In 1587, over one hundred colonists, desperate for a better life in the new world, disappear without a trace from a settlement on tiny Roanoke Island, just off the coast of North Carolina.
And now, in the present day, tremendous, undulating wails are being heard in the sky all over the world, with no apparent earthly origin.
To Helen Weils, bestselling author and respected academic, history is a realm of observable facts, each one carefully weighed and inspected. So when she encounters Chip Sledd, a conspiracy theorist who insists there’s an unimaginable connection between the disappearance of the colonists in 1587 and the strange noises in the sky, she's quick to dismiss his theories as the irrational ramblings of a lunatic. But when black-suited agents begin pursuing her and Chip, Helen soon realizes that the past is a lot more flexible than she ever thought possible -- and seeking the truth sometimes means accepting the strangest theory of them all.
Ernie Lindsey grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of southwest Virginia, working on the family farm and reading, and has spent his life telling stories to anyone that will listen. He currently works as a freelance writer and is the author of five Mystery & Suspense novels and numerous short stories. When he's not writing, you can find him tackling the gigantic To Be Read list on his Kindle or the never-ending stack of books in his office.
Ernie and his family live in Oregon, along with a multi-fingered Hemingway cat named Luna.
I was not sure what to expect coming into this book. I heard it was a time travel book, but also a romance? As it turns out it isn’t really either of those things. It is a modern sci-fi that keeps you guessing all the way to the end.
Helen is the main character in this rambunctious read. She is in charge of the narrative the whole time. You only know what she knows and things unfold for you as they do for her. Lots of things to suss out along the way.
Chip seems like a nut, most of the time, but there is a grain of truth in every conspiracy. He runs you on a merry chase, what with his lies and misdirections.
There are time travel elements, that play out with the story, but I don’t want to give that away. Suffice to say, it is a really fascinating twist on the whole theme.
I loved Helen’s sarcastic wit and constantly questioning things. She is a great character, which makes the book engaging. Having such a strong female lead, she needed a foil, enter Chip. He is dopey and cute, which makes him totally endearing! In a way they make a balanced couple. In the end, they are very well matched. Again, trying to preserve the plot and stay spoiler free.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Rebecca Roberts, who is a new voice for my ears. I loved her read and the energy she infuses into the story. Her tone fits the sarcastic lead to a tee. I love a swift pace, she definitely delivers. Her energy adds to the story in all the best ways. I am going to have to look for more of her reads, because she gave me very happy ears!
Overall, this was a great read with many twists and turns. The only disappointment I had, was it was only about the Roanoke mystery in a roundabout way. I came into it expecting a book all about that mystery, as I have a little history nerd in me who is fascinated by the mystery of it all. I can forgive the change of topic, as it was a fascinating story from beginning to end.
I read / listened to this thriller in audio format via audible.com. I love audio books because the narrators tend to breath life into the audios making them so much more exciting, like a movie! Audio books also allow me to read and still get things done in my day and make fantastic long road trip companions.
Sky Noise... a well-written book about time travel. Chip has been stalking Helen Weils for quite some time. Helen always considered Chip was nuts, but always let him down easy. One day Chip corners Helen and makes her listen to him and suddenly she is in danger. Whether she wants to be or not, Helen is now involved in this sci-fi / adventure / romance / fantasy world of time travel thanks to Chip. Now Chips enemies are her enemies too or at least the enemies believe she is. Travel along with Chip and Helen as they risk their lives jumping thru history to re-write some of the wrongs in our past and every time they make a jump, it is recorded in our history books as a sky noise!
The author, Ernie Lindsey did a great job writing this book. The plot is excellent and loaded with lots of twists and turns. It is very fast paced, so pay attention or you will get lost. The narrator, Rebecca Roberts did a fantastic job delivering this story to us with all her multiple voices and only added to the thrill of the story with all her excitement!
This book is kind of a 3...but not really. I had hoped for more on Roanoke, but it just wasn't there in the way I hoped. And neither of the main characters were particularly appealing to me. Sort of A for effort?
