God’s Junk Drawer

by Peter Clines

God’s Junk Drawer is a mind-bending tale of mystery and adventure set at the dawn of time.

Welcome to the Valley …

Forty years ago, the Gather family—James, his daughter Beau, and his son Billy—vanished during a whitewater rafting trip and were presumed dead.

Five years later, Billy reappeared on the far side of the world, telling an impossible tale of a primordial valley populated by dinosaurs, aliens, Neanderthals, and androids. Little Billy became the punchline of so very many jokes, until he finally faded from the public eye.

Now, a group of graduate astronomy students follow their professor, Noah Barnes, up a mountain for what they believe is a simple stargazing trip. But they’re about to travel a lot farther than they planned …

Noah—the now grown Billy Gather—has finally figured out how to get back to the Valley. Accidentally bringing his students along with him, he’s confident he can get everyone back home, safe and sound.

But the Valley is a puzzle—one it turns out Noah hasn’t figured out—and they’ll need to solve it together if there’s any chance of making it out alive.

Pulling from Earth’s past, future, and beyond, Peter Clines has created a complex, dangerous world, navigated by a dynamic ensemble cast, and a story that is thrilling as it is funny and heartfelt.

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

628 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 11, 2025

About the author

Peter Clines is the author of the genre-blending -14- and the Ex-Heroes series.

He grew up in the Stephen King fallout zone of Maine and--inspired by comic books, Star Wars, and Saturday morning cartoons--started writing at the age of eight with his first epic novel, Lizard Men From The Center of The Earth(unreleased).

He made his first writing sale at age seventeen to a local newspaper, and at the age of nineteen he completed his quadruple-PhD studies in English literature, archaeology, quantum physics, and interpretive dance. In 2008, while surfing Hawaii's Keauwaula Beach, he thought up a viable way to maintain cold fusion that would also solve world hunger, but forgot about it when he ran into actress Yvonne Strahvorski back on the beach and she offered to buy him a drink. He was the inspiration for both the epic poem Beowulf and the motion picture Raiders of the Lost Ark, and is single-handedly responsible for repelling the Martian Invasion of 1938 that occurred in Grovers Mills, New Jersey. Eleven sonnets he wrote to impress a girl in high school were all later found and attributed to Shakespeare.

He is the writer of countless film articles, several short stories, The Junkie Quatrain, the rarely-read The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope Robinson Crusoe, the poorly-named website Writer on Writing , and an as-yet-undiscovered Dead Sea Scroll.

He currently lives and writes somewhere in southern California.

There is compelling evidence that he is, in fact, the Lindbergh baby.

Reviews

[Char · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a boatload of fun!

I felt like this was part Jurassic Park, part the Lost World and part science-fiction nerdiness. The sci-fi never gets too heavy or boring, and the few twists here and there easily kept me listening.

Ray Porter is the narrator of this, and he's my absolute favorite. I always feel like Porter works well with certain authors and series and this is definitely one of them.

With the end being what it was, I am postiive another book is coming, and I would pre-order that audio right now, if I could.

This was so much fun, and a phenomenal distraction from what is happening in the world today.

Highly recommended!

*I purchased this audio from Audible.

[Books_the_Magical_Fruit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this book took me on a RIDE. I may not have fully understood all of the sciency/math stuff, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading about it.

Also, I LOVE the idea of God having a junk drawer, not that I believe it actually exists, but how fascinating!

Billy Gather, his dad, and his sister Beau abruptly find themselves in a very strange valley while literally going down a raging river. There are forests that suddenly change to other climes, and none of them would ever coexist at the same time on Earth. Also…dinosaurs?? Neanderthals. Random artifacts that seem to be from both the past and the future. It’s a mishmash of time periods—kind of like what’s shoved into that junk drawer we all seem to have, except on a much bigger scale.

Billy is somehow returned to his time after a few years and gets absolutely roasted by the public. He changes his name and dedicates his life to returning to the valley.



The novel then cuts back and forth from young Billy to him as a man, when he finally figures out a way to get back to his own personal “Land of the Lost.” Trouble is, a bunch of grad students manage to be right next to him when he does, and EVERYONE is taken along for a ride that they never would have agreed to otherwise.

It’s here where things get really intriguing. Billy the grown-up thinks he knows everything there is to know about the valley and its inhabitants.

He’s about to get a GINORMOUS wake-up call.


