes and also still really wanting to read the sequel as soon as it comes out. I guess my reason for continuing boils down to the rest of the book being really original and unique in a lot of ways that I just didn't want to give up on it. I also need the sequel anyway because of the humungous cliffhanger at the end of Timecaster.

I will also admit that part of me feels even worse about spending so much time dwelling on these two scenes because the rest of Timecaster was a lot of fun. Ultimately though I figure that what bothered me might bother other readers and I really couldn't imagine writing this review without mentioning this element of the book. To be honest, you could simply skip over them and still enjoy everything else about the book... But that doesn't make their being there any more or less unacceptable for me as a reader.

In conclusion, if you enjoy strange science fiction taking place in an eco-friendly future and featuring a lot of action? Like me, you'll enjoy most of this book but beyond that our mileage may vary.

[Adrian McCarthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Timecaster is more of an action/adventure story set in the future than a hard science fiction novel. Nevertheless, J.A. Konrath (writing as Joe Kimball) puts some interesting what-if ideas out there, and they help the story to good effect. It's a fast read--one cliffhanger after another. Overall, it was a nice mindless escape with the usual Konrath humor, lots of imaginative action sequences, and downright over-the-top violence and sex.

I have a few minor quibbles with the plot, which I'll leave out to avoid spoilers. There are some anachronistic cultural references that should be long forgotten by the time of the story, but, as those are mostly just punchlines to throwaway jokes; they don't adversely affect the story.

The book felt short, both in actual length and in the sense that the ending leaves you hanging. It's as though Konrath held back the final act in order to sell a sequel. Someday, I might read the next one in the series, but it's not high on my list.

Formatting for the nook was pretty good, with just a few missing characters and a couple of backwards apostrophes. I wish the legacy publishers wouldn't put so much front matter in their ebooks; the reader has already bought the book and shouldn't have to click through pages of jacket copy. It felt like padding, as did the useless glossary at the end. Perhaps if there were links to the glossary wherever the futuristic terms are used, it would have been useful. But, honestly, the meanings are clear enough in context, and, by the time you get to the end of the book and realize there's a glossary, it's too late to make a difference.

[Darlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh. My. Goodness! Whew! That was a ride! Any of you old enough to remember E-tickets? Yeah, that kind of ride. So much fun, yet keeping you on the edge of your seat the whole time.

Was it the fantastic narration of Patrick Lawlor or did the author, Jack Kilborn just have that many funny bones in him? Whichever, or the combination, I had so many laugh out loud moments while reading that I am glad I was at home. I can imagine others in a library, looking at me like I was crazy. As it was I had to not let my husband know the joke as he plans to read this next.

The setting is in the far future and the main character, Talon Avalon, on of the last peace officers, one of the few that can operate the time machine to help solve crimes, is running for his life. Someone has stolen his identity, or so it seems. Now he is wanted for murder among other crimes.

This book takes place over two days. Our hero goes through everything, it seems. The orgy where he is an unwilling participant is the funniest. Don't ask how that happens. You have to start at the beginning.

I do need to warn you that as I mentioned above, there are a couple sex scenes and much adult humor and language. But if you are mature enough (or have been raised with brothers and raised sons) none of it will shock you and may actually tickle your own funny bones.

Hurray for Kindle Unlimited with Whispersynch. That's how I found this book. And now I am off to book two: Timecaster: Supersymmestry.

Here's to your own enjoyment reading these!

[Lilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 out of 5.

Wow, talk about an intriguing concept! The geek in me is still giddy over the use of tachyons, parallel universes, micro black holes, other dimensions and more in this novel. Timecaster was a quantum physics fangirl’s dream come true and I devoured it. The premise of Timecaster does sound a little like Van Damme’s Timecop—and there’s even a shout-out to it in the book—but this book is so much better than Van Damme’s film.