This was a very strange time travel book. I enjoyed it partially because it was not what I was expecting at all. It is a fascinating mind bending attempt to explain the mystery of Roanoke Island and the word croatoan. Some of the rules of this time travel universe were a bit odd but every author gets to make up rules if they want since it's all fictional anyway. I thought the story was disjointed at times and thats where I am taking off points. I may adjust my rating after I think on the book for a while.
Three and a half stars rounded up to four #timetravel
Entertaining enough story about time travel though it doesn't quite have the punch it could have had. The biggest reasons I think that held it back from being better is the way the writer takes us out of the action to explain the technology and all its various ramifications very late into the story. Just when things are going crazy long stretches of dialogue pop up between the two main characters, like a brief timeout to tell us something important. That was distracting for me personally. A couple times I really had forgotten what setting they were in. By that point in the story we should be welled versed in the technology and left with the action that makes for an exciting finish.
What I did enjoy was the historical perspective on which the story's premise is derived.
This was an endearingly odd time travel story with a somewhat flimsy romance aspect that goes through quite a few paradoxes and convolutions along the way. There were so many, I'm not sure it can have existed without them. Perhaps someone mapped it out, and they can, but I couldn't quite follow it and keep it straight as I listened. It wasn't really much like I had expected, since the cover makes it look kind of scary, and really it's more of a thriller. I'm not sure it redefines the genre or anything, but it was a fun adventure story where not everything was solved by shooting it, so that's a plus.
El puntaje está entre un 2 y un 3, me decidí por el 3 porque al principio me tenía bastante enganchada. La historia y los personajes funcionan muy bien cuando no sabés que está pasando y el mundo está lleno de interrogantes, pero a medida que se va descubriendo la verdad, las explicaciones me enredaron y llegué a un punto en el que ya no me importaba no estar entendiendo nada. Una pena.
Although the protagonist is credible, the antagonist is not...too conspriacy theoriest. The black-suited agents are almost over the top (I know there are folks like this, are they for real?). The author could have dealt more with Roanoke Island since it is where the book starts and stops. Entertaining, though.
This didn't live up to my expectations. Character development was nearly nonexistent. The storyline was disappointing. I thought a trip to the Roanoke colony would be awesome but the author took it in stride. No real detail. Time travel was just a matter of fact occurrence. I'm glad this book was short which was my only incentive for finishing it.
This was such a fun read! It is part sci-fi, part thriller, with a bit of historical fiction thrown in for good measure! Having gone to college in Norfolk and spending vacations in the Outer Banks, I loved the setting too. Whew...what a ride!
I love a good time travel novel, and this was a pretty good one. The characters weren't overly developed, but it was just a fun read in the time of COVID.
A shame the time travel falls apart into dimensionality, the MC is a bit of a sleeparound and so much of the plot action is based around the characters lying to each other.
I love love this story. I’ve heard of sky noise. Search you tube. I love the characters, story arc. The audiobook of it is awesome! Narrator brings the story to life. I recommend this book.
There are some aspects of Skynoise by Ernie Lindsey that are excellent. I was first drawn to the novel because of its link to the Roanoke Island mystery and was looking forward to the time travel twist that the author was going to use to explain the disappearance of the Roanoke settlers in 1587. The start of the audiobook quickly drew me into the narrative; I enjoyed the story when told from the perspective of the settlers and I would have loved to hear more of it from their viewpoint. After the first brief introduction to the settlers in North Carolina the narrative jumps to the present and we are introduced to the main protagonist, Helen, whose perspective dominates the rest of the narrative. Helen is a bestselling author who, having done extensive research into the Roanoke Island mystery and written a novel about it, finds her book tour interrupted by the stalker-like Chip who seems to attend her lectures and book talks with the sole purpose of embarrassing her, and himself, by proposing elaborate and insane alternatives to her, and the widely acceptance reason, for the disappearance of the settlers; aliens and people devouring trees, as opposed to the settlers being integrated into the local native tribe, feature high on his list. Although Helen wants nothing more than to dissociate herself from Chip she is soon swept into his crazy world and a strange hide-and-seek chase through time ensues as they both try escape the men threatening their lives. I found Chip to be a fun and likable character but Helen’s sarcasm at the start of the book was a little disconcerting. She didn’t start of as a likable character but soon grew on me. I found the ideas and explanations of time travel as proposed in the novel interesting but much of this information was conveyed to the reader/ listener via long stretches of dialogue that distracted form the otherwise fast pace of the action in the novel. "Show, don't tell." is an axiom bordering on cliché, but in this case it is sound advice. The audio book is narrated by Rebecca Roberts, she’s skilful and entertaining and brings the characters alive with her easy flowing narration and distinctive voices. I liked the time travel ideas and explanations driving the narrative, even if I didn’t quite get to grips with them all, I did enjoy speculating about them. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys good escapism served with a bit of ‘food-for-thought’ on the side.