———


As mentioned above, I really liked this story, but be warned, it does meander a bit, and it definitely gets weirder and weirder. I was invested, though, so I was open-minded about the eventual revelations as they came. And the reveals are FASCINATING.

Also, I think it’s important to mention that when there are injuries and/or deaths, they are extremely gruesome, detailed and shocking. Some of them will be hard to get out of my head. YMMV.

4.25 stars, rounded down.

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion. All views are my own.

[Montzalee Wittmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

God's Junk Drawer
by Peter Clines
This book starts out grabbing me and doesn't let go til the last sentence! I so loved this book! So many twists and turns. Suspense, a mystery, sci-fi, lots of action, time travel, gore, first contact, and heartwarming moments. So much to absorb.
The clues dripped out to the reader so slowly and tantalizingly. It was brain-racking to try and figure things out before the neck clue. I was so far off! This is a must-read! One of my favorite books so far this year!

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for the pre-release copy of God's Junk Drawer by Peter Clines. Below is my honest review.

What a wild ride! Dinosaurs, time travel, aliens, Neanderthals, glass obelisks, all sorts of random things bring this story right into the zone of "weird."

I really can't say much, because this one would be easily spoiled with the wrong word, so I'll say this: interesting characters, complicated but understandable scenario (with actual explanations in the long-term), and a really cool setting.

Highly recommended for people who like a weird sci-fi tale with a lot of twists and turns and dinosaurs!

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

God's Junk Drawer is a lost world book. A young boy spent a couple years in the Lost Valley, ended up back in the real world, and spent decades trying to get back, inadvertently bringing some astronomy undergrads with him. It has a lot of the familiar Land of the Lost trappings like Neanderthals, dinosaurs, and things of that nature. There's also an underlying mystery and a fairly high body count.

I don't really want to give too much away. I guessed a couple of the twists ahead of time but one of them was very surprising. Some of the character deaths caught me off guard and I was pleased that the origin of the Lost Valley wasn't some Under the Dome hokum. Overall, I was very pleased with the reading experience. We just moved and I don't want to buy more bookshelves but I'm keeping this one to reread later. A pretty high compliment if you ask me.

[Dead Inside · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️s
I definitely would have just stayed in the Valley until I got torn apart by dinosaurs.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up to 5

This was wacky and fun. The author seems to be well-rounded- he’s great at dialogue, pacing, and making each character unique.

This is the kind of mystery that I love. Our characters are dropped into a world that resembles our own, but with enough incongruities to make it fascinating.

This is the first book I’ve really enjoyed in a while!

[Robin (Bridge Four) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart

Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

If you've read Peter Clines before you know it can get weird, like Lovecraft levels of weird.  And while God's Junk Drawer is a puzzle type mystery set in a world seeming to be be Lost in Time it is at its heart the story of a group of people trying to figure out how to get out of the strange Land of the Lost type place they have ended up in.

The story is told through multiple PoVs with some snippets of Billy's time in the Valley when he was a young boy.  Billy went on a rafting trip with his Dad and Sister and they ended up in the valley almost forty years ago.  He got out, leaving his sister behind and has spent his entire life trying to figure out how to get back in and save her.  He finally has it calculated and is ready to jump when it all goes wrong and he ends up dragging some random students and a guide back into the valley with him.  One problem, everything he thought he remembered and knew to get them back out seems to be wrong and there is now no guarantee that Billy now known as Noah can get them back out unless they figure out what the Valley really is.

“I spent seven years getting laughed at. My entire teen years, I was either on television or in a magazine being mocked for thinking I saw dinosaurs, or I was . . .”
She waited, then prodded. “Or you were what ?”
His stride got heavier. “Or I was back in some kind of hospital being treated for my delusions. That’s what telling people who I really was got me. Seven years of being a punchline or a patient..."

Billy's time in the Valley as a kid was a wonderous thing and while yes it was horrifying in some ways due to the dinosaurs and other things that can kill you it was colored by the protection his dad and sister provided.  Looking back on it again after his return as an adult leads him  to believe that it is possible it wasn't exactly how he remembers and Noah (formerly Billy) is struggling with how things are so different from the valley he left.