The author invented a term to categorize his book: ecopunk. Ecopunk is defined by Kimball as “a subgenre of science fiction set in a green, utopian future, with a libertarian government. The opposite of nihilistic, authoritarian sci-fi, where no one smiles because everyone is so fucking oppressed.” and “A narrative typified by high-tech gadgetry, over-the-top action, copious amounts of sex, gratuitous and often rude humor, and theoretical physics, taking place in a society that emphasizes personal freedom and respect for the environment.“ at the beginning of the boo. I was quickly intrigued, to say the least.

Continue reading my review at: http://www.read-all-over.net/fiction/...

[Hilary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Think of it like a lesser, cruder version of The Minority Report crossed with one of the later, formulaic James Patterson books to add an evil genius ("The Mastermind"? Really?). Not that great. Other reviewers have talked about the excessive sex scenes (which weren't interesting or even relevant, so I just flipped straight past after the first one). The world concept was interesting (the need for biofuels, Web 4.0) but barely touched upon and not explained. In fact, the biofuel problem just seemed to be scene-setting and the tech was the equivalent of an ACME bag of many things.

In short, I only finished this because I woke too early and I couldn't find another book without waking my husband, and even then I was considering staring at the wall instead.

[Danny · Rating 1 out of 5]

The opening page where the author gave various definitions of "Ecopunk" ending with a reference to himself was a bad sign. The first chapter just got worse. I didn't go on. I just wished I could get my $7 back.

[John Loyd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Talon is one of the two remaining timecasters in Illinois. They've done such a great job at reducing crime that almost all of them are now out of a job. Neil reports his suspicion that Aunt Zelda has been murdered. He has no luck at the police station so he comes to Talon's home, via business with his wife. Talon uses his TEV and finds that Aunt Zelda was murdered. It was him, or close enough to get him convicted of the crime. Within hours Talon is a fugitive. From that point on he is either running or fighting for his life. His only hope is that he can figure out how he was framed and catch the person who framed him.

Lots of world-building. Timecasting is the one in the title. Also people are chipped, which they use for everything from entry to their home to tracking their location to starting their vehicle. They have phones inside their head. Medical care can cure injuries (overnight?). The society has to be green, plants everywhere, all organic matter is food or fuel. There are unbreakable nanotubes. And more (parallel worlds?).

To me the opening makes Talon an unsympathetic character. He has a fight with his wife for not giving up her job, and he won't let up. What a jerk. Along the way we do get some sympathy for him because he was framed, and he's getting beat up all the time, and he does refrain from killing people. There are some R (The whole book is violent. I'm not counting that.) or X-rated scenes. Although the story line of Chicago being destroyed is resolved, the book ends with a cliff-hanger. Disclaimer, I haven't read any James Bond, but this had a James Bond feel with the added sci-fi elements. More emphasis on action and I couldn't discern the motivation of the mastermind.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprisingly, for the most part, I really liked this book. I'm not usually into sci-fi, but this was very good. A very intriguing plot with non-stop action. Some of the technology was a bit above my comprehension, but the author did a good job of explaining it (usually) and provided a glossary at the end of the book which I only found when I was done (oh well). Taking place in 2064 Chicago in a utopian world where violent crime has nearly been eliminated due to the ability to replay a video of the crime after the fact. Yes, right out of "Minority Report", but the story was very good anyway. I enjoyed visualizing this world with its advanced technology, "green" everywhere (cornfields growing four levels on top of each other, cement parking garages turned into parking "farms", vines growing inside and outside the houses, etc.) and genetically engineered pets, etc.

Someone commits a horrible murder and the video playback "proves" that the murderer is our hero, peace officer Talon Avalon (I love the name!). Most of the book is Talon trying to get evidence that supports his claim that it wasn't him. Boise, Idaho is destroyed which again Talon is blamed for; he becomes a very recognizable "most wanted". Who is setting him up and why? I actually figured out the "who" fairly early; I think the author could have made that a little harder to guess.

