Quantum Leap: Foreknowledge

Quantum Leap #18

by Christopher DeFilippis

It's 1976, and Sam Leaps out of a woman named Ann- Marie Renerie. But Ann-Marie is "not" pleased with her changed life. She's left with a plea - bargained jail sentence she doesn't remember agreeing to, and a hazy memory of the name of the man she thinks is responsible for her imprisonment.

Genres: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Fiction, Media Tie In, Science Fiction Fantasy, Tv

242 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1998

Reviews

[Christopher DeFilippis]

My first published book! I still have a soft spot for Quantum Leap. I hope you enjoy reading these misadventures of Sam and Al as much as I enjoyed writing them.

[Joshua Palmatier · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, I watched every episode of Quantum Leap when it came out and recently bought all of the DVDs just because. At the time the books came out, I also bought all of the books. I got around to reading about half of them and decided that it was time to start reading those that I hadn't gotten to yet. Thus, I picked up Quantum Leap: Foreknowledge by Christopher DeFilippis.

I have to say, I loved this book. It brought back all of the great qualities of the show, the ones that made me fall in love with Sam Beckett and Al, with Ziggy and Gooshie, with . . . well, with everything. As I read the book, I could hear the theme music to the show playing softly in the back of my head.

The basic premise is that Sam leaps OUT of Ann Marie after having her go to the FBI to expose her boss as a smuggler and get him sent to prison. The only problem is that Ann Marie herself is hip deep in the smuggling operation as well, which Sam knows, so when Ann Marie returns to her body she finds herself on her way to prison for a confession mitigated by cooperation with the FBI that she doesn't remember giving. As her memories of Project Quantum Leap begin to return, she vows revenge for whoever put her in prison, namely Sam Beckett.

In the meantime, Sam has leaped into a mud wrestler. Oh, boy. *grin* His plot revolves around a small community that wants to ban the business, even though it's on the outskirts of town and doesn't actively try to draw the locals into the club. Sam attempts to save the club, of course. The only problem is that he doesn't have Al to help him much because Ann Marie's plan to kill Sam Beckett is playing havoc with the time stream and creating massive problems for Ziggy and those at Project Quantum Leap.

As usual, there's the typical humor, the usual snafus, the great interplay between Sam and Al, Al and everybody, and some good tension as Al attempts to save Sam from Ann Marie and Sam attempts to save the mud wrestling club without any help. The book was well paced and just damn fun to read, bringing back great memories of a show that I wouldn't mind seeing "rebooted". Hell, we're rebooting every movie imaginable, even rebooting movies that have already been rebooted within the past 10 years already. Why not a great TV show? I'm not sure it would have the same flavor as the original without Scott Bakula and whoever played Al, though.

But if you want to relive the show, go through all that nostalgia, pick up this book . . . or any of the other Quantum Leap books, really. I'm sure they can be found in used bookstores, if they haven't been released as ebooks yet.

[Kevin Kangas · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting concept that's never been explored, but unfortunately falls victim to the same problem that the other QL book did--it seems more interested in the other characters in the book than with Sam and Al. Sam does almost nothing in this book, while Al takes on most of the actual action. It's worth reading if, like me, you've watched the show back to back a hundred times and are just desperate for some new QL adventures. I just wish the authors of these books would spend less time exploring the characters they came up with and more time with the characters we love from the show.

[Cris · Rating 2 out of 5]

DeFlippis clearly put a lot of effort into connecting this story to episodes of Quantum Leap. I did find the foreshadowing of the series finale a bit heavy-handed. Though that may be a bit influenced by how much I detested the ending.

The characterization fits--not just for Sam and Al but for the rest of the characters at the Project.

[Edward Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Quantum Leap novel was a little disjointed, with two storylines that didn't seem to compliment each other. However, once you get to the end and realise that there is a tenuous connection, it actually got better. With the project under threat from a woman who plans to kill Sam in the past, how could this book not be exciting?

[Nicolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pass. For starters, it doesn't work when Sam leaps into a woman. It is always bad. Second, I know the show was a little inconsistent with the science, but this seemed to just disregard all of the rules. The parallel storylines was an interesting idea, but as a whole it just didn't work.

[Diane Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book takes a look at what happens when the people Sam leaps into go back to their lives and has to deal with the changes Sam made. A fairly interesting story, but there are an unprecedented amount of crossovers with other leaps, both necessary to the plot and otherwise.