I enjoyed getting to see the Valley for the first time through the eyes of the terrified college students that accidentally ended up on this journey.  Sam was well aware of the Valley and Billy's time there since he was obsessed with it the way only a twelve year old could obsess.  That said it is one thing to read about a place filled with Dinosaurs and lost to time but it is another altogether to be there and see it first hand.  With a few other students and the camping guide also stuck, they are in a fight with time to find safety and start to figure out what needs to happen to get back home.

I really enjoyed this story and the way details were doled out.  It kept the mystery high and the danger around ever corner.  In a land of dinosaurs and Neanderthals not everyone is going to survive. This was full of action, danger, huge emotional swings and I enjoyed it all.  Once the story made it to the Valley I was in a rush to read through and figure out with the cast what the heck the Valley was and how to survive in it and eventually get out of it.

I loved the setting, the clues and the cast.  It was just a fantastic ride for me.  As someone in their 40s, I well remember the Land of the Lost on Saturday mornings and grew up imagining the land at the center of the earth so this was almost nostalgic for me in some many ways.  That said there were great surprises and a satisfying conclusion that worked well for me and gave me some hope of seeing some other novels tied into this world later.

Noah still looked stunned. Josh looked worried. Parker looked . . . well, she looked like she was waiting for someone to pause in their lecture so she could ask a question.

[Michael Hicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: This review was originally published at FanFiAddict.

Peter Clines clearly remembers the joy of emptying out the toy box as a child to play with a mashed-up variety of various, disparate action figures. Remember having G.I. Joes squaring off against Darth Vader, while Batman single-handedly fought off a horde of Xenomorphs Imperial forces had corralled into duty for the Dark Side? I can’t but help think such childhood wonders provided at least a smidgen of inspiration for God’s Junk Drawer, even if it falls a bit short of wild, youthful imaginings.

Still, the conceit is similar. In the book’s opening, Billy Gather and his family are sucked back in time to a wild period that couldn’t ever possibly match-up with the historic record. It’s a land where dinosaurs and caveman live side-by-side, a la the nonsensical, science-defying creationist goofiness on display at Ken Ham’s Ark Encounter. But wait, there’s more! In addition to dinosaurs and neanderthals, there’s also an ancient Egyptian, a robot butler, an alien from a higher dimensional plane of existence, some futuristic cyborg warriors, and medieval woodworkers. People, places, and things from all eras of Earth’s history and future collide in one ahistorical valley that really shouldn’t be.

Billy somehow found his way back home and became the subject of tabloids and mental health counseling, until he disappeared again, but this time in more terrestrial fashion. He’s changed his name and thirty years later has become an astrophysicist named Noah Barnes. All his work has secretly centered around a singular pursuit – to rediscover the wormhole that launched him into god’s junk drawer and save the sister he left behind. He knows when and where the wormhole will reopen and has organized a camping trip for his students to observe the stars while he sneaks away to disappear once more. Worried for him, his curious grad students track him down and ignore his warnings to leave, and soon they’re all headed back to the… whenever, I guess?

Clines does a terrific job piling on mysteries, surprise revelations, and some shocking demises. Right from the get-go, it’s clear these kids and Noah aren’t in Kansas anymore.

But then things slow nearly to a crawl, and the rough and tumble excitement of the book’s opening segments settle into a strange sort of placidness. We’ve gotten a good sense of the unexpected dangers that lurk in this land out of time, and Noah and his misfit crew are repeatedly warned by other survivors that death strikes without warning. Yet, despite the body count, nobody ever really seems to be in danger and the crew just kinda hangs out, marveling at unexpected sights and trying to unravel the various riddles they encounter. Clines layers in plenty of logic puzzles and scientific mystery, but for such a dangerous land it all feels oddly safe and our central characters spend too much time in shelter for this book’s too-many pages. There isn’t even a central antagonist to confound their efforts to get back home until close to the book’s end.

God’s Junk Drawer’s feels like a Michael Crichton book at times, a sort-of Jurassic Park by way of Timeline, crossed with Land of the Lost, but without the constant, edge of your seat thrills. It’s sort of like wandering through an amusement park without ever getting on the roller coasters, ignoring all the other attractions, and skipping the elephant ears. Clines loads the front- and back-ends with plenty of action, but the middle is bloated and saggy. People stand around talking, get warned about danger, talk some more, solve a mystery, get warned about danger again, and then talk some more.

