Corrector

by Bob Blink

Multiple victims killed by another angry gunman at the local mall. What if there were someone out there who could prevent the slaughter, even after it happened? Is Jake Waters a hero or a hardened criminal? Unfortunately, those who might consider him the former are usually blissfully unaware he has passed through their lives and has changed their destinies in such a dramatic way. Regrettably, the police and FBI see his actions in a wholly different light, and while they have yet to determine whom the mysterious killer is, they continue their search and are building up both a profile and a backlog of unsolved cases. They are perplexed at his actions and how he has had the advanced knowledge to perform his surgical removals. Jake, ex-military and a survivor of the war in Afghanistan, tries to pursue his own destiny as a freelance programmer who writes computer games and consults with NASA on special projects. He is blessed or cursed with a special skill, depending on your perspective, one which makes him aware of events that no one else is. As a result, he sometimes feels it necessary to take action on his own. Those he removes have been planning numerous horrific deaths, and he does not feel bad by his actions. He also suspects the police will one day stumble upon his identity or catch him in the middle of one of his missions. Then he will have to rely on his ability to elude them. For the most part, Jake is an average guy. Except for his ability to back-track, of course. That makes him different from everyone else and has not only saved his own future, but has often provided him the means to help others. Unfortunately, he's learned that providing that help came at a large personal cost and not a little risk. For the most part, he feels the results are worth it. Jake's own life has become more complex of late. He has become seriously interested in a young woman, Karin Wolter, who he hopes to bring closer to him. For their relationship to progress, Jake feels it will be necessary to reveal what he can do, and what he has done in the past. He is concerned how she might react once he reveals his past to her. She has never understood violence, and has expressed some concerns over what he had been forced to do in the military. After her mother is killed, Jack's close friend Cheryl comes to him for help in ensuring the death doesn't happen. When his attempt to help doesn't go as expected, Jake learns of another event that forces his hand. It becomes necessary to reveal himself to the FBI in the hopes he can gain their trust and help to prevent the impending disaster from taking place. Even if he is able to turn aside the catastrophe, he is uncertain what his own future will become once the FBI has their hands on the man they have been seeking for so long.

Genres: Science Fiction, Time Travel

322 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 26, 2013

Reviews

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine what it would have to take to make time travel a socially and professionally acceptable activity?
Love it. Yes, it's heavy technicalities wise. Still it's a great story of time travel and morale intrigue.

[Sean Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this quite a lot. It did have the All-American Dreamboy feel of the Afghanistan vet now doing something heroic, but for all that, it was a clever use of a form of time travel. Very gun-heavy, one gets the impression Blink dislikes hats and adores firearms. I did have one query - there's a part of the work where Jake books a room in a hotel for a whole week, which seems not to impact the room given to his friends, as they have the same room whether he booked his out or not. Causality is never really addressed in the work, and so that did make me pause for thought.


I'd love to read more and the ending is open for a sequel; it would also be totally fascinating to see the end of Jake's life if he manages to get old without getting himself killed or kidnapped by the government.

[Denise · Rating 2 out of 5]

Time travel is always a fascinating subject, and this book offered a quite interesting take on that theme. Now, if only the author had spent anywhere near as much time fleshing out his characters as he did indulging his apparent love for guns, maybe I'd have developed at least a slight interest in any part of this book... as it is, it just didn't hook me and in consequence I couldn't have cared less about the plot.

[Ron Sturm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although slow to start, I really enjoyed this story and when i finished it in les than 2 days, I of course, started to search for a book 2. But sadly no book 2 (yet). The author kind of leaves you hanging at the end with a snipit of a possible future release...

This story has a very different twist on a time travel adventure. I don't like to give away the story / plot, but i would highly recommend this book!

If you enjoy suspense and adventure, then i highly recommend you read it!

[marilyn coffey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Go back to go forward

This story is a true dream adventure. You always want to go back to change something that you wish could come out different. Jake can do that. But how often can you do it without getting caught. Only time will tell. Unless you run out of time. He almost does and he almost loses that he now wants to have. Be careful you do not want to go back at the wrong time.

[Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Corrector (by Bob Blink)

How many times have you looked at some event in your life and then wished you could go back and relive it again knowing what you'd change to make everything right? Meet the Corrector, Mr Walters, who can do just that. Go back in time with the knowledge to make a difference and more than once if need be. Stay close to your notes as you follow the backups again and again. Great read for letting your imagination run wild. Thanks for another great read.

[Cyndi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story. Time travel done well.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting time travel tale, looking forward to book 2. Recommended reading.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Book!

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

My to-read pile is daunting. I often buy free or near-free books for my Kindle; I've had to triage the list. There are books that are stuck somewhere in the first ten pages that may never move forward. Some reached a chapter or two before stalling out.

When I finish a book, it means it kept my interest throughout. It doesn't have to mean the book is well written, but that the story kept moving me forward, flaws or no.

Despite some flaws, Corrector maintained my interest to the end. Did it generate enough interest to look for more in the series? I'm not certain.

(Spoilers below)

I give Blink credit for an interesting hook. He addresses time "travel" in a way that doesn't need a lot of technobabble. His protagonist has a talent; he uses it, in ways that are understandable - if you could stop a massacre, would you? - and yet morally troubling - if you could only stop a massacre by killing the perp before they could act, would you? It's not unlike "Minority Report" in that sense; he's a self-appointed Precrime vigilante. But because he's unofficial he faces the disapproval of his girlfriend, and the growing case against him by the FBI.

My main issue with the book is the execution. It could have used a round of editing on a couple of fronts: the dialog is often stilted, and the intensity range is muted. For example, the news of the attack in Atlanta is somwehere in the middle of a chapter, and ... you'd think there would be more emotion shown by *someone* over the death toll. The protagonist's gifts make him a bit too detached, and my engagement suffered a bit because of it. I wanted to see and *feel* someone angry, desolate, numb. His kidnapping afterward is a lost opportunity; we miss it entirely, along with a possible adversary for a sequel. It could have been, but he backtracks and ... lets things get handled off screen. Efficient, but not that entertaining.

Another issue: The protagonist is a little too powerful, with no real check. No nemesis. No real "leveling up." He does pick up some new knowledge of his skills, but there's no balancing cost beyond increasingly strong and lengthy headaches. The limitation of being physically near his backtracked self is good, as is the temporal distance, but I wanted more.

His backtracking skill is a weapon with infinite bullets that sometimes jams but never really overheats. It would be great to have, but it takes away some of the drama. He lacks a true Fatal Flaw. Blink provides several setbacks (two killers; two trucks; clocked by the woman he'd gone to save and then arrested), but the hero Backtracks away a lot of the tension.

Don't get me wrong; the book was good enough to finish. The story held me to the end, despite my frustrations. I found the characters and the challenges interesting. I consider it a good late but not final draft. I'll sample Blink's other works. And I hope I'll be intrigued enough to buy.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jake discovers he can "back track" sending just his memories back to a former version of himself. He uses his ability to gather a fortune for himself so he can go back and help others by stopping tragedies (mass shootings, etc).

I really enjoyed this book. I believe there will be a future in this series and i want to suggest to the author that he stop bogging down the reading with his overly technical descriptions of guns and weaponry. The book would have been considerably shorter had i not had to read through so many technical manuals. I am pretty familiar with guns and understand the various parts and pieces. However, i do not think the average reader needs to know all the workings of guns or even necessarily the names of the guns (although I can understand some people might like to get a visual). In general, that is the main weakness of the story.

For those who are turned off by grammar and editing issues - there are a few but I've read worse books. The worst problems are punctuation...which may seem small but the placement of quotation marks makes for a very different story. E.g. "yes, he confirmed"...means he actually said the words "Yes, he confirmed."....not that he confirmed with just the word "yes". That one happened quite a lot.

The story was great and a real page turner. There were definitely times I was basically rooting for Jake to get somewhere he could "backtrack" and fix things. I think the author is really on to something here and I look forward to seeing more from Jake and Agent Carlson.

[kitty g zimmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

Good read! Could not put it down. Read in one day. A who done it with time travel and romance

[Jeanie Vance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Completely different twist on time travel !

Thoroughly enjoyed the believable characters with a consuming story line. Great for gun enthusiasts and lovers of time manipulation !

[Gus Grubba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story and interesting idea. I just couldn't get over the gun fetish.