Being that the book is fiction, I don't want to give anything away, so I will mostly write about my impressions of the book and how it reads. That said, the book is a general "sci-fi" book, using the technology to set an improbable (but not impossible) situation. It is told from the perspective of the main character so all activity occurs around her. This leads to some lengthy expositional dialogue. It's the only way to catch up on what was happening "off screen" to start a "visual" analogy. If the reader is to know the "back story" or activities that another character had done, the only way using this story-telling style, is to have the characters come back and report. Like I said, it makes for "long" conversations, but it moves the story along nicely. And fits the desired approach well, and keeps the reader focused on the main character.
This was a "good read." It kept me reading. I didn't find myself wanting to put it down (happens when the narration, or dialog, just seems to drag. Then I have to just push myself through some sections.)
I liked the general premise--that when time-travel is involved things get, well, complicated. Everything was going well, until the end. It felt "rushed" and was not explained very well at all. If this was a TV show, I would say that the writers were up against the end of the episode limit, and had to wrap it up. But this isn't.
So a good book. The ending tied things up, but left me a little unsatisfied.
Mr. Lindsey has a gift for page-turners, and this book was no exception. Throw together brilliant protagonists working against a ruthless, power-mad, black government agency, the mystery of the disappearance of the Roanoak Island settlers, a little romance, and - yes - time travel, and how could a reader not stay up all night to see what's going to happen? The technical information and theoretical explanations are very interesting and well thought out, which makes the story more believable and therefore much more fun. There are also some clever twists which make Helen, the female 'lead', and the reader unsure for a bit as to who really is the bad guy.
My only quibble, and the reason for four stars, is that Helen started actually to get on my nerves with her blustering and insults toward Chip, the male 'lead', when he first began revealing to her the truth about the whole time travel situation. Add to that that in a matter of a day and a half she was deeply in love with him, and the character just didn't ring as true as the others.
All in all, Skynoise is a fun read, intelligently crafted, and it adds to my admiration of Ernie Lindsey.
I love reading mystery novels and thought to myself why not give this a try. I had never heard of the author before, but liked what I read in the preview for Sky noise. This is the first novel of Ernie Lindsey that I have read and I'm glad I took a chance on this book.
It is a well written mystery novel on the disappearance of the Roanoke Island colonists. No one will ever no what actually happened to the colonists, but there are tons of conspiracy theories out there. I love the way Lindsey took history and theories along with mystery and was able to pull together what I considered to be a great book. Sky Noise pulled me in and kept me wondering what was going to happen next. The book is tense and full of action, with a little bit of humor thrown in. I will definitely be looking for more of Ernie Lindsey books, especially if they are as well written as this one is.
This was certainly an interesting book. I am always one to pick up something in the time travel genre, but this also had another hook. The Roanoke colony that just disappeared. As much as it seemed to fascinate a young me... it may have fascinated the author just a bit more.
I could tell at the start of the book things were a bit too disjointed and confusing, but as the tale continues those loose ends in the wind come together fairly nicely.
I enjoy the way he tells a story. He leaves a bunch of the fluff out and just tells an interesting story. Sometimes I am in mood for fluff... sometimes I just want a good story.
Thanks for the good story.