The mysteries of the valley are certainly interesting, the scientific gobbledygook is digestible enough, and the rare action scenes are fun, but the narrative never finds a real balance between the two. For all the bemoaning about how savage and violent the valley is, it still seems like a far more peaceful alternative than present-day America and its rising fascism. No Trump, No MAGA cultists, no tariffs, no ICE, no more student debt, which I’m sure these kids have a boatload of, no skyrocketing grocery costs and healthcare premiums and rent jumping through the roof, no more social media, and all they have to deal with are the occasional caveman and a population of ancient dinosaurs that would love to kill them at the drop of a hat? OK, so the last two certainly make decent analogues for our current state of affairs in the good, ol’ US of A, but lacking the rest? Kinda seems like a fair trade to me, if not an outright improvement.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this at after seeing Paul di Filippo's positive review at Locus:
https://locusmag.com/review/gods-junk...
Excerpt:
"The past is a land of peril, and before long characters start falling by the wayside. Clines offers lots of exuberant action, rousing and enigmatic passages with dinosaurs, cave-people, a robot named Ross, fellow stranded humans, and weird alien beacons. At the center of the “valley” is the Timekeeper, an alien in a crashed spaceship. Maybe with his help, Billy can rescue his sister—if any of the party outlive the journey.

But three-fifths of the way through the adventures, the cracks in the presumed logic are revealed, and Billy has to unlearn everything he knew in order to survive and get himself and his students home."

A solid and THICK lost-world adventure: 548 pp in the hardcover edition I read. But the pages fly by, and the many plot-twists kept me off-balance, in a good way. Although the graphic violence gets to be a bit much. On balance, I had fun. A solid 4-star read for me, and I'll look for more from this newish-to-me author. Recommended reading. $10 Kindle available.

[Karen’s Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered Peter Clines back after I’d first read his book The Fold. It wasn’t until a few months later that I listened to Ray Porter narrate 14 and found the books were connected and became even more of a fan. I’ve read all of his Threshold books several times now and they’re my favorites!

When I saw the synopsis for God’s Junk Drawer, I had to have it, and devoured it as soon as I had it downloaded.

In fact, I had to purchase a trophy copy for my shelves, and have already preordered the audiobook, also by Ray Porter, and am eagerly anticipating my reread by audiobook.

Yes, it’s that good!!

In God’s Junk Drawer, a group of students are whisked away to an odd fantastical land which doesn’t make any sense. It’s a land of dinosaurs, Neanderthals, and aliens.

As usual in Clines’s books, it’s weird, full of twists, and major surprises. And I was all in!

*Thank you so much to Blackstone Publishing and to NetGalley for the gifted eARC!*

[Anima Miejska · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5 star, I would gladly watch a movie or a series based on this story :)

[Panda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook (16 hours, 42 minutes) narrated by Ray Porter
Publisher: Audible Studios

Ray Porter is one of my favorite narrators. He also narrates some of the best books in Fantasy and Science Fiction, and it's crazy just how often he comes up on my list. As always, a pleasure.
The audio is flawless.

Add this to books that made me cry. 🥹

This is a time travel novel that has bits and pieces that any of us who love the genre have seen before, but structured differently. There are some twists and turns. Uniqueness among the familiar.

The characters are decent. The main character being the best established and well built, with those around him being given at least a cursory structure, based on the relationship and knowledge held from the main character. As in many novels, the perspective is by the main character and what he doesn't know, we don't know.

The world is dynamic, unique, moving, exciting. This is a science fiction world. Wild and vivid in imagination. Beautifully excellent and enjoyable. Even the characters want to explore it! It's fantastic.

I've been sitting on this book for a minute and finally had a chance to get to it. I will be reading it again and probably do need to see what else Mr. Clines has in his library.

5 clocks. 🕰️🕰️🕰️🕰️🕰️
⊹ ࣪ ˖⏱ ୭˚. ᵎ

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is for an ARC copy received from the publisher through NetGalley.
Peter Clines has crafted a modern, updated homage to "Land of the Lost" and arguably his most sophisticated and immersive novel to date. Full of imaginative sci-fi and science of all sorts, if the story doesn't grab you from the beginning, you may be in the wrong universe. Though there's a lot here, from the massive world and characters from various eras, to the ever changing attempts at understanding the science and rationale behind the land the protagonists find themselves in; yet it never feels forced and keeps you engaged throughout it all. Full of surprises, from which characters end up being the main ones to what's really going on, this was an absolutely fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable read throughout.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

