The three books that began this series were out-and-out spectacular, but I must say this one did not meet the high standard that Doug Molitor has set.
First of all, where are the romantic asides of David and Ariyl's I came to enjoy? Once Dylila vaporizes(not literally) after Chapter 1, They spend most of this story bickering like Archie & Edith, and not even Ariyl could possibly be so naive as to buy into a framing of David by the saga's oldest villain! NTM no accidental alternate history lines where our heroes have a little downtime they must eventually erase, even though they and the readers will remember them.
Second, we were cheated out of our annual spin through Golden Age Hollywood, where in the past we have enjoyed epic fight scenes with The Duke and The Gipper, scary moments with Chaney and Karloff, and even a slapstick battle with Chaplin and Lloyd. But what do we get this time? 20th-Century L.A. is never seen, and instead, 40 year from today, we must settle for a virtual Ernie Borgnine and a few femme fatale robots(one a Marilyn clone with no talent!)? Come on, Doug, who were you going to please with this?
Lastly, nearly all of the last two chapters were dedicated to Doug and Sven whining about Hillary Clinton losing the presidency despite all the Democrats' attempts to cheat in the 2016 election. This is particularly annoying since someone's tampering with the past created an alternate 2019 where her criminal reign was in full swing. If I wanted a litany of liberal crap, I would tune into MSNBC, I read to get away from all that nonsense!
I hope this wrong turn is not a sign that Molitor is burning out, and the next book will be a return to form. I can't be sure because the preview only showed our intrepid adventurers meeting the late Dr. Hawking to tell him time travel is possible, so I have no idea where the story will go from there.
Please, DM, ditch the dang diatribes and stick with the formula we love.