Fair warning: mild sexual scenes and standard time traveling "wibbly wobbly timey whimy"
The book was mostly told in first person perspective except for one small part that just seemed out of place near the end of the book.
I've really grown to love Ernie Lindsey's over the last few years. He's equally adept in any genre he takes on. in SKYNOISE, he combines several: history, action thriller, mystery, and science fiction.
Thus we get the mystery of the lost colonists of Roanoke Island, just off the coast of my native North Carolina, time travel, those ever popular Men In Black(not the movie men, but those of legend and conspiracy theory), and plenty of action.
It's; the story of author and researcher Helen Weils and apparent consiracy freak Chip Sledd, who's taken to showing up at Helen's lectures and book signings spouting his ever increasing whacky theories about thos long disappeared colonists.
Time travel, twisted history, action, adventure, mystery, interpersonal relationships. Got you hooked yet? Irregularly paced, but a good thing in this case. Characters are well developed and believable. Plot is solid with some great twists. Don't miss this one. Best possible scenario is that you get to HEAR this book. I was fortunate to have it suggested by Book Gorilla and got the kindle version plus the Audible for less than $5.00. This is clearly a case of a perfect match between book and audio performer! RR truly brings life and liveliness to the characters and smooth rendition of the tale itself. Characters are clearly delineated with voice and inflections. Her voice is pleasant and delivery requires no speed adjustment.
Another great book by Ernie Lindsey! You can't go wrong reading his books. The more I read from him, the more of a fan I become. His writing really draws you in where you don't want to put it down. The characters and the concept were interesting. It has its twists and turns to keep you guessing what will happen next. It has a little bit of everything. Action, history, Time travel, violence, conspiracy, etc. I really enjoyed it and as always look forward to reading more books from Ernie. I gratefully reviewed an ARC provided to me by the author for the sole purpose of early review. No fees were exchanged.
Helen acted like she didn't have a brain in her head throughout the book. She asked for explanations and clarifications on things that were obvious. Even when Chip would explain things to her, she often continued to be confused. When there was danger to be avoided, she would stay disbelieving and inactive until Chip spurred her to act. Totally disgusted by her weakness and idiocy.
This book was filled with repeated exposition. There is very little true story to be had. I paid money for this book, which is the only reason I finished it.
The two stars is because I did like one part, which I can't give away. Two stars is generous.
Skynoise is the first book I have read by Ernie Lindsay. This book is a great time-travel sci-fi mystery thriller with elements of history and a touch of romance. I felt the time travel theory was explained well enough for me to grasp without exploding my brain. The plot kept me guessing the whole way through, I was never quite sure who I could trust.
I listened to the audiobook edition which I received free from Audiobook Blast in exchange for an honest review. The narrator was well suited to the story. Rebecca Roberts spoke clearly and at a good pace. Her characterisations were fantastic and she helped to build the tension throughout the book.
This book is an OK read but doesn't really do anything to make itself memorable. The action was good enough and it kept me reading until the end. The inevitable time travel twist at the end was also good, but the events leading up to it seemed rushed and the protagonists never seemed to be in real peril despite being pursued by the requisite shadowy government agency. The characterization was average at best for the main characters and nonexistent for the villain. If you looking for a time travel thriller in particular, this one is acceptable.
Fun, quick novel. Got a little overly-complicated, and like most time travel books, it works better if you don't over-analyse it. I read it now because I'm wanting to read some shorter stuff before I jump back into massive novels, and this was perfect for that purpose.
Audiobook notes - the reader (Rebecca Roberts) did a good job, although there was a character that suddenly developed a British accent halfway through the book; no doubt because that was the point where the accent was first mentioned.
Secret time travel experiments; a former program scientist and a well-known historical author,on the run, time-jumping to avoid deep cover government agents. The story starts with the author on a book tour to promote her book about the disappearance of the Roanoak Island settlers. She's been followed and heckled by the scientist disguised as a conspiracy theorist. Meets him to talk about his ideas and ends up running for her life from government agents. Fast-paced, fun, and interesting.