God's Junk Drawer by Peter Clines is Land of the Lost meets Star Trek. It is a science fiction fantasy adventure. The simple plot is that Billy and his family go on a rafting adventure and do not return; the family is missing. Then four years later, he is found in Thailand as he tells wondrous stories of living with dinosaurs, cavemen, and aliens. Billy has never diverted from his story and his need to go back and rescue his family. Billy, now an adult under a changed name, has found a way back. The plot of the story and the world building of the story are great. The first 50% feels more like a fantasy, and the back 50% is more Star Trek with adventure. The novel gets off to a rapid pace with Billy and his family's first adventure, told through newspaper articles. Billy, now Noah, as an adult, gets back to the land way faster than I thought, maybe 30 pages in. Then the novel slows down as the characters explore the land. The writing was good, there's a lot of setup, which took too much time in my opinion. Readers are rewarded in the back half with all the setup. The story is told in multiple perspectives, which don't always work. We got 9 perspectives in total, and I feel we only needed 5-6. With all the perspectives showing some importance, we do get some surprising deaths. The thing Peter Clines does very well is world building. All the questions I had going into the land were answered by the end of the book and made sense. The novel has so many great reveals, one made me gasp, and some great twists. The ending was very action packed it made me feel like I was reading a Michael Crichton novel for parts. I was able to read God's Junk Drawer early thanks to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing. God's Junk Drawer was published on November 11, 2025.

Why did I read God's Junk Drawer by Peter Clines? I was knocked out by the description of the book. It had me at a land with dinosaurs, cavemen, and aliens. Peter Clines has been recommended to me with his Ex-Heroes series, which I'm told is superheroes similar to The Boys versus zombies.

Plot Summary: Billy Gather, His sister Beau, and their dad go on a rafting adventure in Maine, but get lost along the way. They get lost in a land with dinosaurs, cavemen, and aliens. Billy is the only one of his family who escaped the land. Billy was found in Thailand years later. He is questioned relentlessly and tells of the strange world that he and his sister were in. No one believes him. 7 books have been written on the subject, and Billy is nicknamed Dino Boy in the press. Billy changes his name and identity. But he does not give up on returning to the land and bringing his family back home. Billy has changed his name to Noah, and he has become an astronomy professor. He has set up a field trip in the mountains of New York. But really, he has researched his star maps and has determined the spot at which a black hole will open up and send him back to the land. Noah tries to get rid of his research assistant and other graduate students. But they are too close and get sucked into the land. Noah tells them who he really is and where they are, but they don't believe until they see a dinosaur. Noah has a mission to bring his Sister back home, but Noah finds the land has changed in the 30 years since he has been back. He finds new people, new dinosaurs, and new landscapes. Something is not right. Noah and his students might be stuck here.

What I Liked: How the characters evolve and change in his new world. Josh ended up being one of my favorite characters, but I could not stand him at the beginning. The world building is top-notch, with everything making sense in the end. The ending was awesome. I was not expecting the action scenes. It was both intense and heartfelt. The alien, The Castaway, was so interesting and unique that the alien and the situation reminded me of a couple of Star Trek episodes. Scarnose was a terrifying villain. I loved some of the reveals and plot twists. I reacted with a gasp once and a loud shouted "yes" after the reveal of where the group really is. I loved the diverse background of people, LGBTQ, different races, and different time periods. I loved that most of the questions I had in the first half were answered in the second half. The dinosaur riding action scenes were a lot of fun and easy to picture.

What I Disliked: Too many perspectives. I feel there should have been 5 to 6 perspectives. Billy in the past, Noah in the present day, Parker, Sam, and Josh were all I felt it needed. I would have liked to have read excerpts from some of the books blending fact and fiction. I felt the book was also too long and could have dropped 60 pages. The first part reminded me of playing an RPG where you have to do side quests. I know this will entice some readers, but for me, it did not work. The back half does pay off on most of the scenes I considered extra and slowed down the narrative in the first half.

Recommendation: God's Junk Drawer is a unique science fiction fantasy with great world building. I enjoyed my time in the world. The book is for readers who like a blend of genres. The only book I can compare it to is The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart (that book also has dinosaurs). God's Junk Drawer is a book that I will recommend to my followers. I will say to readers out there, if you get to the midpoint and consider DNF, just read a little bit more. Peter Clines mentioned on Bluesky that the audiobook version was delayed and will come out on January 20th.