The one (two) thing(s) that I really did not like in this book were the two totally unnecessary rape scenes - where Talon is overpowered and in the second scene, tied down and drugged by incredibly beautiful and beautifully developed women. It seemed like it was written to be either funny (which rape definitely isn't, regardless of the circumstances) or as wish fulfillment (or both) for the primarily male readers the book seems to be geared to.

For a non-violent society, it's a pretty violent book. The plot and futuristic aspects of the book were so interesting I generally looked past the violence - besides, they had so many ways of healing hurt, broken and detached body parts, it was more interesting than repulsive.

The book is a bit open-ended. At the end, Talon faces a huge decision - to jump into one of two alternate realities (there are an infinite number of them, but he has a strong incentive to go to both of these worlds). The book ends as he jumps, but the reader does not know which direction he went. We are left to make our own assumption. Annoying, but kind of cool too. I was surprisingly pleased I had read this book - EXCEPT for those couple of scenes!

[Nanksy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is part of a group of novels put together in one of those e-book series of Apocalyptic stories, although I am not sure this one qualifies as that type of story. It is more of a futuristic world that may or may not experience an Apocalypse depending on the actions of the hero.
I would have liked the book better had the author refrained from several very graphic and gratuitous sex scenes.
In addition it reminded me heavily of the movie Minority Report. I even guessed who the bad guy was early in the story based on the plot of the movie.
I never read the Philip K Dick's short story that was the basis for Minority Report so I am unable to compare it to Konrath's short novel.
Konrath writes well and tells good story. I wish I had not kept thinking of Robo Cop and Tom Cruise, while I was reading, because he really does have a way with words.
I, like some other reviewers did not like the abrupt, "cliffhanger" ending. It won't make me read the second book in the series.
Perhaps this is your cup of tea and you like macho men and their sexual exploits as they save the world. If so, this is a good short read and will fill up an evening pleasantly.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I listened to this on audiobook (special at audible). The reader is fine. Good voice. Fine pace. But, this book does not lend itself to audio. The shortcut codes used on the Internet are inappropriate for a book, much less an audiobook.


As for the book, I didn't care enough to want to listen to the end, but i did. It's not a bad book, but not a keeper for me. The only thing going for it was action. The characters were difficult to care about. The main character was intended to be a jerk, but there simply wasn't any reason to root for him. What is with the impossibly beautiful women? Geez, what's wrong with pert or pretty?

I wasn't inspired enough to buy the next in the series.

[Wenzel Roessler · Rating 4 out of 5]

More like a 3.5 star rating that a 4. This book is parts detective/humor/sex romp/action and while that sounds like a good mix for a fun read the four part to not mix well. Switching gears from sex romp to action is not a smooth transition, you can hear the gears grinding. Yes parts of the book are well done and I laughed out loud several times but it is too bad that the parts are less than than whole. And I found I did not have an interest in the hero, or most of the characters in the story. Only one character (Harry) really stands out. If this review sound more negative than what you would expect with a four star rating it is because there is good stuff here and with a little bit more of effort this could have been a great book.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun read. Immediately capturing, I was held hostage by this story due to its fun, sexiness, and thrilling adventure. A time caster, bored out of his mind due to the lack of major crime, is framed for murder. Going back in time he finds he did kill the victim. So was it him? A future self? Did somebody fake the technology that is unfakable. A somewhat mad cap adventure full of interesting characters, many laughs, and love story of devotion, this novel had a little bit of everything, and shockingly, made it all work.

[Karsyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joe Kimball (aka J.A. Konrath) writes some crazy stuff. Some I've enjoyed, some I haven't.

This one was definitely enjoyable. It starts of nuts and stays nuts. I mean there's something REALLY bizarre in it that just made me laugh (WARNING ~ quite sexually bizarre) There was a genetically created elephant, about the size of a raccoon, having sex with a rolled up towel. Some crazy stuff, but really fun and enjoyable! Can't wait to read the next one.