Rating: God's Junk Drawer by Peter Clines. I rated 3.7 out of 5 stars. I think if the first half was tighter, and we did not get so many extra perspectives. This book could have been one of my favorites because the world building is so good.

[Whitney (SecretSauceofStorycraft) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun candy read!

[domsbookden · Rating 3 out of 5]

*2.5

God's Junk Drawer is a sci-fantasy romp with a cool concept, but not enough substance to justify the lengthy page count.

The writing is more suited for a cinematic script than a novel. Descriptions are minimal, and there's very little actual prose, which is strange considering how unique the setting is supposed to be—a full, detailed picture needed to be painted for where the story was taking place, but instead it’s lightly sketched in broad strokes. Locations are introduced and then quickly abandoned, ideas are mentioned and then sidelined, and the environment never fully settles into something tangible. It reads like stage directions: functional, but thin.

The middle 80% is packed with repetitive, quippy dialogue and flashbacks. Conversations circle the same points, characters recap things the reader already knows, and the momentum stalls out in favor of pithy banter. With so many characters and POVs, there’s no room to sit with anyone long enough to care. They feel less like people and more like placeholders moving the narrative along from one action beat to the next.

The idea behind this book is genuinely strong. It could have been strange, immersive, and expansive, but it stays at the surface. By the end, it felt less like a fully realized story and more like the first pass at one.

[The Roguish Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

God’s Junk Drawer by Peter Clines turned out to be far more complex than I initially expected. While I anticipated a light assortment of oddities, the sheer number of elements woven into the narrative made it a densely layered read.

The pacing felt slow for the first 60%, and at times it seemed to drag. However, the final portion of the book completely pulled me in. I found myself flying through the last chapters, surprised by several unexpected twists.

Although the story itself was intriguing, I didn’t feel a strong connection to the characters, who came across a bit flat to me. Even so, I’m not disappointed that I read it. It was a distinctive and memorable experience, and it’s left me interested in exploring more of Clines’ work in the future.

Trigger Warnings: Death, Murder, Suicide, Depression, Anxiety

Thank you Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for sending me an eArc.

[Elizabeth Bunston · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really excited to read this, it sounded just like my kind of weird book, however I really struggled to get into this book. There was a lot going on, almost too much to be honest, there were so many layers to the story that it felt difficult to keep up. I didn't like the multiple points of view, I really didn't like Noah, and that made this book more difficult to read. Overall it felt like this author was throwing darts at ideas to choose one, and then ended up choosing all of them anyway, it made the book feel like it had no direction or that it didn't know what it wanted to be so it had to be everything. The ending was disappointing and wrapped up too neatly for me.

[Thomas Sluciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

I was pretty unsure about this book in the first 100 pages, the setup and world had me interested, but the characters felt thin and, frankly, annoying.

But damn, the further the story went the more it got it's hooks in me and the more the characters grew on me.

The story itself has a ton of momentum and just picks up more steam as revelations come. Highly recommended if you're looking for a fun read. Also, dinosaurs.

[Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pure fun! I didn't realize how much I was craving an old-fashioned adventure novel until I found one. This book feels like a throwback to when writers wanted to channel Stephen Spielberg instead of George RR Martin. Read for a good time!

Also, what was with all the LOST references? Is it 2005 again?

Please, can it be 2005 again?

[Sheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointingly, this did not turn out to be the amazing book I thought it would be. Even if I ignore the fact that I couldn’t wrap my brain around some of the science, I still felt like there were some things left unexplained and perhaps even a few plot holes (or maybe those were things just not explained, I don’t really know). I also felt like the story dragged at times. All that said, it was still entertaining overall, just not what I’d hoped for.

[Joscelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good actually.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read, interesting premise. Held my interest, although I admit to skimming a bit because it felt a bit stretched at some points.

[Jill Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am such a fan of Peter Clines and his clever, smart, original storytelling. I've been waiting for a new title for a while now, so was delighted when I saw this one pop up. I immediately requested it and dove right in once I was approved. Imagine my surprise, then, to find that it felt exceedingly familiar - which is not something one says about his work very often! - and like a rehash of a show I'd watched religiously in my youth...

I have seen a number of reviews slam him for this. I was not sure how I felt about it - or how he'd gotten away with it - until reading his afterword, in which he openly acknowledges The Land of the Lost and cites it as his inspiration. He couldn't have mentioned that in a foreword, as it would have been a spoiler, but it did definitely change how I felt about the story knowing he intended it to be an homage, albeit one that spins out in his uniquely Clines-ian way.

On the whole, this wasn't my favorite of his stories - and not just for that reason. I was, I admit, somewhat disappointed that so much of what he wrote tracked with my memories of the show (and similar TV, books, and movies) because it felt like it lacked that utterly-from-left-field feeling that his work usually generates for me. It was still an enjoyable read, don't misunderstand, just not quite as much so as previous books. It still read quickly and there were twists and turns I didn't see coming. A few were eye-roll inducing, I won't lie, but on the whole it was still fun!

I did REALLY love the cover and title - the concept of God's Junk Drawer, and it's explanation, were fabulous!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.

[Matthew WK · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A challenging book to rate for me. The creativity & continuously unfolding mystery is excellent, the writing feels a bit "all ages" (not necessarily in a bad way, just lacks a bit of the poetry or lit. fiction or some of the typical complex sentence structures from many modern SF titles), and the feelings it invokes is a mashup of The Land of the Lost with Stand By Me. It held my interest well enough, but it's one of those books where I'd read 30-50 pages a day and then would set it down (i.e. I didn't feel the motivation to sit all day reading it).

All of that said, Clines hints that more may be coming from this world/idea and I'm really interested to see what else he comes up with. I'm definitely interested if there are future books related to this.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I applaud what Peter Clines achieved here. The valley is a fascinating world. It is multi-layered with people and creatures from many time periods. He manages to achieve plot twists I didn’t see coming. He had me trying to guess the puzzle of the valley over and over again.

However, the execution could be better. There is no reason this book needs to be over 500 pages especially while still having fairly flat characters. They are pretty one note and can be insufferable at times. I still enjoyed the book but wished it had more editing.

Team Sam. I get it, I too would be wowed by getting to pet a dinosaur.

You should give this book a look if you have been craving a dinosaur action novel and you think adding aliens, robots, and Neanderthals to that would make for a wild journey.

Thank you to NetgGalley and the publisher for this advance reader copy, all opinions are my own.

[Sean Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant. I have read The Broken room many times over because it's so good, and this is up there too, I'd say.
Some people just put together the right ingredients to make fantastic stories just work, and Peter's got that down to an art. Very much anticipated and totally worth waiting for.

[Fleeno · Rating 5 out of 5]

40 years ago Billy Gathers disappeared with his father and sister on a whitewater rafting trip, only to pop up in Thailand 5 years later with a crazy story about a land before time where his father was eaten by a T-Rex, they lived in a cave with a robot, became friends with an alien, and ran from Neanderthals. After decades of being ridiculed and studied, Billy has changed his name to Noah and is now an astrophysist heading a camping trip for grad students. But Noah has an ulterior motive and a plan to get back to the valley and find his sister. When a group of students accidentally get stuck in the valley with him, they will need to work together to stay alive and find their way home, again.

Peter Clines is one of my favourite authors, I was so excited to read this, and it didnt disapoint. The valley is a lost world of aliens, dinosaurs, and weird things which defy the laws of physics. The characters are all engaging, flawed, snarky, and smart, and like on Clines other books, no one is safe. I love an author who isnt afraid to write a character, give them a backstory and a future, and then kill them off. I loved the science fiction aspect of the story and there was even a nod to earlier novels. This world was so clever and it kept me guessing the whole time. I didnt predict anything that happened and I loved every second of it.

[Beverley Bacinski-Jenkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

Title for Review: Reading This was a Mistake


Lost interest around halfway through

Killing off characters leads to confusion especially as to why they were included in the first place.

The book was Repetitive and there is no reason for this book to be so long.

What the author fails to do is to engage the reader in an interesting way of describing time travel.

What is missing for instance is more descriptives about time science or the wormhole the protagonists went through

Instead, we get a mish- mash of pseudo scientific and unbelievable means by which they arrived at the paleo past

And then there are the usual arguments between young and immature students that frequent such stories whenever young people are involved in the narrative

It would have been interesting to hypothesize on what it would have been like to have humans present alongside dinosaurs, but sadly this is not even touched upon.

There is some effort made to explain differences in earth’s climate during palaeolithic times and the present but this happens too infrequently.

What a sad waste of time