[Sony · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plotline overall sounded good, the futuristic world, even with all the inconsistencies with the logic of the technology, well you could ignore that a bit and it was still good.
The bad part that is, the nonsense is too much. There are way too many sex scenes that were not necessary at all.
The main character who is a badass who can against all odds pull off stunts no other human being can, ok very typical action movie. The evil genius who is orchestrating it all "behind the scenes" putting the blame on the only man who can stop him, ok again another classic (cliche) still somewhat acceptable. But then a lot of the characters are plain disgusting, the sex is referenced in a bad way, the women just can't seem to resist the main character, he got the girl, the other very few females who are mentioned want him so bad they have to gang rape him, seriously?
There are things that put me off reading mood, the overly mentioned sex being the main one. Also, he seems to be the only good person along with his super hot wife that every other man seems to want (lust over).
I had wanted to read the story because t sounded interesting, a world where there is no more crime, where there are technological advances that allow you to see the past,

*SPOILER COMING*

The other universes where the multiple possibilities of the same life exist, it all sounded good. I always want to read something along those lines. The good guy being framed, the typical no one but himself and the love of his life know the truth, betrayals from the people the hero trusts.
Even the cliche evil genius kidnaps the loved one and makes the run, the hero must decide if saving the world is most important, and yet... all the other things make it unenjoyable.
This book was just not for me really.

[Amy Mcnea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good read.

Let me start by saying I don’t read Sci-Fi usually. I saw who wrote this book & even though it was Sci-Fi I thought what the hell, he has me hooked on every other book he has written so I will give it a try. I’m so glad I did. This book is full of action, drama & humor. And yes, I’m hooked. I already bought the next book in the series. I don’t give away anything in my reviews except to say this book is damn good, but don’t take my word for it....READ IT!

[Bill Gilder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Infinite alternative worlds

So many alternative worlds the anything that could happen does happen in one of them. This book was mind boggling. Being able to timecast to see into the past all but eliminate crime because you will be caught. Add a man that can get defeat the timecasting to blame someone else makes for a great story. Can Talon figure it all out and save himself, his wife and the world? I

[jboyg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Joey,Joey, Joey, WTF!?!

I didn't finish this book, but it finished me. See, I like Konrath a lot and I've read quite a few of his books
,He isn't a perfect writer but usually a very good one. This one stunk out loud and will somebody please drop the big one on Harry M, a crappy unfunny character who is supposed to be irritating and succeeds all too well. Sorry, I'm a fan but this was painful.

[Reading is Life · Rating 4 out of 5]

Action packed

A great action sci to thriller. I loved the little inside jokes, especially seeing Harry Mcglade still the same in his grandson's body. My only gripe was the amount of time spent explaining things about the world, the science, etc. At some point the reader will just accept the alternate universe, so stop trying to show off the research.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, that was rather awful.
Premise might have been interesting if done well, but the execution here left a lot to be desired. Lackluster plotting, lackluster writing, and characters with any sort of depth to them? Forget it. The protagonist is a complete dick. And do I even have to mention the rape scenes? Because... yeah, how about no.

[Shelling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Minority report and timecop/sliders with totally unrealistic childish fraternity boy fantasy thrown in. It fails the bechdel test. There's only one instance in the book that it is actually funny.

The plot falls through the floor in the last chapter.

[Paul Madsen]

Non stop action

As a fan of J.A. Konrath, this saga keeps your attention from start to finish. Sci-fi well written with a touch of romance, terror in the mix. This would be a Big Screen movie I'd pay to see.

I liked it so much it was worth a second time reading. 😀

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

OK, maybe I have the sense of humor of a 13 year old boy, but this whole book had me LMAO the entire time. Something about a llama being named Barak O'llama just makes me giggle my ass off. I can't wait to read the second one.

[Phil Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. Sf and humour! Love it